Lower Back Pain Remedies - Chinese Style

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), with its 2500 year old history, offers many lower back pain remedies - lower back stretches and strengthening exercises, massage techniques, acupuncture, herbal remedies, liniments, sticking plasters and others. Some require a trained TCM practitioner to administer them, while others can be easily learned andapplied by anyone. This article introduces some effective low back pain remedies and stretches that you can apply yourself to relieve and prevent low back pain.

Lower Back Stretches

Breath slowly, smoothly and deeply through your nose while doing the exercises.

Exercise 1. Lie on your back on a firm bed or the floor. Gently bring your knees up until they're above your abdominal area. Spread your knees a little and grab the inside of your shins just below your knees, or the inside of your ankles if you can. Inhale. As you exhale let your knees naturally fall further out to the side with gravity. Focus your mind on your back (closing your eyes helps). Feel your inner thighs stretching and your back relaxing. Hold the position for a few minutes as you continue to breath slowly, smoothly and deeply. This exercise stretches and relaxes your iliopsoas muscle which connects from your lumbar vertebrae to the inside of your hip joints. Tension in this muscle often causes and/or aggravates low back pain.

Exercise 2. Lean across a table and grab the far edge with both hands. Your torso should be on the table and your legs hanging from the edge. Inhale. As you exhale, let gravity naturally pull your legs down towards the floor. Feel your back stretching. Hold the position for several minutes as you continue slow, deep breathing. Focus your mind on your back (closing your eyes helps) and imagine the pain releasing with each exhalation. Repeat several times a day.

Low Back Pain Remedies

1. Ginger & Sesame Oil Liniment

Mix together equal parts of pure sesame oil and the juice from grated ginger. Heat in a pot till warm. Apply a small amount to the painful area and rub it in for a couple of minutes. It should be applied to unbroken skin only. Ginger and sesame oil liniment is a superb, easy-to-make, home remedy for back ache and other aches and pains. It warms, circulates your blood and stops pain. You can safely apply it several times a day, particularly after showering and before bed. Make sure you pull your clothing down over your back immediately after to keep the area warm. Also, while it's normal for your skin to become hot and turn red after you apply the liniment, if a rash develops discontinue use.

2. Low Back Self-Massage

Can be done standing or sitting. With fists clenched (not too tightly), use the backs of your hands, including your knuckles, to vigorously rub your lower back up and down for several minutes, 3 or 4 times a day. Rub close to your spine and also the sides of your back - where ever you experience pain and stiffness. Self-massage is a highly beneficial low back pain remedy you can do anytime, anywhere to relieve and prevent low back pain. Massage warms the area, moves the blood and directly stimulates your kidneys, which helps to maintain a strong, healthy lower back.

Tip: To greatly enhance the effects of the above lower back pain remedies and lower back stretches, combine them. For example, lie down and do the first 2 stretches, then stand up and do the lower back self-massage, then apply some Ginger & Sesame Oil Liniment. You know your body best though, so experiment till you find what works best for your particular situation.

By Matthew Scott

Angular Cheilitis Treatment - How to Find Effective Treatment For Angular Chelitis

You may have a condition that is known as angular chelitis if you are suffering from cracks in the corner of your mouth which continue to split and can be quite painful.
This is a common condition that many suffer from and occurs at a higher rate during cold weather and the winter months and can also occur with over exposure to the sun.
Dry, cracked and painful lips may also accompany the noticeable splits and cracks in the corner of the mouth, in general.
The condition in itself is not a serious one but it can cause discomfort, pain and embarrassment due to the facial location. Many sufferers find it difficult to eat, laugh or even speak and therefore it is important to locate an effective angular chelitis treatment as soon as possible.
The angular chelitis treatment you choose will work more efficiently when the underlying cause is identified and also treated. The benefit of being able to identify the cause means you may be able to prevent this skin condition from occurring again.
It has been discovered that the main cause of infection relates to Candida, another cause is bacteria growth or Staph. The development of Candida and Staph can occur for a number of reasons as well.
Elderly people who need to rely on dentures often suffer from angular chelitis because the dentures are not fitted properly in the first place and they lack the daily sterilization needed to keep the mouth area free from bacteria and fungi. Wearing dentures and not being able to close the mouth properly leads to increasing saliva deposits in the very corners of the lips and mouth. This provides the most ideal environment for fungi and bacteria to grow and prosper and the infection will develop from this point.
Licking of the lips is another bad habit that can cause excess saliva in the area and increases the chance of infection. It is hard not to lick your lips when they are dry and cracked, however in terms of finding an angular chelitis treatment, it is important to break this habit and any others that involve biting nails or sticking objects in the mouth. All of these habits will encourage bacteria to spread and develop into infection.
Some women may develop allergic reactions to skin care products or lipsticks, others may be deficient in ranges of vitamins such as B12 and iron. These reactions and deficiencies are also related to the development of angular chelitis.
What options are available for angular chelitis treatment?
Chapped lips - a suitable lip balm may be able to moisturize the area without the need for licking, which will only make the condition worse. Limit sun exposure and hydrate the entire body with an increase in fluids.
Dentures - take a visit to the dentist and adjust the dentures to fit properly and make sure they are sterilized on a daily basis. One recommended angular chelitis treatment involves soaking the dentures in an antiseptic solution whilst you are sleeping. Try to keep the mouth area as dry as possible to avoid the infection spreading and to begin the healing process.
Vitamins - this may be an effective angular chelitis treatment if you feel you are experiencing deficiencies and it is always a good idea to increase vitamin intake even if you don't suffer from angular chelitis. You may also look at you daily diet to see if any improvements can be made in this area as well. Good food choices may include diary products and green vegetables.
Creams - there are anti fungal and bacterial creams available however choosing an angular chelitis treatment such as this, could be harmful due to the close proximity to the mouth and the high possibility of ingestion.

By David Huggins

How to Remove Whiteheads

Before you try to remove whiteheads on your own, it's important for you to realize what they are. Many people think that since it looks like a pimple, they can just use normal acne medication and the problem will go away. This is simply not the case with whiteheads.
First lets look at what exactly is happening within the skin that causes a whitehead. Every pore on your body creates oil, called sebum. Sebum lubricates and moisturizes your skin to keep it healthy. Problems begin to present themselves whenever the pore that the sebum is released from becomes blocked. If the pore remains open then the sebum will oxidize and turn black. However, if the pore closes up, the bacteria will begin to grow and leave the remains white, which is where the term whitehead originates. While this may look like a normal pimple, it is definitely not the same.
To begin clearing up whiteheads it should be mentioned that you never squeeze or try to remove them by pressure without the proper tools. If you squeeze and pick you will only break the skin and leave it open for infection and potentially leave a scar. The best way to remove whiteheads from your face is with a comedone remover. Comedone is just another name for the blockage of pores.
This tool is made of stainless steel and has an interesting loop design which helps remove the whitehead without damaging the skin. Using this device couldn't be simpler. You would use this tool immediately after steaming the face with a hot washcloth or after a hot bath. This is to insure that you can easily remove whitehead material. Once the whitehead breaks the top layer of the skin, press the loop end over the whitehead and the trapped material will be dislodged. Once this process is complete, be sure to clean your face again with warm water to ensure that everything has been removed from the pore.

Sunlight for Your Life

All life on the planet and everything in nature is dependent on the sun. Without the sun, there would be no life on the planet. All life is dependent on the sun. Plants convert the sunlight into energy, and all animals need plant life or other animals in order to live. All life in nature is dependent on the sun. We as humans are part of nature. We need sunlight just like everyone else.
Sunlight is essential for your life and health. This often brings up the concern of skin cancer. People are told the sun causes skin cancer and they should wear sunblock to prevent skin cancer. This is a big fat theory of the medical symptom and disease care profession. Skin cancer is on the rise because people are supposedly spending more time in the sun, and this is the supposed "proof" that skin cancer is caused by the sun. Did the experts happen to notice that most cancer is on the rise? Does the sun cause these cancers as well?
Well, my friends, I have a question for you. How many other bad things are on the rise that people are doing? Lots. Just because the sun hits the skin, the powers that be say it means that is the one thing that "causes" skin cancer. They are looking for the one cause and one cure. Remember, there is no one cause of anything. There are only contributing factors.
In my opinion, it is not the sun that contributes to cancer, but being burned by the sun. Most people get no exposure to the sun for months; then they play weekend warrior and go out in the sun all weekend, often getting burned. My inner knowing tells me it is this burning that is a major contributing factor to skin cancer, not the actual sun exposure.
So if you do not build up to being in the sunlight, and you know you will be in the sun for a long time, use a chemical-free sunblock.
The irony about sunblock is the stuff most people use actually contains a chemical that is known to cause cancer. The FDA says PABA is a known carcinogen, or causes cancer and yet it is in most sunblocks. How ironic. There are PABA-free sunscreens that use "new" different chemicals. My thought is that those chemicals that replace the PABA will soon be identified as carcinogens as well. Just give them time. Even PABA was labeled "safe" by the FDA at first.
My recommendation: get a good chemical-free sunblock. Many health food stores will have them. Or you can find a place near you that sells them on the web. Avalon Organics is the sunblock I recommend and use. Unfortunately, they are not available everywhere right now.
The easiest way to get sunlight is go outside. Go outside every day without contacts or any type of glasses and have large amounts of your skin exposed to the sun. For you this might not be feasible, because you live some place where there is a thing called winter. So an acceptable alternative is getting some quality full spectrum light bulbs for your work and home. These are light bulbs that put out light similar to the sun. You can order them online as well, full spectrum solutions are the brand I use. But be careful; not all full spectrum bulbs are created equal. Most of the full spectrum bulbs in traditional stores are not much of an improvement over ordinary lights.
By Dr. Jamie Fettig