Pam Bruni wrote me saying she had great success using my techniques.  I asked her if she would be willing to share her story.

This is what she said:

Hi Hilma,

I’ve attached a rather wordy endorsement.  If you’d like me to cut it down, I can do that easily enough.  I’ve given my “Hilma” speech to many friends over the past year or so.   I just hope they all had the sense to check out Carpal Tunnel Master and buy the program.

 Thank you again,

Pam
__________________________________

Hi Hilma,

I ignored increasing symptoms for 6 months. My hands grew numb while mountain biking, computer entry, stitching needlepoint gardening, playing the piano, I began losing my grip during golf swings. In late summer, I spent 6 hours trimming shrubs and power washing a large driveway. When my right hand and arm tired, I used the left. 36 hours later, I woke unable to move my fingers until I stood up and shook some life into them. Pain developed from my fingers all the way to under my arms. Putting my hands on the steering wheel and driving and pushing a grocery cart were incredibly painful.

Cruising the internet, I found Carpal Tunnel Master (I’m still not sure how I did this.) Hilma’s information was right on target. Now I know that I had carpal tunnel syndrome, ulnar nerve entrapment, problems with the pectoralis minor, brachial plexus and scalene muscles. I know because I ordered the program, followed the video instructions and saw results. To be sure I was doing all I needed to do, I visited my long time physical therapist who gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to this program.

The very first time I used Carpal Tunnel Master to work on the pain running along my arms I found relief right away and didn’t have to work on them again for several days. Of course, it took some time to completely calm down each of the problem areas. Then again, I had really overloaded my body. But in about 4 months, I was back to normal.Now if I find that I’ve overused any of these areas (which is rare), I return to Carpal Tunnel Master for a “tune-up.” Then I go about my business and am fully active again. It’s been over a year now, and I still receive updates from Hilma. Today, I’m ordering the program for my adult son

Thank you so much Hilma for putting Carpal Tunnel Master together and making a lasting contribution to my physical well being!

_________________

Thanks Pam. 

Here’s the link to my Carpal Tunnel Master Program

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

In some of my videos I said that if your arms are up (even steering wheel height) and your fingers get numb, BUT when your arms are down, the numbness goes away, that is caused by a tight Pectoralis Minor Muscle. That is true.

I also said that if it gets tight enough it will cause numbness in your fingers whether your arms are up or down. This is true.

It can cause numbness in all or some your fingers. Remember carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) never affects the little finger. But tight forearms can affect either the last two fingers or mimic CTS or create whole hand numbness.

NOW this is where I was WRONG – sort of:

Here’s the story.

A client cam in that I’ve seen a couple times.

I knew she was a court reporter. I knew she edited the transcription later — At Home — On Her Couch — On a Laptop Computer !!!!

There is practically no ergonomic way to work on a laptop on a couch.

She came in, all five fingers were numb. It didn’t matter if her arms were up or down.

She explained that she was hauling a horse from southern Idaho to northern Idaho. One horse in a two horse trailer and it was fishtailing the whole way. The trailer was swaying side to side. This was a 8 hour drive over a road that was often winding and mountainous. It was a difficult drive.

I expected between her job and gripping the steering wheel that her forearms would be really tight. This surprisingly was not the case.

I checked the scalenes – even though they usually don’t affect the little finger. They weren’t particularly tight either.

But when I just barely touched the pectoralis minor, she let out a little scream. They were exceedingly tender. I worked on them a little bit and showed her how to work on them herself. How is she now? Read on…

Now the pectoralis minor is tight on a lot of people because we do almost everything in front of our bodies. They rarely feel pain however unless someone (like me) pushes on them a little. Then “Holly Cow, where did that come from?”

I won’t go into the problems tight pec minors can cause, because I’ve done that in videos.

But where was I WRONG? Well, my thinking was this gradually builds up. But sometimes it come on quickly. Because you start a new activity quicly. Now you may not be hauling a horse in a fishtailing trailer, but you may have started a new physical job or exercise program.

Pec minor muscles are heavily used in pushups and bench presses. So if you start a program where you suddenly do a lot of them you could see a sudden numbness problem.

Whether you feel problems or not, it is good to keep those muscles loose – either by specific stretches or my self-massage technique and ALSO strengthening the muscles between your shoulder blades.

I saw my client again a couple months later and she said the numbness had gone away. And she had been doing the self-massage I showed her.

Would her problem have solved itself on its own. In this case, probably so. It was a one time activity that she wasn’t repeating. It she had continued hauling the horse around, she would know what to do to keep those pec. minors loose.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

According to a recent report acetaminophen (Tylenol is a brand name) can make asthma worse in both children and adults. 

Another study showed that acetaminophen is linked to causing asthma in children.

Read the Article published on msnbc.com

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Pain Relief Event – FREE on the Internet 

If you, someone you love, a friend, or co-worker is in physical pain, watch the short video below.

This method is for arthritis, migraines and other headaches, back pain, fibromyalgia, neck pain, joint pain, and pain from a whole host of other reasons.  It also addresses the emotional side effect of pain.

For more information and a listing of topics covered click here.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

CANCER. It’s a terrifying word.

I’m sure you know someone who’s endured the horrible effects of chemotherapy and radiation and busted through a survivor. You may also know another who didn’t make it.

You may have read about a spontaneous healing. And we have read about celebrities with access to the best health care that can be bought and the prayers and well wishes of millions, who succumbed anyway.

We know there are many forms of cancer and that some cancers are slow growing. Other kinds are very aggressive.

I am not the person with answers. But this is an article that fascinates me…. The Great Cancer Lie: It Is Preventable and Beatable

You do not need to sign up or anything to read it. It is a very long article. But even if you just read the first part of it, it will give a different insight not only into cancer, but ultimately a host of other diseases as well.

I’ve forwarded it to a number of people. You may want to do the same. The web address is http://distance-healer.com/29.html

Do you think this guy is right on, totally off the wall, or some of each? Leave a comment.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I live in North Idaho and I hear a lot of bitching about all the rain we’ve been having.

They can’t work on their lawn and garden or enjoy various outdoor activities.

But they haven’t seen their home destroyed in an instant or crawled out to find their town flattened.  I’m sure you’ve seen the videos of the destruction by tornados in of Joplin, Missouri and elsewhere.

If you want to help in the tornado relief effort, you can donate to the Salvation Army.

Go to http://www.SalvationArmy.com  They have a “Click Here” to donate link that is to the right of the photograph.  Or they have a number to call.

There is also a Donate Now button on the very top right hand corner of the page.

I’m sure any amount you can give will be welcomed.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Is your sunscreen expired?

Several years ago on one of those morning shows like “Today” there was an interview with a guy about product expiration dates.  The man listed a bunch of products (like many kinds of packaged and frozen foods and film — remember camera film?) where the stuff could be used well beyond the expiration date.

“But the one thing that should not be used beyond the expiration date is sunscreen.”

The reason is that the molecules break down rendering the product ineffective.

When and Where you bought your sunscreen is important.

While most sunscreens have a shelf life for 3 years, that does not mean you have three years to use it.  Let me explain. 

I was at a large Walmart in Texas in March and bought a small tube of sunscreen.  There were 20 months left before the expiration date.

In May I went to a Big Lots and looked at the sunscreen.  The expiration date was in October only 5 months away.  That is okay if you use it up by then.  I figured maybe it was because they bought a lot of close out items.

BUT I went back to the same Big Lots four days later to return something and the canned announcement mentioned that (among other things) they had gotten in a new shipment of sunscreen.  The shelf only had the newer products and these had an expiration on August of the next year, so about 18 months.

I checked the dates at a small outdoor store going out of business.  ALL of their products had expired.

Be careful of buying from a store that has a low traffic volume.  The spa I worked at had a very low turnover of these products and none included expiration dates.

Where to find the expiration date.  It may be hard to find.  I checked name brands in stores and every one I looked at did have expiration dates.  So I suspect all big name brands have them somewhere. 

On tubes it is commonly stamped embossed on the crimped tail end and may be very difficult to see.  On bottles, it could be on the bottom or on the side. 

If it is a European or small company product, it may or may not have an expiration date. 

If you cannot find an expiration date and you’ve had the product last year, throw it out.

In Your Car, Extreme Temperatures Will Reduce the Life of Sunscreen.

It is a good Idea to keep sunscreen handy year round.  But both heat and cold can accelerate the break down.  One suggestion is to transfer some contents from a big container to a smaller one.  You do want to label it though.  In case you are at a picnic you don’t want someone to mistake it for Ranch Dressing.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Recently I overheard some friends discussing their egg white recipes.  When I asked why they just used the egg whites, they said it was because the yokes were so bad for you. 

Well, I had just gotten the following in an email, so I passed it along to them.

Read on….

Are Whole Eggs or Egg Whites Better for You?

by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist, Certified Personal Trainer
Author – The Truth About 6-Pack Abs 
I was on a weekend trip with some friends recently and one of my friends was cooking breakfast for the whole group. I went over to see what he was cooking and saw he was getting ready to make a big batch of eggs.

Well, to my shock and horror, I noticed that he was cracking the eggs open and screening the egg whites into a bowl and throwing out the egg yolks. I asked him why the heck he was throwing out the egg yolks, and he replied something like this…

“because I thought the egg yolks were terrible for you…that’s where all the nasty fat and cholesterol is”.

And I replied, “you mean that’s where all of the nutrition is!”

This is a perfect example of how confused most people are about nutrition. In a world full of misinformation about nutrition, somehow most people now mistakenly think that the egg yolk is the worst part of the egg, when in fact, the YOLK IS THE…..    Read More

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

If your doctor is pushing you toward non-emergency surgery for the wrong reason?

Financial incentives sway doctors to send patients to surgery, study says

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

I was searching for a different article I had seen reporting that doctors who had financial interests in surgical clinics were more likely to recommend non-emergency surgery for conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome, thoracic outlet syndrome, cubital tunnel syndrome, and others.

I haven’t found that article yet.  But here is this one…

Doctors with ownership in surgery center operate more often, U-M study finds

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — When doctors become invested in an outpatient surgery center, they perform on average twice as many surgeries as doctors with no such financial stake, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Health System.

“Our data suggest that physician behavior changes after investment in an outpatient facility. Through what some have labeled the ‘triple dip,’ physician owners of surgery centers not only collect a professional fee for the services provided, but also share in their facility’s profits and the increased value of their investment. This creates a potential conflict of interest,” says study author John Hollingsworth, M.D., M.S., a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the U-M Medical School.

“To the extent that owners are motivated by profit, one potential explanation for our findings is that these physicians may be lowering their thresholds for treating patients with these common outpatient procedures,” Hollingsworth adds.

The study looked at all patients in Florida who underwent one of five common outpatient procedures: carpal tunnel release, cataract excision, colonoscopy, knee arthroscopy and myringotomy with tympanostomy tube placement (a procedure to insert tubes in the ear).

The researchers determined which doctors were owners of a surgery center. They then compared surgery use among owners in two time periods—before and after they acquired ownership—with that of physicians who remained non-owners.

Results of the study appear in the April issue of Health Affairs. The findings include:

• Owners operated on an average of twice as many patients as non-owners.
• While caseloads increased overall between the earlier and later time periods for all physicians, the increases were more rapid and dramatic among owners.

The number of surgery centers has increased nearly 50 percent over the last decade, largely driven by the investment of physicians, who had a stake in 83 percent of these facilities. For doctors, investment may give them more control over their practice environment, from scheduling cases to purchasing surgical equipment. For patients, these centers often have shorter wait times than hospitals and may provide more amenities.

“There are some definite advantages for surgeons, as well as patients, associated with care at surgery centers. However, we need to better understand the implications of these new findings, in particular their overall effect on health care expenditures. Insofar as our results are due to lowered treatment thresholds, policymakers should consider, at the very least, requiring all physicians to disclose their financial interests to their patients,” Hollingsworth says.

Contact: Nicole Fawcett
nfawcett@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System

Additional authors: Zaojun Ye, research associate in urology at U-M; Seth A. Strope, assistant professor of surgery at Washington University in St. Louis; Sarah L. Krein, research associate in internal medicine at U-M; Ann T. Hollenbeck, partner at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP in Detroit; and Brent K. Hollenbeck, associate professor of urology at U-M

Funding: Hollingsworth is a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar; Hollenbeck is supported in part by a Mentored Research Scholarship Grant from the American Cancer Society

Reference: Health Affairs, Vol. 29, No. 4, April 2010

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Many years ago when I was developing hand problems, I was looking for answers to work on myself. 

The stretches I learned in massage school weren’t  helping.  Icing gave relief, but I knew there had to be a better, more lasting way than dipping my arm in alternating cold and hot water or applying ice packs.

Most books and articles weren’t very helpful. 

The first quick method that worked came from a most unusual source. 

Watch the Video to See What Changed Everything.

The video referred to is at Carpal Tunnel Treatment

Then I worked on ways to not have to use my thumbs.
Then I expanded the method.

Then I got numb fingers when I raised my arms to steering wheel level, but not when my arms were down.

This technique  didn’t solve that because the problem was coming from somewhere completely different. 

And so I worked out a self-massage technique for this new area, and the results were almost instant.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Lumps  in the Low Back – Top of Hip

Do you have lumps in your low back, or across the top of you hip bone?

These are firm, movable lumps in between the skin and the muscle or in between the skin and the top of the hip bone (the iliac crest).  They are also found the “dimple” between the butt and the low back. They can range in size from very small and round to oblong and several inches long.

First let me tell you they are NOT cancer and they are not malignant. 

But if you have low back troubles, it important that your read on.

The lump is a back mouse.  I’ll give you some other names so you can do further research if you like or you wish to see a doctor about them. Other terms are: Episacral lipoma, iliac crest pain syndrome, multifidus triangle syndrome, and lumbar fascial fat herniation

They are quite common.  As a massage therapist, I have felt them on hundreds of people.For a long time, nobody I asked could tell me what they were. 

It is estimated that between 10% to 25% of the population has them.

They are not in the muscle, so they are not “knots”.

They are like lipomas (fatty lumps) that a lot of people get.  But lipomas are never painful when you push on them. 

However,  back mice can be painful when you push on them.  Most people who have them can live with them.  BUT….

In about 10% of the people who have them they can cause excruciating back pain, or refer pain down the leg or into the knee. 

They mimic a herniated disc.  And probably the majority of doctors are not aware of this.

What they are is fat that has leaked (herniated) through a rip in the facia (membrane) and often take nerves with it.  These rips can be caused by trauma, lifting, sitting too much, or other possible causes.

Like trigger points, which are tender spots in muscles, back mice can refer pain to somewhere else on the body.  But trigger points can be massaged away with pressure. 

Back mice should NOT be massaged, because that only creates more pain.  Massaging will not make them go away. 

Massaging the back MUSCLES is a good idea. BUT NOT THE LUMPS.

If you have back pain or pain radiating down a leg, you should check to see if it is caused by a back mouse, before submitting to an MRI or other expensive procedures.

Lie face down wearing loose pants (no jeans or belts).  Have a friend feel the low back (around waist level) and on the upper part of the hip bone for lumps.  Have them push fairly hard on any lump they feel. 

If pushing on a lump causes the the same pain you have been having, bingo. Then you can probably blame the mouse

The next step is to see a doctor or clinic (write down the earlier mentioned medical terms for reference).  The true test to see if the back mouse is causing your pain is to have it injected with anesthetic.  If that makes the pain go away, you have found the culprit.  The anesthetic wears off in a couple hours.

Just about any doctor or qualified medical person could inject the anesthetic.

But for the actual surgery, if it were my back, I’d like someone with experience with these things, even though it is not major surgery.  Besides removing the lump, the hole in the facia needs to be mended. 

If the back mouse is causing the pain what can you do about it?

I do not know of any technique to get rid of the back mice. except surgery.

As I may have mentioned, about 90% of the people who have them are not seriously bothered by them.

Chiropractic may help to some extent, as would massage of the muscles – not the mice.

Drugs and pain killers do not help.

Forward stretching and twisting are not advised while you are in pain.

Ice packs may be helpful for pain.

Rub on Relief, a natural pain relief cream, may be helpful.

This is just about all I know about back mice.  Please Comment, but I can’t really answer questions about them.

Free:  Healing a Herniated Disc Guide Right Click to Download.  Then choose “Save Target As” or “Save Link”

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

 Do you think you have carpal tunnel syndrome? Most doctors will tell you there is no cure for carpal tunnel syndrome. 

That’s because generally doctors go after the symptoms, but almost never the cause of the problem.

Please read this carefully. The real reason you have carpal tunnel syndrome is due to muscle imbalance in your forearms.  Here is where nearly all medical professionals fail to make the connection.

What do I mean by that? The forearm muscles move the wrist and fingers. When you open and close your hand, they are actually being moved by the forearm muscles.

Nearly all of the muscles that are used in key boarding, using a mouse, playing most musical instruments, and so forth, are forearm muscles.  When you use weights with your hand closed, you are actually using the forearm muscles to grip.  This is so even if you are working different muscle groups.

In order to cure carpal tunnel syndrome yourself, you need to understand the following:

The flexor muscles are located on the front side of the forearm. These are the muscles that close the fingers and wrist.  The extensor muscles are the muscles that pull the fingers and the wrist backward. 

When you use your hands for almost anything the flexors are using much more effort than the extensors.  The extensor muscles don’t have resistance.

The flexor muscles get thicker and shorter.  The tendons of the flexor muscles likewise get thicker and shorter  Tendons connect muscle to bone.

The tendons that run from the forearms to the fingers are longer and skinnier than most tendons.  The 9 flexor tendons run through the carpal tunnel. 

The shortened flexor muscles pull the wrist forward, reducing the size of the carpal tunnel.  The thicker tendons now reduce the amount of room in the carpal tunnel.

This creates more irritation and inflammation.  More and more pressure is applied to the median nerve.

People find night splints helpful because they keep the hand in a neutral position. Thus they keep the carpal tunnel open.

But they do not fix muscle imbalance. They don’t make you get better. While they feel like they are helping your problem is going to get worse unless you do something to reverse your muscle imbalance.

Try this.  Hold your hands in a neutral position.  By that I mean that the back of your hand is in a straight line with the back of the forearm.  Now keeping your hands in the neutral position, drop them to your sides.  Try forgetting about your hands for a couple minutes. 

If you have to concentrate to hold your hands in a neutral position, they are out of balance. If your muscles are balanced they would hold your hand in a neutral position without you having to try.

So the answer is to get the forearm muscles longer and looser.  Most programs and physical therapists use stretches.  While these can work eventually, it takes dedication, and you have to do it right.  Some people will quit if they don’t get speedy results. 

When I was having hand problems, stretching didn’t work for me.

What did work were targeted self-massage methods. 

You can find them at Carpal Tunnel Master.

These effective and specific self-help methods do not require using your hands.  Nor do they require any gizmos.  The majority of massage therapists haven’t studied this.  You can do better work on yourself.  It is easy when you know how. Working on your forearms a few minutes at a time, a two or three times a day will do you more good, and save you a lot of money and time.

The reasons these work so incredibly because you directly loosen the tightness in the tendons and muscles, improve the healing blood supply to them, directly unstick muscle fibers that are stuck together, as well as unstick muscle cells that are stuck in contraction.

Live well, save time, be happy.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Here’s a video that shows a great stretch if you have back pain.

The stretch is in the second part of the video. 

When he starts talking about this stretch, he is in the lotus position.  But don’t worry, that is not the position for the back stretch, so keep watching the video. 

The first part of the video, Lucas Rockwood, demonstrates a Quinoa Toss Salad.  If you don’t know what quinoa is, I’ll tell you at the bottom of this post.

Again, the back pain stretch is in the second part of the video.

To see more of Lucus Rockwood’s Videos and Articles click here.

Quinoa Toss Salad — this is a hearty, delicious salad that can be used as a complete meal.

Quinoa Toss Salad Recipe:

* 1/2 head broccoli
* 2 cups quinoa
* 4 radishes, finely chopped
* 1 slice ginger, finely chopped
* 1 tomato, chopped
* 1 cucumber (seeded)
* 2-3 Tbs cold-pressed olive oil
* 1/2 tsp sea salt
* dulce
* lemon
1. Steam your broccoli very lightly
2. Simmer your quinoa in 4 cups of water for 15 minutes
3. Peel your cucumber, slice it in half and drag a spoon down the middle to deseed it,
4. Chop the cucumber, and finely chop your radish and ginger
5. Mix the quinoa, tomato, broccoli, salt and oil together in a bowl with your chopped ingredients
6. Let sit for an hour, top with dulce and lemon and serve

_________________

Quinoa can substitute for nearly any grain in cooking. (It is really the seed of a leafy plant that is a cousin to spinach).

Anyway, Here are the Advantages of Quinoa

It is a complete source of protein.  – unlike other grains.  This makes it ideal for vegetarians or others who just want to reduce their meat consumption.

It is gluten free.  Use quinoa instead of pasta.  Whether they know it or not, an estimated 1 person in 8 in the USA is gluten intolerant.  If you experience a lot of digestive problems try going gluten free for a month.

Great for cardiovascular health
Quinoa is especially high in is magnesium. 

Magnesium helps to relax the blood vessels, reducing the rates of hypertension, heart disease, or heart arrhythmias.  That also helps the blood supply to the muscles, which can help reduce pain and stiffness.

Helps digestion and reduces the risk of gallstones

Quinoa is high in fiber.  That helps keep the digestive track running smoothly, and can also help reduce your risk of getting gallstones.

Helps with your immune system..
Quinoa is also high in manganese and copper, which helps to boost you antioxidant levels.

You can find quinoa in health food stores
and also in some supermarkets.

 ———————-

For more about nutrition and strecching click here.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

Hi, This is Hilma,

Those of you who have been following me know that I am against most anti-inflammatory drugs – not only because of the potential side effects – but because they interfere with the natural healing process (and in the case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome – can make your problem worse in the long run).

But here is a product that is safe and helps the body heal as it reduces pain and inflammation.

For a limited time you can get a FREE bottle of Heal-n-Soothe…

Fast, Safe and All-Natural Pain Relief

You Do Not Harsh and Dangerous Medications…

You have to Hurry – This offer ends very soon.

* Reduce pain, inflammation and swelling
* Fast acting – goes to work in minutes
* No dangerous side effects
* Improves joint mobility and flexibility
* Boosts immune function – kills viruses and bacteria

Whether your pain is in your back, shoulders, arms, whatever….

For More Infofmation Click Here

Hilma

http://CarpalTunnelMaster.com

Discomfortfree.com

Bookmark It

Hide Sites