Neck Pain Treatments,Women's Self Empowerment, and Story Telling

Have you ever experienced a pain in your neck?  No, I am not referring to one of your associates.  Seriously, what do you do when you get a pain in your neck?  Some choices, of course, include doing nothing; visiting a doctor to get a prescription; going to the drugstore to get ibuprofen or something; making an appointment with your chiropractor; or do some exercises or stretching at home.  Thank goodness for the federal government because they set up the first federally funded study on different back pain treatments.  Any guesses as to what is the best or most effective form of treatment for a pain in neck?

Some 272 people in the state of Minnesota reported they had neck pain without a specific cause for a least two weeks and no longer than three months.  These 272 people were divided into three control groups.  One treatment group used spinal manipulation, the second -home exercise, and the third medication.  They were then evaluated after 12 weeks of treatment.  The findings were that both spinal manipulation and home exercises were about equally effective at relieving that pain, and both were better than medications alone at different points during the study.  These findings suggest seeing a good chiropractor for neck pain. As far as stretching goes, I recommend purchasing the” Bible”-Bob Anderson’s book on Stretching.  In his book, there is a picture of the human body, accompanied by pictures and the written word on how to stretch.  This book is excellent. Remember, self- empowerment is a good thing - especially if your a women or man. This article was found in the Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2012.

Of course a related treatment issue has to do with third-party payment.  Would your insurance pay for you to see a chiropractor?  If not, consider going to your medical doctor and getting a referral to a good physical therapist.  If you are in the durance capital world, I would recommend Matt Lambert, in Auburn as far as chiropractic treatment goes.  The physical therapist that I recommend is James Kreutz in Cool. Both of these men have been very helpful in assisting me   with my running related issues and injuries.

I am inviting you tonight to Mel’s diner located at 1730 Grass Valley Hwy. in Auburn, California at 7 PM.  I am attending my first Open Mic for the Spoken Word.  I plan on reading about my first ride and tie found in Chapter 3 of “It Has Nothing To Do With Age.” on January 13 at the Barnes & Noble booksellers in Citrus Heights, I plan to attend another open Mic experience.  This one is affiliated with the California Writers Club, Sacramento Branch.  Their website is CWC Sacramento writers.org.  I will let you know how it goes.

Secretariat is coming over in a little while and we are going to do our morning run.  He had a meeting last Tuesday so we did not run on that day.  Looking forward to today’s run.

"The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them."– Bernard Baruch