Meet the Staff Site Map Contact Us

Do What You Love; Love What You Do
Are you still happy with your ...

Are You Responsible?
Loaded question, I know.Â ...

Executive Director of AMTA Resigns
Elizabeth Lucas, who has been ...

Business round table discussion with the WIBB Blog
Listen Now!

Quick Links
Current Issue
Previous Issues
Columnists
Online-Only News
Author Guidelines
Editorial Calendar
Media Guide
Aromatherapy Central
Massage Mart
Schools & Education Directory


	Acupuncture & Acupressure Back Pain Billing & Insurance Body Techniques Chronic / Acute Conditions CranioSacral Therapy Diagnosis & Diagnostic Equip Education & Seminars General Massage Health & Wellness Marketing / Office / Staff Massage Therapy for Older People Musculoskeletal Pain Natural Healing & Nutrition Oils / Aromatherapy Orthotics & Orthopeadics Pain Management Patient Education Pediatrics Personal Injury / Legal Philosophy Politics & Government Practice Management Soft Tissue / Trigger Points Spa Therapies Sports Injuries Women's Health

Alternative Health News

The Pulse of Aging
What would the pulse of aging look like? I use the term "look like" rather than "feel like" because I look at the pulses as the flow of qi through the organ systems rather than as a single or multiple of textures.

Chiropractic Around the World: WFC Quarterly Country Reports
The following reports are reprinted with permission from the World Federation of Chiropractic's latest Quarterly World Report (June 2010). To view the complete report, visit www.wfc.org.

The Chiropractic Action Team (CAT): Solidarity Through Service
In response to the devastating earthquake that struck the Italian city of L'Aquila in 2009 - and for the first time in chiropractic's history on the European continent - a six-month contract of collaboration was successfully completed between the Italian Red Cross and the AIC and ECU.

Centering the Umbilical Pulse and Akabani Testing
This article will address two very specific and important treatment protocols: the Umbilical Pulse and the Akabani Test, both of which can be incorporated with any style of practice.

Plotting Your Course
It's not enough to want to make a living to do what you do. Nor is it enough to be extraordinarily talented - the world is full of passionate, talented failures. If you want to earn money with your passion, you'll be running a business, and the sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to plot your course.

Advertorials: The Trojan Horses of Publishing
If you recall your ancient history lessons, you will remember the 10-year war waged by the Greeks against the city of Troy. Unable to conquer the city, the Greeks eventually constructed a giant horse, left it on the battlefield and sailed back to Greece - or so the Trojans thought.

Workers' Comp and Chiropractic: A Solution for Skyrocketing Health Care Costs in America
Health care costs are such a burden on the economy that as of 2008, it accounted for 16.2 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP). The recently enacted health care reform legislation addresses many issues in the health care reform arena, including ensuring that every American has health care coverage.

The Digital Landscape: E-Marketing and Social Media
As a businessperson and health care professional, undoubtedly you have heard a lot about the new digital landscape as a driving force in marketing and business growth. To some, it's become a "must" to blog, tweet and have a Facebook page for your business if you want to be up to date.

A Snapshot Of the Profession
Given the current debates taking place over the role complementary medicine (and acupuncture and Oriental medicine in particular) should play in the changing health care environment, it is important to understand where the profession is currently at.

TCM and Weight Management
According to the World Health Organization there are 1 billion people globally that are overweight and 300 million that are clinically obese. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination survey from 1999 to 2002, 65 percent of the U.S. population is obese or overweight and 30 percent are considered clinically obese.

Natural Supplements for Migraine Prevention: Butterbur and Feverfew
Migraine headaches afflict one in 19 adults, of which 75 percent are women. Migraines also occur in an estimated 3 percent to 7 percent of children. Overall, one in four households has a resident who is a migraine sufferer.

Conservative Treatment of SLAP Tears
When evaluating a shoulder and realizing that there might be a torn labrum, the conservative practitioner often becomes thwarted since, except for surgery, there is no way to repair a torn labrum. Previously, I discussed the variety of tests for diagnosing shoulder labral tears and the type of tears.

Public Health Service Corps to Include DCs?
Reps. Gene Green (D-Texas) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.) have introduced legislation that calls for doctors of chiropractic to be appointed as officers in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps, one of the nation's seven uniformed services.

Adrenal Support Important for Coping With Prolonged Stress
When the famous physiologist Hans Selye was conducting his original research on the stress response in the 1930s, he observed that prolonged and sustained stress eventually attacked the adrenal glands themselves.

A Clinician's Guide to Managing Neck Pain
The nonprofit occupational health and safety research organization Institute for Work & Health, working with Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, the Ontario Chiropractic Association and executive committee members of the Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010 Task Force.

As Time Goes By
I celebrated my 40-year anniversary in the field this summer. It was astounding to contemplate how my entire life has been built around learning, practicing, promoting, fighting for, and teaching this medicine all over the world. I have reminisced about the decades of struggle, passion, commitment and reward.

Microcurrent Treatment of Headaches
You will frequently have good success in relieving localized bodily pain with microcurrents by simply "circling the dragon"; that is, stimulating where it hurts. This is usually not the case, however, in the treatment of headaches.

The Keys to Building a High-Performance Team
Office and staff management is a constant challenge. Coupled with the ever-changing health care market and frustrations with managed care, running an efficient, clinically sound and profitable office requires tremendous focus.

News in Brief
News in Brief: A Resolution to Recognize National Chiropractic Health Month; NHSU Partners With School for Health and Wellness Event; Logan Alumni Appointed to Positions at Health Centers; CHIRO Study Wins Outstanding Paper Award.

Lessons Learned From the Recession
In my time on this Earth, I have experienced and survived 13 recessions. The one we're in currently is perhaps the longest and the deepest of all of them. I've observed the most amazing phenomenon whenever we go through hard times; more often than not, chiropractors do well. Why?

Acupressure Treats Dysmenorrhea
Dysmenorrhea, which can be quite common in women, is characterized by lower abdominal pain and cramping, sometimes accompanied by heavy bleeding, that begins at the start of the menstrual cycle.

Corporate Clutter
Eighteen boxes, seven piles, and 167 assorted objects found their way from our home to the curbside last weekend. In addition, books from three four-foot shelves were removed and taken to the University Book Give-Away Center.

The Snackwell Effect, Part 2
The Snackwell Effect, Part 1 talked about how we lost our ability to regulate blood sugar by overwhelming our bodies with cereal, bread and Ho-Ho's. This article is going to be about how to reverse this whole process.

A Rose By Any Other Name
In his July column, Will Morris asks "What's In A Name?" Rather more than Shakespeare's Juliet would imagine; indeed, more things than are dreamt of in her philosophy, to invoke Hamlet.

Army To Include AOM for Pain Treatment
The statistics are sobering, to say the least. According to leading pain specialists in the Veterans Administration, nine in 10 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans return home with some form of pain, and 60 percent have significant pain.

Cultural Competency in the Mormon Community
The federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) define cultural competency as "a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals that enables effective work in cross-cultural situations.

We Get Letters & E-Mail
We Get Letters and E-Mail: One Voice for Chiropractic; Muscle Extensibility: A Few Clarifications; Handle With Care.

Dealing with Dangerous Clients
Recently, a colleague in another city called to inform me that a patient had been vandalizing acupuncturists' offices around town and, they believed, slashing tires of acupuncturists' cars. He wanted to know if I knew anything about this person, and to warn me.

Year-Round Skin Protection: Are Sun Exposure and Diet Protective Factors?
More than 1 million cases of skin cancer occur each year in the United States, which makes skin cancer the most common type of cancer that Americans develop. Eighty percent are basal-cell carcinoma, 16 percent are squamous-cell carcinoma and 4 percent are melanomas.

Proving East Asian Medicine
East Asian medical research focuses on quantitative means of proof. This affects the information obtained, thus what become considered best practices. I maintain that the world of East Asian medicine might also be understood through qualitative means.

Gaining Traction: Lasers and the Evidence-Based DC
These are days of intense challenges in the field of chiropractic. Health care reform, competition from other professions performing adjusting, and decreasing insurance coverage plant fear in the hearts of many chiropractors.

Are You Interested in a Little Treatment With That Diagnosis?
I was once a Boy Scout, living in a Boy Scout world and learning Boy Scout things. So I learned about snakes, and how to tell a poisonous one from a non-venomous one. But one sneaky snake is the poisonous coral snake, which looks like the good-guy corn or scarlet king snake.

E-mail to a Friend | Printer Friendly Version | PDF Version

Massage Today
May, 2005, Vol. 05, Issue 05

Subacromial Bursitis

By Ben Benjamin, PhD

Question: The bursa that protects the rotator cuff tendons of the shoulder is underneath which bone?

Answer: The acromion.

Question: How does the subacromial bursa function?

Answer: This fluid-filled sac acts as a cushioning device, preventing the rotator cuff tendons from running harshly over the bones.

It changes shape and molds to the needs of the joint.

Question: Which motion is most limited and painful in cases of acute bursitis of the shoulder?

Answer: Passive abduction. In cases of acute bursitis (swelling of the bursa), passively abducting the arm - performed by the therapist - is very painful because the head of the humerus is compressing a swollen bursa against the glenohumeral joint and the underside of the acromion. The bursa is generally the size of a small plum, but when inflamed it can be as big as an orange. When acute bursitis is present in the shoulder, it is impossible to lift the arm out to the side (abduction) without extreme pain.

Subacromial Bursa

Question: Is massage therapy a useful treatment in cases of bursitis of the shoulder?

Answer: No. Inflammation of a bursa is not helped by direct massage. Directly massaging an inflamed bursa will cause more pain.

Question: How many types of bursitis of the shoulder are there?

Answer: Two. Acute bursitis is very painful and generally lasts six to eight weeks. Chronic bursitis produces much milder pain because the bursa is only slightly swollen, but it may last for many years unless treated by injection therapy.

Click here for more information about Ben Benjamin, PhD.