June is a great month to listen to your body!

June is a great month to feel good and make new resolutions to listen to your body. I would love to address some of the common questions that come up with my patients and in practice. Often, a patient will ask, " I have this pain right here when I move like this, what is that?". Interestingly, when we answer that question, the answer is not arrived at quickly, but in fact, takes time including investigation into when a symptom or pain began, what we were doing when it began, what makes it better or worse, what relieves it, what kind of pain it is including differentiation of pain being sharp or dull, numb or tingling, weakness etc. Often times, people ignore pain until it gets more frequent or intense. This is not smart as pain, when addressed early can and most of the time does result in early resolution of a condition. In extreme cases we see pain ignored and dire consequences result including progression of conditions beyond the ability to help at all. Pain is our bodies way of communicating with us similar to a text message. By ignoring pain or taking pain medications that simply block pain signals, we are shutting off our bodies automatic alarm systems to alert us to something important going on. No matter what type of doctor your choose to consult, be sure to choose one that will take the time to come to a proper diagnosis and utilize conservative treatments without the use of drugs, injections or surgery first.