Last month, we talked about the foods said to be associated with pain relief. Now, we’re going to look at the opposite side of the spectrum – foods you should avoid if you have frequent or chronic pain.

If you suffer from chronic pain, stay away from foods belonging to the class nightshades, says Susan Cohen, author of the national column Dear Pharmacist. Plants that are part of the Solanaceae family, nightshades are “known to ignite pain in the muscles, joints and nerves.” Common nightshades include:

• eggplant
• white potatoes (potato starches are found in many medications)
• tomatoes
• peppers
• Tabasco sauce
• goji berries
• Cape gooseberries
• ground cherries
• garden huckleberries

These foods may be tasty but, according to Susan, they are responsible for “lighting the body’s pain fuse: muscle spasm, aches, joint pain, tenderness, hip pain, inflammation and stiff movement.”

So, try to avoid these foods and find substitutes (e.g. sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes) – your body will thank you!

Exercise is more than a way to lose weight. Movement can help reduce pain by strengthening muscles and keeping joints loose.

Here are some tips to help get you moving and find pain relief through exercise:

• Start slowly and ease yourself into a routine if you haven’t exercised in a while. Build yourself up gradually and you should notice better range of movement and increased strength.

• Low-impact exercises like swimming, stretching, gentle weight lifting, yoga and walking that are gentle on your joints is a good choice.

• Remember that exercise need not include the gym. Cleaning the house, raking leaves and playing actively with your kids all count as movement.

Don’t forget to pace yourself! On days when you’re not feeling your best, choose easy, slower activities and don’t be hard on yourself if you need to take a break.

*Consult with your doctor prior to beginning a new exercise regimen.

Clear Passage has opened a clinic in Denver, CO.

Clear Passage Physical Therapy^®, a national network of clinics providing a unique manual therapy for infertility, bowel obstruction and adhesion-related conditions, will open a location in Metropolitan Denver on May 14, 2012. The new clinic, Clear Passage’s fifth location, will enable more patients in the western U.S. to receive the Wurn Technique^®, a pioneering non-surgical treatment. Featured in several major medical journals, the natural hands-on therapy has been found to be an effective adjunct to traditional care, and an alternative to major surgery.

“The Denver-area location will allow us to bring our therapy to more patients, helping them return to normal function and a pain-free life. A number of patients based in the western part of the country will now have a shorter distance to travel to their nearest Clear Passage clinic,” said National Director of Services, Belinda Wurn, PT. With demand for Clear Passage’s unique therapy on the rise, the pre-opening waiting list for the new clinic continues to grow.

Bringing 12 years of physical therapy experience to the Clear Passage family, Michele Forsberg, PT will lead the Denver clinic. She will provide the Wurn Technique^® to those suffering from infertility, chronic pain, small bowel obstruction and other conditions previously seen as treatable only with surgery or drugs. “We have such a broad reach,” Forsberg said. “We are helping give hope to infertile women and are saving lives for people with debilitating, painful, even life-threatening conditions like bowel obstruction.”

Featured in numerous medical journals, the Wurn Technique^® is a protocol of more than 200 manual techniques to decrease adhesions – internal scars that form whenever and wherever the body heals. Some conditions caused by adhesions, such as bowel obstruction, are life-threatening. In addition to rehabilitating patients, Michele will play a role in Clear Passage’s ongoing research of non-surgical treatments for these conditions.

Not in the Denver area? Find out more about our other clinic locations.

The latest buzz in the world of sexual health is the potential discovery of the female G-spot. With many believing it to be a major trigger for enhancing female orgasm and others claiming it doesn’t exist, the elusive G-spot has been the subject of debate for years.

The discovery was made by Dr. Adam Ostrzenski, a gynecologist in St. Petersburg, Fla. He describes the G-spot as a “bluish grape-like composition” with a distinct head, middle and tail, along with a rope-like vessel emerging from the tail into the surrounding tissue. It is located in the dorsal perineal membrane of the front vaginal wall, says Dr. Ostrzenski.

Not everyone is convinced that Dr. Osrtrzenski is on the cusp of groundbreaking discovery, arguing that he found it in only one woman — if at all. This will certainly be an interesting story to keep an eye on!

Find out how Clear Passage Physical Therapy can improve sexual function.

Read more here.

Seeing women from across the nation join together in honor of National Infertility Awareness Week has been a true inspiration. Earlier this afternoon, Redbook Magazine hosted an excellent discussion on infertility on its Facebook page. The conversation was led by Keiko Zoll, author of the well-known blog The Infertility Voice.

Here are some highlights of the conversation: (Click to enlarge pictures)

Infertility etiquette, i.e. what not to say to

friends struggling from infertility

 Why do you think it’s so hard to

talk about infertility?

This year’s theme of NIAW is Don’t Ignore.

What are things we shouldn’t ignore about infertility?

Where do you find support?

The event was a clear win-win for the infertility community. In addition to providing a forum for important questions, it helped benefit RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association – one of the event sponsors agreed to donate funds to RESOLVE based on how poplar/active the discussion became.

DON’T FORGET!

Only TWO days left to enter our #blundleofhope giveaway. More details here: http://bit.ly/Hutcna