While stretching is often recommended by many fitness, sports, and rehab professionals, few could explain how it works and why. Traditional explanations often include “it lengthens your muscles” or “releases fascia.” However, research in the last 30-plus years has shown that stretching is less about mechanical properties and more about
If you don’t wish to deal with stains on your sheets and clothes, massage creams may be the best choice for you. Like oils, lotions, and gels, massage creams allow a smooth glide while allowing you to provide deeper pressure if needed. But creams don’t drip like oils and lotions,
For decades, stretching has been treated as a general prescription for something you’re supposed to do before and after exercise or whenever your body feels stiff or sore. Many fitness experts and manual therapists have recommended stretching as a way to prevent injury and improve flexibility. But how much of
If you had spent many hours on your phone or computer, you may have heard warnings about forward head posture. Some clinicians and fitness trainers claim on social media that forward head may damage your neck and spine and is the primary cause of migraines. Does scientific evidence support this
Posture is one of the most common explanations you may have heard about as a primary cause of back pain. You likely have seen products and services online that promise to “fix your posture,” such as posture correctors, corrective exercise, and chiropractic adjustments. Posture matters to a degree, but not
A 2025 systematic review published in the European Journal of Physiotherapy reported that pain neuroscience education may reduce chronic neck pain compared with other therapies. Based on seven randomized-controlled trials with a total of 11 interventions and 422 people, the researchers found pain education groups “showed effectiveness” for kinesiophobia, fear
When Lt. Col. Henry Beecher tended wounded soldiers not long after World War II, he noticed that many had varying degrees of pain despite having similar wounds. In his study published in Annals of Surgery in 1946, Beecher wrote that there is “a common belief that wounds are inevitably associated
If you have bumped your elbow against a table, you probably have instinctively massaged your elbow to reduce the pain. But why do you feel less pain when you rub it? And speaking of rubbing, why do many people tend to get short-term pain relief after a massage session?
Pain is an unpleasant sensation, but it isn’t always an indication that there’s tissue damage, disease, or abnormalities in your body. After all, there are many people who have shoulder “abnormalities” or leg length discrepancies with no pain and can function well. Some amputees have pain in their leg or
Part one of exercise and cancer highlights the evidence of what and how exercise can reduce the risk of cancer and the biological mechanisms behind exercise on cancer. Part two focuses on the psychological, social, and environmental factors that reduce the risk of some cancer and improve cancer survivors’ quality
A 15-year Canadian study of 889 patients with colon cancer found that those who exercised regularly had about a 25% lower risk of cancer recurrence and death over a five-year period than the control group who received health education. Published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2025, the
Could being overweight increase the risk of having chronic pain? Some researchers think so. A 2025 study published in The Journal of Pain found that people ages 50 and up with chronic pain have also experienced “greater discrimination than people without pain in a community-based sample.” The researchers wrote that