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24 votes
Accepted

What's the best long-term sitting posture?

The best long-term perfect posture is subjective due to the variety of body types, incorrect posture differs from person to person and person's proper posture can be incorrect posture for someone else ...
  • 4,695
7 votes
Accepted

Sleeping on stomach - why are people naturally drawn to it if it's bad?

Sleeping in a prone position is not bad. However there are some complications of it that can be negative. A simple example is drooling. A more important problem with sleeping in a prone position is ...
7 votes

What's the best long-term sitting posture?

Short answer: there is no best long-term sitting posture. If there is any, take care of posture (I'd risk to say upright is best), and move every certain amount of time in the chair and/or around. I'...
  • 171
7 votes
Accepted

What causes sudden stabbing back pain?

The causes of such pains are called back strains, and may be muscular or ligamentous in origin. It may be caused by: Physical exertion Fall Bending repeatedly Lifting heavy objects Emotional Stress ...
  • 1,039
6 votes

Is there a link between bed firmness and spine deformations?

We should clarify some terms here. Scoliosis is a deformation, but Lordosis and kyphosis are not. The latter two are normal structural parts of human spine. Back to your question, we don´t know. ...
  • 2,312
5 votes
Accepted

Can breaststroke be harmful for the back?

In most cases, swimming is good exercise. Light swimming is also a therapy for people with joint and back pain. The breaststroke is not usually the recommended stroke for therapy because, if done ...
  • 7,738
4 votes
Accepted

Dealing with a lot of standing

How can I deal with standing for long periods? I have an odd sensation, like pins and needles The technical name for that kind of altered sensation is paraesthesia. It can have a number of causes; ...
  • 701
4 votes
Accepted

How does a herniated spinal disk correct itself?

The herniated part of the disc can be resorbed by the inflammatory process, which means that inflammatory cells, such as macrophages, can remove the damaged tissue. The healing time can range from ...
  • 15.7k
3 votes
Accepted

Why does metastatic bone cancer present as back pain that is "worse at night"?

Not sure why I didn't think of this earlier, but back pain that is worse at night due to metastatic cancer to the spine is caused by tumor compressing spinal cord when lying on your back. Anything ...
  • 1,064
3 votes

What causes acne, and how do I get rid of it?

According studies, it's an interaction between genetics and environment. If you parents had acne, you might have. But, overall, diet and stress are big factors for acne : your genetic makes you more ...
  • 151
2 votes

How can I achieve long term activation of the lower back to improve my posture?

First of all, there is a weak correlation between posture and pain. Secondly, working on long term activation may hurt (as in pain) your back. If you find that a certain posture is good for you try ...
2 votes

Ongoing mid/upper back pain causes and treatments

For now, I can provide only a very limited answer: The pain in your chest possibly arises from the joints between the sternum and the cartilages of the ribs. The condition is called costochondritis. ...
  • 15.7k
2 votes
Accepted

Which type of chair is best to avoid back pain?

I can share my personal experience with you. I'm a 31 year old guy with a sedentary job where I need to spend hours on my computer. I developed lower back pain around 6-7 years ago and more recently ...
  • 394
2 votes

How to help cure a disc protrusion

Sounds like you are talking about trying to help a possible disc pathology in your lower back region because you referenced the abdominal area. For lower back discs most of the time it is due to a ...
2 votes
Accepted

Can Spinal Alignment Cause Fatigue?

http://www.brooksspinalcare.com/misaligned-spine.html Yes indeed it can. Even very subtle misalignment can cause a variety of issues. Most commonly it's early joint degradation and odd sensations in ...
  • 324
2 votes

What is the current evidence on treating back injury?

This is a difficult question to answer because it is very broad. Your sources concern a number of different pathologies which have different mechanisms and different treatment approaches. It's ...
2 votes
Accepted

Do NSAIDs hamper herniated disc resorption?

This answer is about the effect of NSAIDs and steroids on the resorption of disc herniation and pain. There seem to be no clinical trials in which NSAIDs or other drugs would slow down the resorption ...
  • 15.7k
1 vote

Can Spinal Alignment Cause Fatigue?

Unfortunately the answer to this question is at this time purely anecdotal. Unless someone can find research studies to back up some of these observations you will have to rely on biased answers such ...
1 vote

Protrusion or Extrusion?

To me it appears like an extrusion, have a close look at this. The aperture of the disk material that is outside its confined space is larger than the the width of its normal boundaries. Since, it's ...
1 vote
Accepted

How do I know I slipped a disc?

A herniated (slipped) disc in the neck (cervical) spine causes pain in the neck, between the shoulder blades and often radiates down one arm. Placing a hand on the affected side on top of the head ...
  • 15.7k
1 vote

What causes sudden stabbing back pain?

According to my understanding and experience sudden back pain can be considered as a sort of spasm. As such it cannot be controlled or relaxed intentionally. The patient is also not even aware of the ...
1 vote

What's the best long-term sitting posture?

From my experience, it is better to change postures while you sit long. Most often, I sit in a posture similar to below yoga posture 'Padmasana' in my chair, but not for so long, just for 5 or 10 ...
  • 339
1 vote

Can breaststroke be harmful for the back?

In general hydrotherapy is advised and can improve mobility and help relieve discomford and promote recovery from injury. If you've neck or back problems, you may find that breaststroke aggravates ...
  • 4,695

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