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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

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What is carpal tunnel syndrome?

Carpal tunnel syndrome is numbness, tingling, weakness, and other problems in your hand because of pressure on the median nerve.

What causes carpal tunnel syndrome?

The pressure on the median nerve can come from swelling or anything that makes the carpal tunnel smaller. Although there are many causes, some of the most common are repetitive movement’s of the wrist and hand (like typing) or a misalignment of the shoulder, elbow or wrist. Some other causes include: rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and other inflammatory conditions.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms most often occur in the thumb, index finger, middle finger, and half of the ring finger. If you have problems with your other fingers but your little finger is fine, this may be a sign that you have carpal tunnel syndrome. A different nerve gives feeling to the little finger.

Tingling, numbness, weakness, or pain in the fingers or hand. Some people may have pain in their arm between their hand and their elbow.

How is it treated?

There are many treatments available that provide temporary relief such as anti-inflammatories, rest, icing, etc. However, at Tamarindo Muscle Therapy we believe it’s important to get to the root of the problem.

In carpal tunnel syndrome, although much of the focus may be on the wrist area, more than one structure may be involved, the probability of other muscles being out of balance is high. Typically people with carpal tunnel syndrome will present with an internal rotation of shoulder and arm affecting the nerve that supplies the sensation in the carpal tunnel that originates in the neck and shoulder area. It is important to release any scar tissue along the entire nerve pathway.

The Koontzin method has been very effective in treating this condition through stretching and specific manual manipulation of the soft tissue. This method relieves pressure and pain and provides a more permanent solution by treating the cause and not just the symptom.

5 most common muscle injuries that people in their 40’s experience

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  1. Tennis Elbow (and other weekend warrior injuries). After 40, repetitive strain and sports injuries tend to be #1 reason people visit orthopedists. Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is one of the most common of these complaints. This overuse injury affects the tendons in the outside of the elbow joint. If you’re experiencing weak grip strength and a painful soreness or burning sensation in the outside of the elbow, you may have this condition. Tennis elbow can be a sports injury, but it can also be caused by knitting, using a computer mouse, typing, doing yard work, or playing a musical instrument. Anything you do over and over, for hours at a time, can lead to an overuse injury like tennis elbow.
  2. Tendonitis in other parts of the body is also commonly seen in people over 40 — for example, wrist and forearm tendonitis and Achilles tendonitis.
  3. Lower back problems. Many people (especially men) develop back problems in their 40s, due to a combination of risk factors including a sedentary lifestyle, obesity, arthritis, and a loss of bone density.  Sciatica (a nerve issue that leads to numbness and discomfort in the hips and legs) is also a common complaint in both men and women.
  4. Rotator cuff tears. Athletes and people middle-aged and older are more likely to sustain this common injury. The rotator cuff is the part of your shoulder joint that allows you to lift and rotate your arm. Over time, normal wear and tear in the shoulder joints weaken the dominant shoulder, especially in people who perform frequent tasks that require overhead motions (for example, swinging a hammer, painting walls, or throwing a ball). About 2 million people per year sustain this injury. If you have a sore shoulder or limited mobility, it might be time to visit a specialist.
  5. ACL tears and Meniscus tears. Age-related tissue degeneration makes the knee joint particularly susceptible to injury. If you’ve put on extra weight as you’ve gotten older, this added stress can also contribute to knee problems. Due to biomechanics, hormonal changes, and some medications, women are anywhere from two to 10 times as likely as men to sustain ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears and ruptures — and this likelihood increases after 40. ACL tears and ruptures can happen when you land awkwardly after jumping, when you pivot or twist your body with your feet in a fixed position, or when you sustain an impact to your knees while your feet are planted. As for meniscus tears, after 30, both men and women alike are prone to damaging the rubbery, disc-shaped “shock absorber” cartilage inside the knee joint. Meniscus (cartilage) tears can happen playing sports, but many people over 30 tear their menisci doing everyday activities like climbing and descending stairs, hiking, kneeling or squatting, or walking on cobblestones or a rough terrain. Even getting out of a chair awkwardly can tear this cartilage.So what can be done? All of these injuries can be treated naturally or even prevented using the Koontzin technique, a neuromuscular technique focused on structural alignment and soft tissue health. At times supplements and dietary changes are in order, nevertheless, if you are experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned above it is time for a tune up.At Tamarindo Muscle Therapy we take a look at your overall health and wellbeing. Through the Koontzin technique, we ensure your muscles and ligaments are flexible and firing properly without restriction, which helps prevent overuse injuries from ever happening. However, if you’re currently dealing with one of these injuries it’s not too late…come in for a free consultation and learn about our different treatment plans.

Benefits of Immunocal

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What is Immunocal?

Immunocal, also known as HMS90 is a Humanized Milk Serum 90% Milk Protein. This is a concentrated whey protein isolate. Raw, non GMO and loctose free, Immunocal is very high in the essential amino acids your body needs to create glutathione.

What is Glutathione?glutathione

Glutathione (GSH) is a word that many people are still not familiar with, but given that there are over 100,000 medical and scientific journal articles written on this subject to date, it is one of those terms that will eventually work its way into our common everyday language. One of the reasons for GSH’s increasing popularity, is that it exists in every cell of your body and is essential for life and critical for health.

One common myth about glutathione is that you can eat glutathione and consequently raise your body’s GSH levels. Untrue. Eating glutathione supplements or foods rich in glutathione will not do the trick. Most of it will end up being broken down in your digestive tract and eliminated. Since glutathione is made within your cells, what needs to be accomplished is delivering the building blocks (“precursors”) of GSH to the cells themselves. The hardest glutathione precursor to find in our diet is the amino acid “cysteine” which must be in a form that survives the trip from your mouth to your living cells. This is not as easy as it sounds.

In nature, this usable form of cysteine can be found in eggs, but the eggs must be raw, otherwise the proteins that carry the cysteine are changed by heat and lose their efficiency as a “cysteine delivery vehicle”. Another good source would be meat, but again, the meat would need to be raw to be a competent source of cysteine. Aside from a well-prepared steak tartar, safe sources of raw meat are not abundant. What about vegetables? You guessed it. Raw cruciferous veggies are a decent source, but you would have to eat a whole bunch of broccoli with all the gaseous consequences your spouse will suffer.

Whey, a protein fraction of milk, is a source of glutathione precursors. The glutathione building blocks in whey are very fragile, but techniques to extract these valuable proteins have been developed. Researchers at McGill University had started investigating these GSH precursors as early as the 1980’s. The original research team headed by Dr. Gustavo Bounous eventually formed a private enterprise to further develop and market these glutathione building blocks. They adopted the trade name “Immunocal” for the eventual formulation and Immunotec continues to enhance this product. Immunocal is a natural source of the glutathione precursor cysteine for the maintenance of a strong immune system.

Discovery of the Health Benefits of Immunocal

immunocalAt the beginning of the 70’s, under the direction of Gustavo Bounous, MD, (FRCSC), a team of researchers from the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University (Canada), was studying proteins of animal and vegetable origins in order to feed the patients with an elemental diet that would allow them to reduce their stay in hospital.

Since 1978, their studies had been focusing on whey proteins. This work led to the surprising discovery that a specific undenatured whey protein concentrate helped to sustain optimal glutathione levels. Subsequent identification of the active ingredients present in this protein mixture led in 1993 to the production of a high-quality bioactive protein that was given the name Immunocal.

This research was supported by the Medical Research Council of Canada and the National Institutes of Health in the United States. The observed effects of Immunocal which have been discovered at McGill University have been evaluated by numerous independent research centers worldwide, notable in Germany, Japan, Australia, France, United States and in Nova Scotia (Canada).

Interested in Immunocal?

Contact us for more information, pricing and shipping details. We work with a supplier in San Jose and can help you determine if Immunocal is right for you.

What is scar tissue?

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Scar tissue is formed as part of the normal healing process. It inevitably forms whenever our body’s tissue is damaged. Most people understand scars that form as a result of a cut, as they are easy to see, but scars also form internally when we injure our muscles, ligaments and tendons.

Unfortunately, scar tissue is not as functional as the tissue that it replaces. Normal tissue in the body has a consistent form and our healthy skeletal muscle tissue is formed of collagen that sits in a striated fashion (lined up parallel to one another). It allows for normal contraction and flexibility.

When scar tissue forms after injury, our body produces collagen excessively. The initial production of granulation is necessary to provide tensile strength to the injury site. In certain circumstances, the granulation leads to contraction of the scar and to poor structural organisation of the components of regenerating muscle and scar tissue. This leads to a lack of flexibility in the tissue and often this poor structural organization can cause pain and dysfunction.

We like to use a paint brush as an example. If we take the correct steps to store the brush after use, we can pull out the brush and use it easily for our next project. The brush starts out as a soft, supple parallel group of bristles that can bend easily in many directions. If we simply let the bristles dry, they start to bind to one another and the brush loses its flexibility and function. The brush cracks and bends irregularly. At this point more care is required to rehabilitate the brush and get it back to work. Hence early diagnosis and treatment of the brush is a necessity.

It is important to know that all injured tissue will develop scarring to some extent. When the scarring prevents normal function of the affected tissue or joint, pain or restricted function exists.