Lower Back Pain (LBP) is one of the few ‘sure’ things in life.  Well, it’s almost a sure thing…there’s about an 80% chance you will have an episode of LBP at some point in your life.  And, once you’ve had an episode, you are much more likely to have one or more repeat episodes.  We’ve known this for 20+ years now, yet the statistics have not changed…so why can’t we do anything about it?

In a word, YES.  But like most things in life, flexibility is a relative term and its importance really depends upon what activities you are performing.  Different activities have very different demands and our bodies respond to our training by improving in the areas that we stress them.  This is called specific adaptation to imposed demands and is really why when we lift weights we get stronger, when we run we get in better cardiovascular and aerobic condition, etc.  Our bodies respond by getting bigger, looser, stronger and more efficient.  Likewise, when we stop training our bodies respond by getting smaller, tighter, weaker and terribly inefficient!

Pain in your shoulder is making you search for an answer.  Most likely you either fell and landed on your outstretched arm to break your fall or someone told you that you separated your shoulder (sometimes called a sprain.)  Either way, let’s see why you have shoulder pain and what it means to have a separated shoulder.

“That’s not possible, I don’t play golf!”  Pain on the inside of the elbow is commonly referred to as Golfer’s Elbow but you don’t need to play golf to be (un)lucky enough to get it!  Pain can range from an ache in the bulky part of the forearm muscles to severe pain at the bony part on the inside of the elbow.  Some people have no pain or a dull ache at rest but most have sharp pain with use.  Understanding this condition will help you address the problem and, hopefully, get rid of the pain.

Having tennis elbow doesn’t necessarily mean that you play tennis!  In fact, it is medically known as lateral epicondylitis.  A painful elbow can affect almost all activities you perform throughout your day.  From shifting your car to lifting a gallon of milk our of the refrigerator, nearly every motion that involves grasping something while moving your arm and elbow will result in pain.

Being injured is NOT fun!  Your immediate concerns are usually, “How can I get the pain to go away?” or “When will I be able to get back to normal?”  These are great questions and we address them in separate articles.  But you also need to be thinking more actively (and proactively) about what you can do to help the process along as quickly as possible.

Your alarm goes off and you don't even need to hit snooze!  You hop right out of bed but as soon as your foot hits the floor you let out an "OWWWWW!"  There is a sharp pain on the bottom of your foot, right near your heel, that makes you jerk your foot up off the floor and want to crawl back into bed!  Finally, you work up the courage to put your foot back down and now, more gingerly, you hobble across the floor to start your day. What could possibly cause such a sharp pain?  What can you do to get rid of it?

You are running full speed, you plant your foot to cut left and spin around a defender…when you feel that pain on the outside of your ankle that stops you from taking another step.  Or, maybe you were walking across the room and tripped on the carpet.  Either way, you’ve sprained your ankle and…it hurts (but you already knew that!)  Keep in mind that swelling is not necessarily a good indicator of how badly your sprain is, so don’t focus too much on it.