What You Should Know About Migraines and How to Treat Them
Knee Pain: What Is It and How Can You Recover From It?
You might think headaches are a natural part of life. After all, it’s a regular occurrence in the lives of many individuals, especially those who live a busy lifestyle. Around 45 million Americans experience headaches each year, and most headaches naturally go away with rest or painkillers.
But if the pain suddenly becomes severe and you experience a pulsating or throbbing sensation, you’re not dealing with a regular headache anymore. You may very well be dealing with a MIGRAINE.
A migraine is like a stronger kind of headache. It comes with a variety of other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, numbness, and/or sensitivity to light and sound. They also tend to pose greater risks to your health than headaches.
12% of Americans get migraines. They can affect anyone, but rates are higher in women, especially those with a family history of it or other medical conditions including:
Depression
Anxiety
Bipolar Disorder
Sleep Disorders
Epilepsy
Migraines are more complex than regular headaches. They vary in terms of phases (symptoms), types, and frequency.
Phases (Symptoms)
Migraines are different for everyone, but there are some common patterns or phases. Each phase has a set of symptoms to watch out for.
Let’s have a quick look at each of them…
Prodrome – Beginning hours or days before a headache occurs, you may notice some of these symptoms:
Food cravings
Unexplained mood changes
Fatigue
Bloating
Uncontrollable yawning
Sensitivity to light, sound, or smell
Increased urination
Constipation/diarrhea
Fluid retention
Severe thirst
Aura – Deeply rooted in the nervous system, this phase gradually progresses over 5-20 minutes and lasts less than an hour. Its symptoms include:
Seeing black dots, flashes of light, wavy lines, hallucinations
Tunnel vision
Ringing in the ears
Heavy feeling in arms and legs
Difficulty speaking clearly
Tingling or numbness on one side of the body
Difficulty seeing
Attack – This phase progresses from dull to throbbing pain, with the pain shifting from different parts of the head. Its most common symptoms include:
Nausea
Headache
Looking pale & clammy
Feeling faint
Postdrome – This is the phase that occurs once the headache passes. This is where one usually experiences the following symptoms:
Fatigue
Muscle pain/weakness
Food cravings or lack of appetite
Frequency
Like headaches, migraines vary in frequency from person to person. Frequency is one of the best indicators of whether or not you should seek professional medical help.
The three levels of migraine frequency are…
Episodic - migraine that occurs occasionally or irregularly
High-Frequency Episodic - Headache occurs 8-14 days per month
Chronic - Headache occurs more than 15 days a month, with 8 of those days having migraine-like symptoms.
The more frequent your migraine, the more at risk you are of further health complications. It’s best to see a health professional if you are experiencing chronic or high-frequency episodic migraines.
Causes
Experts still have yet to define the true causes of migraine attacks or headaches. However, it’s generally agreed that the condition is caused by unusual brain activities that affect nerve signaling, blood vessels, chemicals, as well as other triggers such as…
Bright lights
Dehydration
Stress
Anxiety
Hormonal changes
Caffeine
Tobacco
Skipping meals
Intense physical activity
Medication
Irregular sleep patterns
Changes in weather
Diagnosis & Treatment
In diagnosing migraines, health care providers usually evaluate the patient’s symptoms by taking their medical history and having them undergo a physical and neurological exam. To rule out other conditions that could be irrelevant to the migraine, other tests may be prescribed like blood tests, an MRI, a CT scan, and more.
The standard treatments for migraines mostly revolve around prescribing medications such as pain relievers, triptan drugs, and ergotamine drugs to alleviate the symptoms. You may also be prescribed stress management strategies as preventive measures against migraines.
At First Choice Medical Center, our approach to treatment is all about using the most advanced and researched techniques to get to the root cause. Our goal is to help our patients eliminate their pain for good and fully restore their health.
If you wish to finally achieve lasting relief, request a consultation by calling us at (360) 575-8897 or by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3wHKdwh
Sources:
https://www.firstchoicemedical.us/migraine-relief
https://www.ihateheadaches.org/headache-statistics
https://medlineplus.gov/migraine.html
https://www.webmd.com/migraines-headaches/migraines-headaches-migraines
https://www.healthline.com/health/migraine#Migraine-treatment
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/migraine-headache/symptoms-causes/syc-20360201#:~:text=A%20migraine%20is%20a%20headache,sensitivity%20to%20light%20and%20sound.
https://www.firstchoicemedical.us/migraine-relief
Knee pain is one of the most common joint conditions in the world. It affects roughly 25% of adults, and its prevalence has significantly increased—over 65% in the last 2 decades alone.
Though people of all ages can sustain some type of knee pain in their lifetime, it’s usually older adults who are more susceptible. Why? It’s because the protective tissue in the knee that supports the joint, aka cartilage, naturally degrades with age.
Besides the elderly, other groups may also be at risk of knee pain. These include people who regularly participate in high-impact sports, those with weight issues or underlying health conditions such as arthritis, gout, and infections, as well as women—specifically those who are pregnant or have recently undergone labor.
Our knees are crucial to our overall mobility and ability to perform our daily tasks. Knee pain may grow worse over time, but early treatment can help greatly—which is why it’s so important to understand this condition and its causes.
About the Knee
The knee is one of the most stressed joints in the body. It absorbs a lot of regular shocks due to commonplace activities such as walking, jumping, and running. Because of this, it has a unique structure.
Unlike the other joints in the body, which only involve two bones moving against each other, the knee is comprised of three parts:
● The tibia (shin bone)
● The femur (thigh bone)
● The patella (kneecap)
To help regulate the tension between these parts, there is also a protective layer of cartilage that absorbs the shocks generated by our movements. Knee pain occurs when the cartilage is worn down and unable to cushion the knee.
Symptoms & Causes
Due to the structure of the knee, symptoms of knee pain can vary. The most obvious way to tell, of course, is a feeling of weakness and instability in your knee when you move it.
The other symptoms often consist of:
● Difficulty bending the knee
● Inability to extend the knee
● Redness
● Swelling
● Popping or crunching sounds
● Shifting weight to the opposite knee and foot
The causes of knee pain can also vary but generally fall under a few broad categories. Most cases of knee pain stem from injuries, mechanical problems, and medical conditions like arthritis and gout.
Here are some of the other common causes of knee pain:
Mechanical Problems
● Loose Body – Because of injuries or damages to the knee, there are instances when small fragments of bone or cartilage get loose and move freely in the joint space. When these fragments get caught in flexion or extension movements, they may cause sudden pain. Joint mobility can decline drastically, ultimately leading to further damage to the articular cartilage.
● Iliotibial band syndrome – The iliotibial band is a tough band of tissue that connects the outer part of the knee to the hip. Iliotibial band syndrome occurs when overuse of the knee causes the band to tighten, making it rub against the outer part of the femur and causing the knee to swell.
● Dislocated kneecap – Usually occurring in the outer part of the knee, one experiences dislocated kneecaps when the triangular bone that encloses the patella moves out of place.
● Hip or foot pain – Responsible for stabilizing the body and knee joints when in motion, the hip and foot play significant roles in walking and running. When these get damaged, further stress is put on the knee joint to compensate, which causes discomfort and even pain.
Injuries
● Anterior Cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries – The ACL is a strong ligament that connects the thigh to the shin bone. It can be torn or sprained by participating in sports activities that involve sudden, pivoting movements, such as basketball, football, and skiing.
● Fractures – Everyone’s at risk of being involved in falls and accidents. And unfortunately, knee fractures are common outcomes of this.
● Torn meniscus – The meniscus is C-shaped cartilage that provides a cushion for the knee, absorbing shocks that occur between the femur and tibia when we walk, run, or jump. It gets torn when sudden twists occur within the knee while bearing weight.
● Knee bursitis – The bursae are small sacs of fluid that cushion the outer part of the knee joint, allowing the tendons and ligaments to move smoothly across the joint. Knee bursitis occurs when overuse, infections, or arthritis swells up these sacs.
● Patellar tendinitis – Occurs when the patellar tendon, the one responsible for connecting the shinbone to the thigh’s front muscles, experiences swelling and pain.
How We Treat Knee Pain
Here at First Choice Medical Center, our treatment for knee pain revolves around Regenerative Medicine, which makes use of the body’s natural healing mechanisms.
Unlike surgery and medications that don’t promote long-term healing and even pose further health risks, regenerative medicine is science-backed and safe. In fact, it has recently made significant leaps in the field of orthopedics, sports medicine, and integrative physical medicine!
If you wish to learn more about our regenerative medicine treatments, click here.
And if you’re currently suffering from knee pain, and wish to get back to doing the things you love the most, living a healthy lifestyle without having to risk surgery and other harmful drugs, you can schedule a consultation by clicking here.
FIRST CHOICE MEDICAL CENTER
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Our mission is to restore spinal and joint function in a medically integrated clinic by using cutting-edge regenerative therapies and functional rehabilitation.
We specialize in chronic cases such as neck and back pain, headaches, and peripheral neuropathy, knee and shoulder pain.
OUR HEAD CLINIC
1157 3rd Avenue #145
Longview, WA 98632
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from 9.30 AM to 5.30 PM
© 2022 | FIRST CHOICE MEDICAL CENTER
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Our mission is to restore spinal and joint function in a medically integrated clinic by using cutting-edge regenerative therapies and functional rehabilitation.
We specialize in chronic cases such as neck and back pain, headaches, and peripheral neuropathy, knee and shoulder pain.
OUR HEAD CLINIC
1157 3rd Avenue #145
Longview, WA 98632
Our hours of operation are Mondays to Thursdays from 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM and 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM
© 2024 | FIRST CHOICE MEDICAL CENTER | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.