elbow pain

I am housewife, suffering from a pain in the elbow for the past couple of years. It becomes acute especially while rinsing clothes. Please advise me a remedy.

Most probably you are suffering from a symptom called tennis elbow. It is caused mainly due to repetitive movements over a period of time. Please check your blood-sugar levels. High level of sugar in the blood aggravates the pain. It is usually cured by physiotherapy. However, if the pain persists, consult an orthopaedic surgeon who will give you some medicine. In some cases, the pain persists even after medication. In such cases, doctors prescribe local steroid injections. These injections are not harmful. In rare cases, say for two to three per cent, the pain reaches such an acute level that it has to be treated through a minor surgery. In your case, you can consult a physiotherapist first. If the pain continues, you will have to consult an orthopaedic surgeon.

pain in feet

I am a middle-aged man working for a multinational firm. For the past few months, I have been suffering from pain in both the feet. It is acute when I get up in the morning. It starts at the heel and spreads along the feet. Will you please show me a way out of this trouble?

These are known as planter fascitis. The pain also starts if one is sitting for a long time. It is likely when one is over-weight. The other possible causes of this kind of pain is bad foot-wear and damaged long-arch that leads to partial tearing of the ligament. The first treatment of this type of pain is that the patient is advised to correct precipitating factors, if any, like losing weight. Morning walks, some free-hand exercises and swimming are the best way to shed the excess body weight. It is not clear whether your job is sedentary in nature. If it?s so, some of these exercises will help you remain fit. You can change your footwear to see if that cures the pain. Apply warm saline bath to your feet before going to bed in the night. If the pain is still not cured, you may contact a doctor for a proper guidance.

lower-back pain

I am a 27-year-old man working as a marketing executive for a public-sector company. My job involves a lot of touring. Yet I suffer from lower-back pain. After finishing my outdoor assignments, when I reach office and sit on my chair, for a few minutes I cannot sit straight due to the pain. I crouch on the chair for sometime and then slowly sit properly. Please help.

Wrong postures constitute more than 70 per cent of the causes for the back pain. It can also be due to ligament sprain. However, in some cases the mineral-content in bones starts depleting and the bones become weak and brittle (osteoporosis). As the body weight is supported by the spine, forward bending causes strain on the spine bone. So, do not bend forward. If you have to pick up something from the ground, kneel down keeping the spine straight as much as possible. Avoid half-lying positions without support on the lower back while watching television or reading the newspaper. You should also maintain the health of the bones by taking calcium and other supplements, if necessary.

pain in the neck

I am a 33-year-old lady working at a private bank. I have a severe pain on the neck, between my head and the spinal cord. The pain sometimes moves downwards to my left arm. Please advise me a remedy.

The primary reason for neck pain is wrong posture and lack of counter-exercises. Most of the sitting arrangements at offices are not ergonomical (not suitable for human anatomy), and the posture isn?t right for long hours. This causes the pain. Please correct the posture at your workplace, and then, if necessary, you can take medicines as well as do some free-hand exercises to counter the problems created by the posture at office. Physiotherapy also helps cure the pain. If the pain is neglected, it becomes acute, and then traction may be needed.