Not sure about yours, but my calendar is saying that summer is (gasp!) almost over! And while the underlying excitement of autumn’s sites and smells, routine schedules and child-free moments helps soften the blow, it’s always hard to say goodbye to such a carefree time of year like summer, is it not?
Well today you don’t have to. Because it’s Theme Day once again here at the b5 media Health & Wellness channel, and this month’s theme is all about eeking out that last bit of Summer Fun. Check out what our bloggers have to say:
We at Healthbolt believe that you …read more

Got Pain?
Then start fantasizing about all your favorite foods ’cause a new study has found that this seems to be a possible way of coping with chronic and acute pain.
The study had
“…60 healthy subjects to submerge their hand in icy water to determine their pain threshold and tolerance. During the second round, participants were instructed to imagine a favorite meal in detail, a neutral scene, such as people walking, or they were not instructed to fantasize about anything.”
The results, according to Dr. Hamid Hekmat, professor of psychology and lead author of the study, was that
‘…food fantasies such as imagining eating your …read more

Migraine suffers might soon have a new means of getting relief.
A new study has been examining the effectiveness of magnetic impulses on the brain to short circuit pain signals. These magnetic impulses are being sent to the brain by a transcranial magnetic stimulation device, a small hair dryer size machine that is held to the back the migraine sufferer’s head.
In this study,  researchers worked with 201 people who suffer from “migraine with aura” migraines. Half of them were given a genuine magnetic stimulation device and the other half a ‘pseudo’ magnetic stimulation device that was unable to provide a magnet current. …read more

Image details: Man working in yard served by picapp.com
‘Tis the season for firing up the lawnmower, breaking out the hedge trimmers and playing in the dirt. But any fool knows that a day in the yard can equal a day on the couch…in pain.
When the aches and pains of bending, walking, twisting, etc start working their unsavory magic on you, try these tips to ward off a back mishap.
* Grab the heating pad and hunker down. Johns Hopkins University reported that when patients with backaches wore heat wraps for 3 consecutive days, their pain levels decreased by 60%. What’s more, …read more

Phantom pain felt by amputees in their missing limbs is nothing new. This bizarre phenomenon has been around since at least the Civil War era. But as the U.S. marks its fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, we are finally seeing the emergence of a new and very unlikely source of phantom pain therapy: mirrors.
That’s right, mirrors. Dr. Jack Tsao, a Navy neurologist with the Uniform Services University remembered reading a paper in grad school which concluded that using a mirror to cast a reflection of the amputee’s remaining limb – which the amputee flexes and moves – tricks …read more

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Next time you find yourself with a needle barreling toward any one of your body parts, revert back to your toddler days and begin counting out loud to anyone who will listen. And why is that? Because Japanese researchers were good enough to find that counting may effectively numb you to injection pain. (I know, I know. This is a little after-the-fact, isn’t it Mr. Clemens?)
In fact, patients who counted out loud while receiving a poke reported no discomfort, as opposed to non-counters who experienced both stinging (during) and soreness (after) the pick.
So why such an odd prescription …read more

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Guys, if you think PMS is the worst thing about your lady’s “monthly visitor”, we have news for you, don’t we girls? Yep, underneath the exterior of our once-a-month bitchy wrath lies a whole other issue that you may not even know about…cramps.
As if it’s not bad enough we have to endure a week of Aunt Flow, we also have to be in pain besides. Now how is that fair? Um, it’s not. But hallelujah, now there are some fresh-from-nature fixes to ease us through. If you’re a guy, do yourself a favor and don’t click out. Keep reading …read more

If you’re susceptible to headaches, you know all too well how miserable they can be. Therefore, you do your best to avoid your likely triggers (which can include everything from caffeine, stress, eye strain, PMS and more). But, alas, there are still times when you’re blind-sided with an ‘ache even though you’ve done everything right. That ain’t even right…so, what gives?
The problem is, headache triggers can be hiding where you least expect them – even in the bedroom! Don’t believe it? Read on.
Unlikely Trigger #1 – Strong smells. Whether it’s a coworker’s perfume or a heavy duty air freshener, some …read more

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No doubt there are plenty of us experiencing the pains of a New Year’s hangover right about now (see remedies below). But sometimes our aches are of the chronic variety and are far less manageable than any headache brought on by our own debauchery. So, when pain starts to control us rather than us controlling our pain, where should we turn? To our health care provider, of course, but also to Help My Hurt, a sister blog here on the kick-ass b5 media Science & Health Channel.
Help My Hurt has recently been taken over by Registered Nurse Marijke …read more