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Articles

Mapping Pain: Where Does It Hurt?

Pain science is a cutting-edge, complicated and growing field of research. What makes it so challenging is that pain is never a one-size-fits-all experience; not only does it vary from person to person, but it is very common for pain to be felt in a different area than where the actual cause is. Furthermore, what someone experiences as pain varies greatly and is highly individualistic. In our experience, what one person may consider a minor annoyance could significantly impact another person’s activities of daily living. Pain is an individualized experience varying from person to person, body part to body part,...

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Piriformis Syndrome: It’s Not About the Tennis Ball

Pain in the buttocks? Then you may have heard about placing a tennis ball in a chair and sitting on it. The pressure from the tennis ball helps to relax gluteal muscles and relieve pain. But why is this? The answer is something called piriformis syndrome.  Piriformis syndrome is a common neuromuscular problem traditionally caused by spasms or enlargement of the piriformis muscle, resulting in compression or pressure on the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve starts in your lower back and travels near the piriformis, which is a deep muscle in your buttock. The piriformis muscle attaches from the lowest part...

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The 5 Best Strategies to Restarting Your Exercise Programs

It is not uncommon for patients to tell me they would like to "get back to the gym," but they are not sure where to start, especially after injury or quarantine! They are confused about what exercises they should do and what exercises are safe and are sometimes discouraged because they can not do what they used to be able to do. You are not alone! Many patients feel like this! For most people, exercise goals are simple: Feel strong enough to accomplish any normal daily activity, play some recreational sports at a decent level and not wake up not being...

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Snow Shoveling Injuries: How to Properly Clean Up After the Storm

With the massive snow covering this past weekend comes the inevitable dig-out. Most people, like myself, had to shovel out. Shoveling can cause a host of injuries from strains and is occasionally lethal; three people died from a heart attack during the last storm. The following details how to properly shovel the snow and what not to do when picking up the white stuff.   Proper shoveling technique Always face toward the object you intend to lift; have your shoulders and hips facing the snow. Bend at the hips, not the lower back, and push the chest out, pointing forward. Then, bend...

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Wallets + Purses = Back Pain?

How many of you were taught that your wallet has to go in your back pocket? Despite being taught this, we were not told that stashing our stuff can strain our backs or joints excessively.  Who knew that sitting on a bunch of folded bills or stashing coins and lip balm in a shoulder bag can wind up causing aching shoulders, back, and neck pain? Rather than teach us how to live better, we had consumerism marketing masquerading as advice. The result: new purses were bought to help alleviate shoulder pain, and new jeans were purchased whenever the back pocket wore...

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The 10 Healthiest Spices

Spices not only taste good, but contain many vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that can improve your health and prevent disease!  Many times, these spices are viewed as a flavor enhancer, but they also pack a nutritional punch!  You will be surprised how good they actually are!  Here are my top ten healthiest spices! Cinnamon Cinnamon may help fight inflammation, is an antioxidant and may fight off bacteria. Cinnamon also reduces blood sugar and may help those that have diabetes. Cinnamon is also sweet and is recommended over other artificial sweeteners.  t can be added to almost anything! Turmeric Turmeric may be my favorite spice....

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MN Spine and Sport Nominated in 5 “Best of Minnesota” Categories!

We've been nominated in 5 categories for "Best of Minnesota"! Use this link to vote daily from March 12 - April 5, 2023. Winners will be announced August 13th! Vote MN Spine and Sport We've been nominated for: 1). Best Chiropractor 2). Best Acupuncture 3). Best Sports Medicine 4). Best Physical Therapy 5). Best Wellness and Recovery Services...

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Pronator Teres Syndrome

Do you have a painful forearm or weird sensations in your thumb and pointer finger? Maybe your forearm, wrist, and elbow have been aching. A quick online search for symptoms yields dozens of results for painful hand, wrist, and elbow conditions, making fact-finding very confusing. Your pain and discomfort may partially match common wrist complaints like carpal tunnel syndrome, hand tendonitis, elbow pain, and other related conditions, or your symptoms don’t seem to fit any single situation -- making it hard to tell what exactly is going on! One lesser-known condition that causes finger tendon and forearm discomfort is called pronator teres syndrome, and this culprit for...

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Tennis Elbow

Have you recently picked up a racket sport such as tennis, badminton, squash, or even golf? Maybe now your dominant elbow and forearm are hurting. If this describes you, there is a good chance you overworked your forearm muscles with repeated gripping (1) and swinging arm movements, causing an overuse injury of the common extensor tendon. This condition is commonly known as Tennis Elbow or lateral epicondylitis (1,2). (Picture from Mayo Clinic) What is tennis elbow? The elbow is a structure involving connecting bones, ligaments, connective tissues, the elbow joint, several muscle attachments, and fluid-filled sacs designed to absorb forces.  Repetitive or excessive...

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Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

Are you experiencing pain as well as numbness, tingling, and weakness in the hand and fingers? Do your fingers or hands feel like they’re “falling asleep” while you type at a keyboard, grip a steering wheel, work out at the gym, or pick up groceries or even your child?   There are several conditions of the head, neck, shoulder, elbow, and wrist that cause sensations of tingling, numbness, pain, and weakness with grip strength. More common conditions include carpal tunnel syndrome1, tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis)2, compression of the nerves exiting the neck spine (cervical radiculopathy)3, and pinched nerve (impingement syndromes) of the shoulder. Less common injuries involve brachial...

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