Do you get dizzy every time you look left, right or up? Or feel “off” every time you shoulder check? If so, you may be suffering from cervicogenic dizziness. While this condition can be frustrating, understanding its cause and treatment options can help you find relief.
Do These 5 Things After a Concussion if You NEVER Want to Get Better
Do These 5 Things After a Concussion if You NEVER Want to Get Better
Here’s the scene: a guys’ weekend in Banff with all the fun things that they like to do in the mountains – snowboarding, nachos, steak dinners, and a couple (or perhaps more) of adult beverages. All was going well until noon on the second day of snowboarding. I came ripping down a black diamond run, dodging trees and flying over a couple of steep rollers – you know, on the border between chaos and control. Before I knew it, I had hit the ground hard enough to have a garage sale on the side of the mountain. To non-snowboarders, a “garage sale” is when you wipe out so badly that your equipment goes flying in all directions. Such an epic crash leaves you dazed, laying on the snow, and wondering if your limbs are still attached to your body. In my case, I was thankfully still in one piece and not bleeding, but my wits were definitely not still with me. The wind had been knocked out of my chest, leaving me unable to call to my snowboarding buddy as he casually made his way down the mountain oblivious to my condition. Thus I was on my own to pick myself up and get back to the safety of the ski lodge. Unfortunately, I had trouble staying vertical and I quickly realized my head had taken a bad knock.
Welp, thanks, good ole “friend”. Great help you are leaving me on the side of a mountain with a concussion. At least my sarcasm was still intact. [Read more…]
So you crashed your car…Now what??
So you crashed your car…Now what??
You drive so carefully, never speed through school zones, never change lanes in an intersection, never tailgate and always pay attention in parking lots… and yet here you are… a dump truck ran over your VW beetle or some new driver decided to not yield to oncoming traffic and you’ve totalled your car and your neck is screaming in pain!
I Don’t Play Tennis…. How Can I have Tennis Elbow?!
I Don’t Play Tennis…. How Can I have Tennis Elbow?!
Once upon a time, I had a friend I played tennis with. We used to go out a few times per year and re-learn on each occasion that we were quite terrible at the game. Even during our warm-up rallies, we consistently hit every ball over the fence. After we had fished them out of the bushes, we carefully selected the balls we liked the best, deluding ourselves that it would improve our game. Then off we went, playing our hearts out like it was the Wimbledon final.
Once we remembered how the scoring worked (how the word “love” makes it onto a scoreboard is still beyond me), we would slog through our game. Picture this: two middle-aged men running all over the court, sweating and swearing profusely, and occasionally managing a half-decent shot. Our serves (mostly into the net), our forehands (mostly bouncing well beyond the baseline), and the awkward-looking backhand (that never went anywhere but into the stratosphere) all had the coordination and grace of a newborn giraffe taking its first steps. We would have been embarrassed if we weren’t so mad at our rackets for hitting our shots in the wrong direction. Before long, we would end our tennis match exhausted, and yet strangely satisfied that we managed to hit the ball over the net enough times to complete a full game.
As the years went on with our tri-annual matches, we never suffered any worse injuries worse than the occasional blister on our feet. Despite our dismal fitness, not once did we ever get the eponymously-named Tennis Elbow.
However, five years later I got a text from my former tennis buddy, saying, “I can’t believe it. I have lateral epicondylitis and it’s driving me nuts. WTF?! It’s been years since I swung a racket!” [Read more…]