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How chronic pain affects your mood

Q&A with Dr. Edward Lubin on the link between mental illness and pain that lasts longer than six months Chronic pain, which is defined as pain that lasts longer than six months, can be so much more impactful on a patient’s daily life than a seven-word description. The type of pain can vary in frequency…
Pop Quiz: Is your child at risk for cyberbullying?

Quiz your knowledge so you can recognize the warning signs and help prevent the worst from happening A mean text message… a social media profile filled with vicious rumors… an embarrassing photo posted online and shared throughout the school… These are just a few ways in which a child or teen can be cyberbullied. Cyberbullying…
Good vs. bad stress at work

How to recognize and change patterns that effect your physical and mental health Eustress (a.k.a., Good Stress) Promotion/increased responsibilities: Everyone enjoys being recognized for his/her accomplishments, and when a promotion or additional tasks are given to employees, there can be a mixture of emotions depending on the person’s current workload and personal/professional attitude. In most…

Health Impacts of Opioid Addiction on Patients

As a spine surgeon, I routinely see various life-threatening consequences of opioid addiction. These could include severe spinal instability and paralysis that develops from infection, that occurs due to intravenous injections of opioids — by patients who are addicted to opioids. These patients typically started by taking that single initial opioid tablet, and quickly developed…
COVID-19 and the Heart

COVID-19 (coronavirus SARS 2) is obviously an infection that primarily affects the lungs. As we know, this is a pandemic that has affected all our lives. Does it have any cardiac issues directly or indirectly? Direct Problems COVID-19 has been known to cause weakening of the heart in some cases. Thankfully this is rare, but…
Myopia Control in the COVID-19 Era

My weekends are admittedly different now. Before my weekends were filled with time spent with friends, in person, but now they are Zoom calls, Brady Bunch style. We hosted our game night online, and we chat while we bake or make dinner. Even at our practice, we are utilizing the ability to work remotely, and…