Sweat For Good and make world history in Toronto
YMCA of Greater Toronto attempts to break GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for Largest exercise ball demonstration/class!
As temperatures drop outside, the gymnasium at the Central YMCA will be filled with over 500 members of the community sweating it out to break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the Largest exercise ball demonstration/class on Thursday, January 11, 2018.
Celebrity fitness trainer Eva Redpath will lead the class, with support from the YMCA’s Sherry Perez. This event catapults the YMCA GTA’s “Sweat For Good” campaign into the spotlight to help showcase that when you choose to work out at the YMCA, you are connecting yourself to a larger purpose. At the Y, members not only sweat for themselves, they sweat for others, for positive change, and for the community.
“When you choose the YMCA, you are choosing to be part of an organization that seeks to build the foundation for a healthy, vibrant future for every individual in our community, and our society as a whole,” said Medhat Mahdy, President and CEO of the YMCA GTA. “People may think that all health and fitness centres across the GTA have similar ‘stuff,’ but we have five important factors that set us apart:
- Our broad offering: We offer diverse programs for every interest and stage of life.
- We create a sense of belonging: We bring people together, nurture their growth, and promote inclusivity.
- Our people-first culture: Our dedicated and expert team of staff and volunteers proactively supports members’ health goals; removes barriers to achieving those goals; and believes that everyone has the ability to continually improve.
- We are committed to doing local good: We address community-specific needs and invest in building permanent facilities in communities across the GTA.
- We are a charitable organization: Our Health & Fitness Centres are part of a much larger charitable organization that provides programs and services that make people strong in all sorts of ways — physically, of course, but also mentally and socially.”
The YMCA is the largest charitable program and service delivery organization in the GTA. For more than 160 years and through hundreds of programs, the YMCA offers individuals opportunities for personal growth, community involvement and leadership.
The current GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title boasts 453 participants completing an exercise ball class. The YMCA GTA aims to secure 500 participants to “Sweat For Good” and break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title. To get all the details, please visit SweatForGood.ca.
Guests will also have the opportunity to meet with Olympic Gold Medalist Mark Tewksbury and hear firsthand about how he “Sweats For Good” in support of the YMCA GTA’s mission, and how his experiences have shaped his current role as a global leader in human rights.
YMCA GTA Sweat For Good
Participants
When: Thursday, January 11th, 2018 from 6:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Where: 20 Grosvenor St, Toronto, ON M4Y 2V5
Admission: FREE
Media
When: Thursday, January 11th, 2018 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. (class: 7:40 – 8:10 a.m.)
Where: 20 Grosvenor St, Toronto, ON M4Y 2V5
Admission: FREE
Light refreshments will be provided
Visit SweatForGood.ca for all the event details
For more information contact:
Deane Code, Veritas Communications/YMCA of Greater Toronto
E: code@veritasinc.com | T: 416-640-4661 | M: 416-732-4835
Kassandra O’Brien, Veritas Communications/YMCA of Greater Toronto
E: obrien@veritasinc.com | T: 416-482-2617 | M: 289-264-6499
About the YMCA of Greater Toronto
For well over a century, we’ve provided leadership and worked with partners solving complex social problems to create real, measurable outcomes that have strengthened the social health and fabric of our communities. As a charity, the YMCA offers a variety of programs responding to the needs of the community, including education and training, employment and immigrant services, family and youth services, health and fitness programs, child care, and camps. The breadth of our programs, and the diversity of the communities we serve, is the basis of our new Sweat For Good campaign: when you break a sweat with us, you’re showing your support for all of these programs that give everyone their chance to shine. Serving the population of the GTA, Durham, Peel, York, Halton Region and Dufferin County, the YMCA connected with more than 557,000 people across 438 locations last year.
www.ymcagta.org
http://sweatforgood.ymcagta.org
About Guinness World Records
GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ (GWR) is the global authority on record-breaking achievement. First published in 1955, the iconic annual GWR books have sold over 138 million copies in over 20 languages and in more than 100 countries. Additionally, the Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition, first published in 2007, has sold more than 5 million copies to date.
GWR’s worldwide television programmes reach over 750 million viewers annually and more than one million people subscribe to the GWR YouTube channel, which enjoys more than 300 million views per year. The GWR website receives 21 million visitors annually, and they have over 12 million fans on Facebook.
The GWR commercial sales division provides bespoke consultancy services for some of the world’s top brands and agencies to help place record breaking at the heart of their marketing campaigns, employee-engagement programmes, and live and experiential events.
What to Eat Healthy? 5 Ways to Make a Great Diet Plan in 2018
The New Year is here, and you might be working hard on meeting your goals in terms of fitness and nutrition or you might already realize it’s harder than it looks. Goals and resolutions aren’t easy, but that’s what’s so beautiful about them. If they were meant to be easy, you’d change your life without any issues, without any growth, or without any changes. Not only can meeting your goals change your life in the way you mean for it to change your life, it can teach you a lot about patience, perseverance, and it can help you grow. If you want to create a healthy diet plan for 2018, you need some help.
Start with a Goal
You want to eat healthier, which is why you have a diet plan in mind. However, you must have a goal in sight. Do you want to lose weight, feel healthier, or manage a health problem you’re living with? The goal determines the kind of healthy diet plan you’re looking to create. Knowing what you want to accomplish helps you incorporate the right kind of food in the diet plan because not all healthy foods are created equal.
Ask for Help and Accountability
Something positive in any healthy diet plan is accountability. You’re more likely to achieve your goals when you have someone to report to. You don’t want to embarrass yourself by continuously failing to make positive diet choices, and that’s how being accountable helps. With an accountability partner or group such as Plan 7 Coaching, you have someone there for you, someone to listen to you, and someone to help you stay on track.
Start with New Plates
Here’s something you didn’t know would help you meet your diet goals in 2018. Get rid of your large plates. Buy small ones, and learn to trick your body into eating smaller portions using this age-old trick. Your mind things your body is fuller, and it sends that message to your stomach when it sees you eat an entire plate of food. Smaller plates mean your plate looks fuller than it would on a larger plate, and your servings are automatically smaller.
Start Small
Don’t change your entire diet overnight. Instead, change your diet plan a little at a time. Introduce one or two healthy new foods every week. At the same time, eliminate one or two unhealthy items each week. This helps your body grow more accustomed to the changes you’re making rather than overwhelming you with them.
Make a Meal Plan
This one does seem to be common sense, but many people realize just how helpful it is. Make a meal plan, stick to the meal plan, and change your life. You’re more likely to succeed when you know in advance what you’re eating every meal than if you’re left standing in front of the fridge or the take-out menus without a plan.
The new year can be your year if you work hard and make a goal. It’s easier to achieve that goal by breaking it down into smaller goals you can achieve more often. This keeps you feeling motivated and excited, and
Sick To Death - Press Relese
About Sick to Death!
Thyroid disease, and its accompanying symptoms and related disorders, is a very confusing health challenge. The purpose of the Sick to Death! project is to create a resource for health seekers that can assist in confirming that what they are experiencing may in fact be thyroid disease. With the assistance of a huge community, the Sick to Death! project seeks to improve the medical establishment’s response to thyroid disease.
In Sick to Death! Hadleigh-West exposes AbbVie Pharmaceuticals and their drug Synthroid, one of the most profitable and most commonly prescribed drugs for thyroid disease - yet it under treats 90% of people that suffer with this illness. Patients are rarely given options for treatment or even told that there might be a more effective treatment. Sick to Death! uncovers the often ineffective TSH test which leaves millions of people without proper diagnosis for their chronic illness.
Sick to Death! premiered at the New Orleans Film Festival in October 2017 to two sold out shows and was nominated for an audience award. It won three Global Film Awards 2017 “Impact Docs” awards, and Hadleigh-West received a Guggenheim Award to make the film.
After drinking radioactive iodine to kill her overactive thyroid, filmmaker Maggie Hadleigh-West catapults into illness only to run smack into a complicated medical maze. In Sick to Death! Hadleigh-West exposes her own disturbing, yet determined, thirty-year struggle to regain her spiraling health. After seeing hundreds of doctors who either disregarded her symptoms, misdiagnosed or under treated her, Maggie discovers that her life-long thyroid problem was a fully understood medical issue as early as 1914, yet it’s been obscured by systemic medical corruption, pharmaceutical greed, and physician negligence, leaving more than 750 million people sick and suffering world-wide.
Follow Maggie as she brazenly uncovers the medical corruption and negligence that obscures medical practice – only to find yet another disturbing personal revelation. Sick to Death! is both a call-to-action and a quirky film, which seeks to understand and change this disturbing medical reality.
About Maggie Hadleigh-West
In 1991 Maggie Hadleigh-West made the very first film on sexual harassment in public called War Zone which garnered world-wide attention and completed a first feature of the same name in 1998. Sick to Death! is her fourth film and second documentary. Hadleigh-West is a 2017 Impact Doc Awards winner, a 2013 Guggenheim Fellow Award Winner, 2010 Indie Fest: Audience Impact Merit Award Winner, 2010 Accolade Merit Award Winner, 2009, 2006, and 2005 Alcyon Foundation Fellow, a 2004 New York State Council on the Arts Fellow, 2001 University of Louisville Distinguished Professor Nominee, 2000 Rockefeller Fellow Nominee and a 1998 Berlin Film Festival Caligari Nominee.
Hadleigh-West lives in New Orleans.
Crush New Year health resolutions with food safety tips
from Stop Foodborne Illness
Happy 2018! Many people make New Year resolutions to better themselves. Since the most popular resolution is a
happier life and healthier body, Stop Foodborne Illness reminds goal-setters that “healthy foods” may come with their own health risks. Before kicking off any food-centric New Year’s resolutions, review proper food safety practices.
One of the more popular health trends is the raw vegan diet, which practices eating only or mostly uncooked, unprocessed foods. Being a raw vegan means consuming a lot of vegetables, and plant-based eaters still need to be careful about foodborne pathogens.
- Wash your hands. As always, the best way to prevent the spread of dangerous bacteria is by properly washing hands for 20 seconds before handling food. Review these Quick Facts for Handwashing to learn more.
- Wash produce. Since raw diets eliminate cooking, which helps kill harmful bacteria, it is crucial to wash vegetables thoroughly, even if you plan to peel it before eating.
- Raw sprouts carry more risks. Although containing beneficial vitamins and minerals like iron, magnesium, potassium and vitamins C, A and K, sprouts are also prone to carrying pathogens. Salmonella, Listeria and E. coli—just like sprouts—need warm and humid conditions to grow . To reduce the risk of foodborne illness, cook sprouts when possible. Additionally, children, the elderly, pregnant women and others with weakened immune systems should avoid eating raw sprouts altogether.
Another health goal people often make in the new year is cooking more often. In addition to consuming less carbohydrates, sugar and fat, those who cook at home consume more fruits, veggies, whole grains, fiber, calcium and iron.
Before putting on the apron, Stop Foodborne Illness encourages budding—as well as seasoned—chefs to review these food safety guidelines.
- Judging cooked meat by color cannot determine if it is safe to eat. The only way to determine if meat, poultry or seafood is cooked safely is to check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer. Check the thickest part of the meat, and sanitize the point in between readings. Learn more about why temperature is important and check out this helpful chart on safe cooking temperatures.
- Raw milk products are unpasteurized. Some claim the lack of processing means it’s more beneficial but the CDC states that the dangers of raw milk far outweigh any perceived benefits. Unpasteurized milk can contain a wide variety of germs including Brucella, Campylobacter, E. coli, Listeria, and Salmonella. Read more about the dangers of raw milk and raw milk cheeses.
- Keep raw and cooked foods separate. Designate specific cutting boards for specific types of food. And remember to clean and disinfect equipment and surfaces after preparing raw foods.
- Home-baked cookies are so much better! Eating the raw cookie dough, however, is not recommended. Raw eggs can contain Salmonella while flour, a raw agricultural product, typically hasn’t been treated to kill germs like E coli. While your cookies are baking in the oven, read more about the dangers of raw dough.
- Cold-pressed juice is another health practice climbing the ranks of popularity. While there is little to no evidence supporting the idea that raw juice is better, one thing is certain: since cold-pressed juice is unpasteurized, consumers can potentially develop a foodborne illness. Follow these two simple steps to juice safety.
About Stop Foodborne Illness
Almost 50% of Canadians would not want others to know if they had dementia, says new survey
Alzheimer Society campaign aims to end stigma
TORONTO, Jan. 7, 2018 /CNW/ - The Alzheimer Society announced today that while awareness about dementia has increased, stigma and negative attitudes around it continue to persist. The Society is releasing findings of a new survey to coincide with Alzheimer's Awareness Month in January and to kick off its new social awareness campaign – I live with dementia. Let me help you understand – to spark conversations and encourage Canadians to see dementia differently.
The Leger-led survey, which questioned 1500 Canadians between the ages of 18 and 65 online, also reveals that 46% of respondents would feel ashamed or embarrassed if they had dementia, while 61% of those surveyed said they would face discrimination of some kind. The survey also shows that one in four Canadians believe that their friends and family would avoid them if they were diagnosed with dementia, and only five per cent of Canadians would learn more about dementia if a family member, friend or co-worker were diagnosed.
"These results validate our thinking, that stigma is one of the biggest barriers for people with dementia to live fully with dignity and respect," says Pauline Tardif, CEO at the Alzheimer Society of Canada. "The findings underscore the work we must still do to end stigma once and for all. There is no shame in having dementia. We can't let negative perceptions stand in the way of people with dementia seeking help and support. Life without discrimination is a right for anyone affected by this disease."
To tackle stigma, the Alzheimer Society is letting the experts do the talking—people living with dementia. People like Roger Marple. For this proud father and grandfather, who developed young onset Alzheimer's three years ago at age 57, his diagnosis was a tough pill to swallow. But with time, Roger overcame his initial shock and sadness. He had too many dreams to pursue. "I still do things that have meaning in my life, like getting out, playing golf and travelling. I'll continue to enjoy life for as long as I possibly can to the best of my abilities. Isn't that what we all aspire to do?"
Roger and others invite Canadians to hear their inspiring stories and take a few pointers from them on how to be open and accepting towards people with dementia.
Their stories are featured on a dedicated campaign website, where visitors will also find tips on how to be more dementia-friendly, activities to test their knowledge, and other resources to take action against stigma and be better informed about a disease that has the potential to impact every single one of us.
To help stop stigma and read the full survey, visit ilivewithdementia.ca – and use the hashtag #ilivewithdementia to help spread the word.
Additional survey results
Canadians believe that people with Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia are likely to
- be ignored or dismissed (58%);
- be taken advantage of (57%);
- have difficulty accessing appropriate services or supports (56%); and
- feared or met with distrust or suspicion (37%).
Other highlights
- 56% of Canadians are concerned about being affected by Alzheimer's disease.
- Of greatest concern is their fear of being a burden to others, losing their independence and the inability to recognize family and friends.
- Only 39% would offer support for family or friends who were open about their diagnosis.
- Three-in-ten Canadians (30%) admit to using dementia-related jokes.
Quick facts
- Today, over half a million Canadians have dementia (including Alzheimer's disease).
- In less than 15 years, an estimated 937,000 Canadians will have dementia
- Alzheimer Societies across Canada provide programs and support services for people with all forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, and their caregivers.
- The Alzheimer Society is a leading Canadian funder of dementia research and has invested to date, over $50 million in bio-medical and quality-of-life research through the Alzheimer Society Research Program.
SOURCE Alzheimer Society of Canada
5 Tips for Healthy Winter Skin:
- Cover exposed skin when heading outdoors.
- Wash with lukewarm water. Hot showers strip oils from your skin.
- Humidify your home.
- Choose your moisturizer carefully; opt for gentile, natural products.
- Use SPF even during the winter.
DreamBelly Butter by Fairhaven is designed to help protect and nourish your skin as it stretches to accommodate your growing belly during your pregnancy.
Product Features + Benefits:
- Combines the healing power of rosehip oil, aloe vera, honeysuckle and grapefruit, to protect and regenerate skin, and provide soothing relief from itchiness
- Provides deep moisturizing from natural butters and oils with no greasy, slippery feeling
- Has the mild, pleasant fragrance of milk and honey
- Contains no petroleum products, parabens, artificial colors or artificial preservatives
Age range: Adult
MSRP: $9.95
Available online: https://www.fairhavenhealth.com/dreambelly-butter
Chapped skin a real concern for winter athletics. Olen Cosmetics has created *the* best solution to this dilemma with their Baby Butz Cream. Not only the safest and most effective diaper rash treatment available without a prescription it’s perfect to use for chapped skin and to protect against the elements. 100% natural ingredients and 30% zinc oxide. Used in hospital neonatal units and many pediatricians hand out samples plus medical professionals have endorsed this cream. No Chemicals, no Alcohol, no perfumes and hypoallergenic.
Age range: Birth+
MSRP: $12.99 (4 ounces), $7.99 (2 ounces)
Available online: www.Amazon.com
Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you still can’t get burned especially when participating in snow activities because the snow reflects the sun making sun exposure a real issue in cold climates. Olen Cosmetics and their Sun Blocz 100% natural sunscreen is just what you need to stay protected. 100% Natural Sunscreen, 24.5% Zinc Oxide (non-nano), SPF 50 - UVA+UVB Broad Spectrum, water resistant for 80 minutes, hypoallergenic, doesn’t sting eyes, and repels bugs!
No Parabens, No Phthalates, Reef Safe, No Animal Testing
Age range: Birth+
MSRP: $24.99
Available online: www.Amazon.com
Great for chapped baby & kid cheeks! Winner of the 2017 Baby Maternity Magazine Tocp Choice award and the 2016 Cribsie Awards Academy Star award, BabyIt is a must have for all pregnant moms! Doctor-formulated and paraben free BabyIt is a multipurpose gel that can be used to sooth and heal sensitive areas as well as to moisturize delicate skin.
Product Features + Benefits:
- Safely helps reduce the risk of trauma during childbirth and eases postpartum recovery
- Paraben, glycerol, oil and fragrance free
- pH balanced for pregnant women's sensitive tissues
Age range: Adult Pregnant and Postpartum Women
MSRP: $19.95
Available online: www.MyIsoLove.com
New Study Finds Swearing Aloud Boosts Physical Performance
LIU Brooklyn, Keele University Study Published in Journal of Psychology of Sports and Exercise
BROOKLYN, NY— A groundbreaking new study published in the Journal of Psychology of Sports and Exercise has found that swearing aloud can increase physical performance, strength, and power associated with exercise.
According to the study by Dr. David K. Spierer of LIU Brooklyn and Dr. Richard Stephens of Keele University (UK), swearing was shown to produce a 4.6 percent increase in initial power during a 30-second stationary bicycle test called the Wingate test, as well as an 8.2 percent increase in a separate test of maximum hand grip strength.
“Swearing appears to be able to bring about improvements in physical performance that may not be solely dependent on a stress response arising out of the shock value of the swearing,” Dr. Stephens said. “We know that swearing appears to be handled in brain regions not usually associated with language processing. It is possible that activation of these areas by swearing could produce performance improvements across many different domains.”
Dr. Spierer added, “Cursing may allow people to shut down their inhibitions and somewhat veil the effort and the pain of this really difficult task.” In this way, Spierer says, “using swear words might be helpful in any circumstance where muscle strength and a sudden burst of force or speed, is required.”
In the study, Dr. Stephens and Dr. Spierer asked participants to suggest a swear word they might use in response to banging their head accidentally, and for the non-swearing trials, a word to describe a table. Based on Dr. Stephens’ previous research showing beneficial effects of swearing in the context of physical pain, they expected to see nervous system arousal in the form of elevated heart rate and blood pressure correlate with the improvement in physical performance. However, this was not the case.
Dr. Stephens and Dr. Spierer have already begun their second study examining the effect of swearing on more common activities that are found in most exercise programs. Please visit their website at www.swearingmakesyoustronger.com to purchase t-shirts and hats, the proceeds of which will go toward furthering research in swearing and performance as well as breast cancer awareness.
Boost Basics Will Get Your Family Healthy for 2018
The fitness program is designed to get your kids excited about moving, eating healthier and leading mindful lives
Baltimore, Maryland. Jan. 3, 2018- BOOST BASICS (http://iamboost.com) launched a new family e-training course that teaches the fundamental skills of exercise, nutrition and mindfulness to families in a fun and rewarding package. The course consists of 15 videos for families to watch together: each video is linked to a quiz and printable worksheet full of recipes, exercises and challenges.
The Boost Basics program is designed to engage with children in order to teach them the importance and fundamentals of caring for their bodies. The quizzes linked to the educational videos provide points for successful completion which can be used to redeem gift cards to stores such as Amazon and DICKS Sporting Goods.
According to the CDC, childhood obesity remains at about 17% in the U.S. and affects about 12.7 million children and adolescents. Factors responsible for obesity stem from habits built from an early age (which are often inherited from parents) such as sedentary lifestyles due to the increase of digitalization and urbanization, as well as unhealthy eating habits such as consuming processed foods that contain refined sugar and high-fat content, or excessive caloric intake.
The Boost Basics program was developed by certified health coach, Alex Haschen, in order for kids and parents to learn together, take on a wellness challenge and make healthy normal again. This one-of-a-kind program is very easy to implement and quick to deliver results.
Built on three pillars: exercise, nutrition and mindfulness, Boost Basics offers the following benefits:
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All the information in one place, compiled by fitness, nutrition and mindfulness experts, saving you time and confusion
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Makes health education a game-like rewarding experience which increases children’s participation
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Hearing the information from a trusted source reinforces encouragement from parents
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A change in the way your children views, processes and participates in healthy activities
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Unlimited access to the lessons
The Boost Basics program can be purchased for $44.95 and offers a money back guarantee.
Resolve to succeed in fitness this year
Many of us ring in the new year with vows to get fit, banish junk food and lose weight. But after weeks of holiday indulgence and trying to bolster willpower during the colder, darker winter days, those resolutions often fall flat.
Research from 2015 found that roughly 80 per cent of resolutions fail by the second week of February. Kelly Musovic, Personal Training Divisional Manager with GoodLife Fitness, says when it comes to resolutions, certain patterns emerge that keep people from succeeding.
• We try to do too much at once
• We set goals that are vague
• We try to do it alone
• We’re often too hard on ourselves if we have a lapse of willpower or we don’t succeed right away
By applying sports psychology principles, it’s possible to set realistic, achievable resolutions and train your mind to stick with them into the new year, even when the going gets tough. Here are some principles to help set – and keep – fitness and healthy resolutions for 2018.
Start small: It’s important to focus on gradual improvements and aim to change one behaviour at a time. Start with what you can manage and increase exercise levels slowly. Small successes help build confidence and soon your intentions will become habits.
Talk about it: Tell your friends and family about your plans to build in more physical activity or change your eating habits. By putting it out there you’re more likely to follow through, plus you’ll receive lots of encouragement and support.
Be kind to yourself: When it comes to fitness and healthier eating, it’s important to celebrate your successes and not dwell on the negatives. If you miss a workout one week, make it a point to follow through on your gym routine the week after. Don’t worry about tiny slip-ups, focus on the big picture.
Get an exercise partner: Being accountable to someone else is a huge part of showing up for your workout. Working out with someone else can be more enjoyable and make the time go faster, plus you get extra motivation from the positive feedback.
Be specific: Instead of saying “I’ll get into better shape,” or “I’ll only eat healthy foods from now on,” be more specific. Resolutions with timelines and specifics are easier to measure. For example, “I will lose 10 lbs to feel more confident on my beach vacation in March,” or “I will eat vegetables instead of potato chips at lunchtime to improve my energy levels in the afternoon at work.” Having a specific goal helps you know what to do when temptation arises and it’s easier to measure success and adapt to reach your goals.
Do it for ‘future you’: People are more successful at attaining their resolutions when they keep their future self in mind. Sign up for a 5K run in the spring, plan to look great on your beach vacation or aim to be active with your grandkids. You’re more likely to withstand pitfalls if you’re focused on future success.
Musovic and personal trainers in your area are available to talk more about the elements of resolution success. They can share nutrition strategies and demonstrate some exercises that will amp up the fun and results of your 2018 workouts and keep you motivated well past February.
Feeling Pain or Numbness? 4 Symptoms of a Herniated Disc
It’s easy to tell when you have a cut or a fever. A herniated disc can be more difficult to detect, as the symptoms can occasionally be vague. Sometimes they can be chalked up to simple aging. It’s important to pay attention to the signs, though, so you can seek one of the many herniated disc treatments quickly and feel better faster. Here are four symptoms of a herniated disc.
Arm or Leg Pain
Depending on the exact location of the herniated disc, you’ll feel pain in various locations. If the disc is in your lower back, the most intense pain will be in your buttocks, thighs, and calves. It may be only one leg or both. If the disc is in your neck, your shoulder and arm will feel the most intense pain. In either case, sneezing or coughing may cause the pain to shoot into your arm or leg, as can shifting your spine into certain positions.
Numbness or Tingling
Similar to the “pins and needles” feeling that you get when a body part has fallen asleep, you may feel numbness or tingling in the body part served by the nerves affected by the herniated disc. This numbness or tingling may not affect the entire body part. It may only affect a particular area, such as the thumb side of an arm, or the little toe and outside of a foot and leg.
Weak Muscles
The herniated disc affects the nerves that serve various muscles. Those muscles tend to weaken. Depending on the area of the disc, this can lead you to stumble or have trouble standing, or it could impair your ability to hold and lift items. Muscle weakness tends to be one of the more serious symptoms of a herniated disc and often requires surgical intervention as quickly as possible.
Back Pain
The back pain may be dull or throbbing, constant or intermittent, and possibly accompanied by stiffness. The disc may also cause muscle spasms, which might be alleviated by a couple of days of rest with ice and heat in a supportive recliner or lying flat with a pillow beneath the knees. Back pain is more likely to be present in the lower back than the neck.
A herniated disc can be a painful experience. If you suspect that your symptoms are caused by a herniated disc, it’s best to get it checked out quickly by a professional, like those at Southwest Florida Neurosurgical & Rehab Associates
