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MUSCLE CRAMPS “That random pain you experience once in a while” Muscle cramp is a very common term that every one of us often hear and encounter in our day to day lives. At times you randomly move a part of your body and experience a sudden contracting pain in muscles. Most commonly the calf muscles. The pain sometimes is experienced while sleeping or during sitting or standing for long periods of time. commonly this type of pain in muscle is experienced after a few hours of physical activity, might be a vigorous one also. A lot of people including family and friends often ask me about what muscle cramps actually are. Why do muscle cramps occur? And what are the ways to get rid of these cramps? So, this time I picked up a very simple but an important topic to share with all my readers. What are muscle cramps? Muscle cramps are the involuntary sudden contraction of muscles causing pain and stiffness in a muscle. The type of pain can be described as dull aching pa

RESISTANCE TRAINING- Then and now. “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have”. Earlier, whenever we heard of the term “resistance training” the first thing that used to come to our minds was those huge, bulky, sweaty men with carved muscles lifting tones of weights beyond our strength. But times have changed, resistance training is looked upon and used very differently and efficiently now. Men and women are equally active and benefited with the resistance exercises nowadays. Resistance training in simple words is the exercise done with the help of weights i.e. an external opposing force most commonly in the form of dumbbells, weight cuffs, therabands, medicine balls, barbells, water bottles, bricks, etc. resistance training is now in the limelight as it has shown beneficial results over the decade. Resistance exercises allows your muscles (skeletal muscles) to contract voluntarily. The contraction is helping in gaining

A Better Use of Heat “Be ready to take the heat”…. We all are sick of large doses of pills for treating several bodily conditions. Specially pain! And sometimes we are so busy in our routine that we do not pay attention to what harm the continuous use of pills to relieve pain is causing us. We want instant pain relief, to get back to work as soon as possible. Why not thinking of a better option? It is called as the thermotherapy – the use of heat for health conditions, particularly pain relief. Heat is often used to relieve pain instantly. It dialates the blood vessels of the area where heat is applied and eventually increases the blood circulation of the area. Low blood supply to the area is the reason behind pain due to accumulation of lactic acid. Increased blood supply means increased supply of oxygen and nutrients to the affected part. Heat stimulates the sensory receptors and reduces the pain signals transmission to the brain. Heating also provides a sedative

BENEFITS OF EXERCISE “Exercise is more than just physical, it’s therapeutic”- Michelle Obama Whenever we talk about fitness (particularly physical fitness), the very first thing that comes to our minds is exercise. Whether you want to lose weight, go for body toning or body building, or deal with a cardiac condition, physicians always advise you to go for routine exercise. People often feel lazy to follow a daily exercise routine, either don’t have time for exercise or sometimes are quiet impatient to get the results. That’s why it becomes a little difficult for a person to carry out any such physical activity for long. Physiotherapists ask you to add exercise to your lifestyle.  Because we believe that ‘it adds years to life’. We also believe that it’s not only physical body that is benefited by the exercise but the vital organs also gets improved. Exercise provides relaxation and reduced stress, and helps in coping up with a lot of psychological conditions as well.

R  I  C  E “They use the ice very wisely”- ken Barse Whenever you get injured, you might have observed that the most immediate treatment one can do to get a control over the situation is the use of ice,whether it is bleeding or swelling to the injured area. Similarly, physiotherapy has a very essential component for treating several acute conditions. Its the ‘R I C E’. Let’s have a look at what R I C E exactly is. And how does it help us in resolving our immediate bodily changes after some trauma or injury eventually helping us in treating the condition. R          I             C             E                   (REST   ICE    COMPRESSION   ELEVATION) ·        REST The REST is the very first component, which indicates that the injured part of the body should be allowed to take rest. Do not give unnecessary stress to the area which has already been traumatized. Rest promotes healing. Some of the micro traumas get healed on their own by rest. Rest contributes in t

World arthritis day October 12, 2016 “He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything” – Arabian proverb Hello people! Today is world arthritis day. Let’s make a good use of this day and gather some knowledge about ‘arthritis’ which is going to help us in a long run. What is arthritis? What are the damages caused to the body because of arthritis? How to find out if I have this condition? And how can I help myself treat this condition? I think, here is the answer to all your question. Arthritis is a condition affecting the joints of the body. The joint and the joint structures undergoes degenerative changes and damage. It is one of the most common joint diseases occurring to a wide range of population. Arthritis is of many different types and people of any age group and gender can be a victim of this joint disease. It can affect a single joint or sometimes multiple joints. Arthritis can be degenerative, inflammatory, infectious or metabol

Cerebral palsy children “If a child cannot learn in a way you teach, you must teach in a way the child can learn”. I have seen a cerebral palsy child growing very closely, and being a physiotherapy student I have also read about what cerebral palsy is and the ways to treat this condition. This article is for those who are not aware of what cerebral palsy is. Cerebral palsy is a movement disorder which is often congenital. The reason may be some injury to the brain of the growing fetus or after the first few days of birth, or a pre mature birth, or maybe some infection during pregnancy, or the unhygienic birth conditions or difficulty during delivery of the child, like in case of forceps baby. The condition also occurs due to some genetic reasons. There are different types of cerebral palsy, namely, spastic, ataxic, diplegic or athetoid. And the symptoms that the child may have is based on the type of condition he or she is suffering from. The very first sympto

EXERCISE IN WATER? WHY NOT? “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water” - Benjamin Franklin . The very first thing that must have come to your mind after reading the title must be swimming. That is true, but swimming alone is not the only way of exercising in water. There are facilities of exercising in water known as hydrotherapy in our rehabilitation centers nowadays. The exercises that we perform on land can be done in water as well. These physical activities include walking inside the pool, aerobics, and movements of various body parts in water. But why do we need such advancement in exercising techniques? Let’s have a look at the properties of water helping during exercise. ·          Buoyancy: The body of an individual in water weighs a lot lesser and hence water provides more flexibility to the body. The upward thrust exerted by the water on the body eliminates the effect of gravity. Water acts as a shock absorber for the body of an individual, as