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TheraBand FlexBar is a strengthening tool that can be used to relieve the pain of tennis elbow. Treatment of tennis elbow includes avoidance of movements that exacerbate the problem, combined with strengthening exercises. Studies Support Treating Tennis Elbow With Eccentric Exercise A study presented at the American Society of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting and later published in the North American Journal of Sports and Physical Therapy examined people who had persistent tennis elbow despite conservative management....

“Urticaria” is the medical term for hives, which are red, itchy welts that can appear on the skin, sometimes accompanied by swelling. Hives can be caused by an allergic reaction, but some hives can appear without any known reason. Hives usually disappear in about a day, but some hives can remain for weeks and require analysis by a doctor. This article covers the types of hives, their symptoms, how to treat hives, and how to prevent them from reappearing....

Vacuum therapy is a noninvasive procedure that increases circulation to the buttocks, to “lift” your buttocks and make the skin appear smoother and firmer. This treatment can also break down fat tissue and cellulite, and remove toxins from your muscles. Vacuum therapy uses suction and mechanical massage to temporarily make your buttocks look firmer and more toned. This article discusses vacuum therapy for the buttocks—how it works, possible benefits, potential side effects, what to expect during treatment, and where to find these services....

Joint load is a term that often appears in osteoarthritis studies, especially those pertaining to knee osteoarthritis. Joint load refers to the force put on a weight-bearing or load-bearing joint during activity. Researchers are trying to determine the impact of joint load on the pathology or progression of osteoarthritis. In other words, does decreasing joint load slow the progression of osteoarthritis? What can help to decrease joint load? Joint Load and Knee Osteoarthritis Let’s look at knee osteoarthritis since the knee is the joint most commonly affected by the disease; it’s also a weight-bearing joint....

Shingles reactivation is more common in those more than 50 years old, with a weakened immune system, or those who are experiencing physical or emotional stress. This article addresses what causes shingles to activate. Shingles Causes Most people develop shingles after they have recovered from a bout of chickenpox in their childhood. The main culprit, the varicella-zoster virus, remains dormant (inactive) in the nervous system and reactivates when triggered. The exact triggers of VZV reactivation and the mechanism by which this happens are unknown, but the following risk factors have been shown to put you at higher risk of developing a shingles outbreak:...

Generalized osteoarthritis is a subset of osteoarthritis in which three or more joints or groups of joints are affected. It is often referred to as GOA and may be referred to as polyarticular osteoarthritis and multi-joint osteoarthritis. Your condition may be categorized as generalized osteoarthritis if it appears in multiple areas, almost always including the hand. If you have generalized osteoarthritis, you are more likely to face challenges with function, disability, and quality of life....

Allergic reactions are one of those classic pediatric conditions that often scare parents, even when they are causing mild symptoms. Perhaps it is because most allergy symptoms, especially when caused by a food allergy, insect sting, or allergy to a medication, typically come on suddenly and can cause symptoms that parents aren’t used to seeing. Classic Allergy Symptoms Classic allergy symptoms and signs, some mild and some more severe, can include:...

Achilles tendinosis is a common problem. It is a chronic condition that is characterized by microscopic tears of the Achilles tendon. The damage can be treated with rest, exercise, and sometimes with surgery. Achilles tendinosis is often confused with Achilles tendonitis, which is acute (sudden onset) inflammation of the tendon. Distinguishing these conditions is important to ensure proper treatment. Inflammation vs. Degeneration Tendonitis and tendinosis have some overlapping features, as well as important differences....

Verywell Health: How do environmental and lifestyle factors impact skin conditions? This article is part of Health Divide: Skin Conditions and Darker Skin, a destination in our Health Divide series. Dr. Woolery-Lloyd: One of the biggest environmental factors for skin disease is stress. This is especially true for inflammatory skin diseases that have flares, like psoriasis, eczema, rosacea, and even certain types of hair loss. So, although stress doesn’t cause any of these skin conditions, stress can make them worse and exacerbate symptoms like itching....

Bigeminy is a cardiac rhythm where a normal heartbeat alternates with an abnormal beat. The normal beats typically come from the heart’s internal pacemaker (sinus node). The irregular beats are generated by other areas of the heart (ectopic beats). When your heart beats, an electrical signal is sent through the heart to pump blood throughout your body. With abnormal beats, you may only have electrical activity without the blood pumping when you may have skipped a beat....

Broca’s aphasia is a type of aphasia characterized by a lack of fluency of speech, usually with preserved language comprehension. Aphasia Aphasia, the loss of language ability, results from a language problem acquired after normal language was already established. It is described as an acquired language deficit, in contrast with developmental language deficits, which prevent a person from developing normal language abilities in the first place. It has been estimated that about one million people in the United States suffer from aphasia....

Mushrooms are small or large fungi that have distinctive fruiting bodies and grow above or below ground. Edible mushrooms are increasingly becoming part of a healthy diet, and you have likely seen a few varieties of these in the grocery store or on the menu in your favorite restaurants. Although they are mostly used in cooking, some mushrooms have been used in Greek and Chinese traditional medicine to treat certain medical conditions, such as inflammation, fatigue, or infection....

Causes of shoulder pain and weakness can vary in both younger and older people. You might experience minor “clicks” and aches or have persistent, debilitating pain and severe restriction of motion. While injury and arthritis are among the more common causes of shoulder weakness and pain, there are other conditions that can give rise to these symptoms. They include shoulder impingement, rotator cuff tears, and shoulder inflammation. Shoulder Impingement Shoulder impingement syndrome (also known as swimmer’s shoulder or thrower’s shoulder) is caused by irritation and inflammation of the rotator cuff’s tendons or bursa as they pass through a space just below the scapula, called the subacromial space....

At a time when we have become so concerned about the overuse of antibiotics, healthcare providers have to become just as vigilant in only prescribing them when needed. To do so, they would need to make their selection based on five basic criteria: effectiveness, appropriateness, cost, ease of use, and avoidance of side effects. To determine the antibiotic appropriate to your infection, your healthcare provider would consider the following: The Type of Bacteria Involved Bacteria are divided into two types depending on their external structure:...

If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and advised to use CPAP, you may be overwhelmed about how to choose a mask and be left wondering what nasal pillows are. This style of CPAP mask may be just the interface you need to overcome certain problems tolerating CPAP, such as claustrophobia and air leaks. Discover whether nasal pillows CPAP masks are right for you and how to select the best one....

Cupping is a treatment for pain that, like acupuncture, comes to us from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Experts say it’s been used since the fourth century. Fast forward 1,700 years or so, and cupping is gaining public acceptance and the attention of some medical practitioners in the West. Awareness was dramatically heightened when U.S. swimmer extraordinaire Michael Phelps showed up at a 2016 Olympic event in Rio with round hickey-like marks all down his back....

Cyclic neutropenia is an inherited condition where the neutrophil count (white blood cell that fights bacterial infections) becomes severely low on a cycle of approximately every 21 days. It usually presents in the first year of life. The cycles decrease with age and it can disappear in some adult patients. Symptoms Symptoms generally lag behind the neutropenia (low neutrophil count), meaning the neutrophil count has already been extremely low for a couple of days prior to the development of symptoms....

A dermatofibroma is a benign skin bump that occurs most commonly on the legs. Dermatofibromas are firm, usually dome-shaped growths that range from brownish to purplish-red in color. (In light-skinnned people, they are typically pink to light brown; in dark-skinned people, they are dark brown or black.) They can begin as red and later change to brown. While common on the legs, they can be found throughout the body but especially on exposed parts, like the arms and the upper back....

Caffeine is a natural stimulant found in the nuts, berries, and leaves of certain plants. Caffeine is most commonly consumed as coffee or tea products, and some have estimated that these beverages may be the most widely consumed foods in the world. Because caffeine is so common in all human cultures, a great deal of research has been done to discover the health effects of caffeine. Relationships between caffeine and heart disease, as well as the caffeine-blood pressure link, have been especially active fields of study....

Endourology refers to a specific specialty area in urology in which small internal endoscopes and instrumentation are used to see into the urinary tract and perform surgery. Urology is a surgical specialty which deals with diseases of the male and female urinary tract and the male reproductive organs. Although urology technically is a “surgical specialty,” a urologist must be knowledgeable in other areas including internal medicine, pediatrics, and gynecology because of the wide variety of clinical problems that a urologist deals with....