Health and Wellness: Relief, Rehab, Renew

We call it summer snow. It is so beautiful and falls when the cottonwood trees bloom up north. Anyone with seasonal allergies knows what it is. I never had a issue with the massive cottonwood tree on the property where I worked in the summer at an open-air gazebo. On a particularly hot summer day, I started having trouble breathing.  I could not catch my breath and in several hours I felt like I was suffocating. When I told my father, he said it sounded like asthma. I had never had any breathing issues, so I blew it off in disbelief but could not deny it was getting worse quickly. At the time, I was seeing a chiropractor who was working with allergies and I had an appointment the next day so I mentioned the breathing issue. He performed a little treatment that made absolutely no sense to me at the time and sent me on my way. I was instructed to stay away from the cottonwood for a day. I did my best, since I had to take the whole day off to go to the doctors, so was no big dea...

I have a love/hate relationship with a paved trail I like to walk near where I live. Just about anytime I take a walk, there are other walkers, joggers, runners and quite a few professional looking bikers whizzing by. I love this trail, it is easy to walk and you can go for several miles, turn around and walk back or just 20 mins. I am not a power walker so most joggers and runners pass right by me. What is so difficult to me as a neuromuscular therapist who works with proper gait and muscle alignment, is to watch the way the runners and joggers use there bodies so inefficiently. I can almost see their knee pain developing right in front of my eyes. I once was behind a woman who I was pretty sure was "this close to a heart attack". Watching her, made me remember back to a good friend of my fathers, whom I observed working out on a treadmill at a gym I belonged to at the time.  I went home that night and told my father, he looked like he was going to have a heart attack. H...

Not being the avid gardener, one day, in late fall, I decided to clean out some dead debris in the flower garden along the garage when I felt a sting above my eyebrow. I immediately dropped the dried up debris and noticed a little black and white caterpillar drop down on the sidewalk. Not knowing what stung me, (certainly not a caterpillar lol, must have poked myself with the dried twig?) I decided to give up on my wimpy attempt to clean up the garden. LOL Looking in the mirror, at where I felt the poke, I noticed a small black spot above my left eyebrow, which I flicked to see if it was a splinter. What happened next was like something out of a SciFi movie. I stood there watching the left side of my face melt. It progressively started loosing its structure, down to my mouth. Being a bit grungy from work and concerned about what I just got myself into in the garden, I proceeded to the shower to wash off anything that might have gotten on my skin. I washed my hands and arms pretty t...

Are you looking for speed? Balance? Stability? Do your knees bother you? Hips? Low Back? Plantar Fasciitis? Swollen Ankles? Do you feet hurt? Do your shoes wear out on the outer edge? Do me a favor... March in place (kind of like a soldier). Now look down at your feet. Notice the position your feet. Are they pointing forward? Pointing out 10, 15, 25, 30, 45 degrees, etc? In there lies the secret to a better life. If your feet are pointing any direction other than forward, you need a lesson in how to walk properly. First let's talk about the knee. The knee is a hinge joint and it swings back and forth. The hip however is a ball joint so it can move in many direction. In walking you should only used your hip like a hinge joint. The hip should lift the leg up and down when walking. The big toe pushes your off. When you walk with your feet pointing forward, the muscles of your ankles, knees and hips work in unison to propel your forward with the big toe. I once saw a man r...

Are you the "Healthy" one in your group of friends or family. Do you eat all the right stuff, religiously take every supplement that is recommended by Dr. Oz, exercise, consume whole grains and beans, veggies and stay away from junk food etc? Are you almost neurotic about it? Ok, that's me, I can't say I am always vigilant, we can all fall into the trap of the double chocolate birthday cake now and then, but in general, I work fairly hard at doing what I believe to be the right thing when it comes to what I eat without driving every waiter or companion crazy. Salad has been my staple when in doubt on any occasion. Some time ago, I found that I chipped my front tooth and have been on a search for resolution every since. In my journey an observation arose. Over the years I have been posed the question from those "health nuts" which is... I do everything right, I eat right, I exercise, I don't drink or smoke, I do everything right, so why am I...

I've had several people say that to me lately in my practice, as if they hadn't seen all the publicity lately about how great Acupuncture is for Infertility, so I wanted to put more coverage out there for all those couples who still haven't heard. There are several advantages to using Oriental Medicine as an approach to assist fertility. The benefits of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in treatment for the infertile couple can be found in early Chinese medical literature dating back to the 11AD. Not only do these techniques assist in regulating the menstrual cycle and invigorating the sperm, but they also serve to enhance the function of the whole body. And nothing so invasive as Invitro, but if you decide to go the Invitro route, their is significant evidence that Acupuncture increases the ability to get pregnant. Balance is everything! Patricia J Ahner, AP, LAc, LMT, Esth / contact@get-relief.com / www.get-relief.com Reposted from my old healthyhumano...

Migraine Headaches - seems everyone is getting them lately, at least I have been hearing about it lately, more then ever... I was plagued with Migraines for years. My mother had Migraines also. In those days, no one knew what they were and they were thinking to have her put in a care facility. She had to give up her job at the time because, they were so debilitating and she couldn't function. Some nice doctor found info on the subject and gave her caffeine pills, which worked for a while but basically, they told her she had to learn to reduce her stress. (a little tough with a full time job, and 4 kids running around the house, she was quite the super-mom). I started getting Migraines  when I went away to college, once they came on, it was 3 days before I was normal again (actually on the 3rd day I was almost euphoric, I thought from the relief). Now, I feel like I know so much about Migraine Headaches it is ridiculous! And I am always looking for more info to add (must be my A-typ...