Yes, I know you are trying to enjoy the last flames of summer, but now is a good time to slow down a little and take stock of your body. Are you making smart choices in terms of proper eating, adequate rest and exercise, and stress reduction?

It sounds like some sort of wooden contraption doesn’t it? I am sure you have heard the term before. Shin splints are an assortment of lower leg injuries often caused by over-use.

You were having so much fun in the sun and forgot the rules. Sunscreen. Cover up. Stay in the shade as much as possible. The damage has been done. Pain and redness is the result of your overexposure to the sun.

You hit the trifecta - heat, sunlight, and stress. Unfortunately for you, this resulted in hives. You just joined the 20% of the population that suffers from this inflammatory skin reaction.

Hey you - you in those shorts over in that grassy area. Watch out! A tiny infected tick is lying in wait, ready to hop on your warm legs and take a little bite. That painless bite sends some nasty bacteria into your body. Anywhere from a week to a month later, you might notice a circular red rash that is hot and itchy.

GERD means gastroesophageal reflux disease and is a chronic digestive disease. Stomach acid flows back (refluxes) into your esophagus (food pipe). This back flow of acid irritates the lining of the esophagus. The reflux happens when a muscle at the lower end of your esophagus, the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), does not work properly.

That sounds cold and stiff, doesn't it? Using the medical term, adhesive capsulitis, does not make those who suffer from it feel any better. The medical term describes adhesions (tight bands of tissue) at the shoulder joint capsule.

Over the past year I have been keeping an informal survey of which body parts have troubled clients the most. I wondered if there were differences between males and females.

Diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the way your body uses glucose (sugar), which is your body's main source of fuel for energy. Insulin is a hormone that controls the movement of glucose into your cells.

Well, it sounds like a bark to me.

Remember book reports in elementary school and how they all seemed to signal the end of the report with those words? You knew that it was always followed by the statement that you would have to read the book.

Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river. Who can forget Tina Turner singing Proud Mary?

Ugh. I looked down and saw my ankles yesterday. It looked like I had little white anklet socks on. I took a quick look around the dressing room to see if anybody else had noticed them.

What the heck was that? Several clients have asked me about it at the end of their sessions, but I find more are asking about it during the massage. Sometimes they are not sure if they are feeling my finger, knuckle, elbow or ...?

Most swimmers know I'm talking about the Latissimus Dorsi, which is that broad, triangular muscle that basically runs down from your armpit, sweeps across your back, and goes down to the crest of your pelvis on both sides of your body.

Believe it or not...many of us suffer from diamond trouble occasionally. While you are reading this, go ahead and pinch your shoulder blades together. You are using your rhomboids! These muscles reside in the upper back and connect to the shoulder blade. Often referred to as a diamond due to the shape of the muscle, the rhomboid muscles move your shoulder blades.

Is there a guy alive who doesn't love King Kong? Watching him roar and beat his chest is great! That chest pounding calls attention to his gigantic chest. King Kong is definitely intimidating, powerful, and impressive.

Last week I was working some trigger points on a client's neck when she asked me what that stringy stuff she felt was. I was in the space between her collarbone, the trapezius muscle on the top of her shoulder, and the V-shaped muscles (sternocleidomastoid) in her throat. What she felt was the stringiness or ropiness of the scalene muscles.

Recently I spoke to a client who had been complaining of morning stiffness and pain throughout the day with difficulty bending and unbending her thumb joint. After seeing her doctor, she was diagnosed with trigger finger, which is a condition where your fingers or thumb get locked temporarily in a bent position. It is called trigger finger or trigger thumb because the affected digit may unbend with a popping sound, which sounds like a trigger being pulled and released.

Do you have pain, irritation, or swelling on the bottom of your feet? Do you have heel or arch pain as well? It could be plantar fasciitis, a common condition caused by excessive stretching of the plantar fascia.

Unfortunately, you are not happy about it. Iliotibial Band Pain - words that runners do not want to hear!

Many of us stand on our feet all day long and that is really not a good thing. Standing too long is not good for your circulation. What may happen is that fluid collects in your ankles and feet due to the force of gravity.

Recently,  it seems that most of my clients have complained about neck pain of all kinds - dull, stabbing, crunchy, etc.