Please enjoy the hundreds of articles that Dr. Borten has written over the past 20+ years. There’s something for everyone, including explorations of spirituality, learning from the natural world, exercise and stretching, nutrition, psychology, posture, breathing, pain management, Eastern medicine and philosophy, and much more.
As we begin this new year, I am first reminded on how fast 2012 went by! Too many things wanting to be accomplished and not enough time to do them. No regrets…just time passes by so fast. I’ve decided this year to have a heavy…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) Here’s a test: Stand with one foot directly in front of the other, heel to toe, like you just got pulled over to do a sobriety test. Close your eyes. Try not to wobble or…
My new favorite product recommended during my last facial….Epicuren Pro Collagen. Been using for the last month and starting to feel a difference in the elasticity of my skin. I use very sparingly so it will last me awhile! -Robert (Spa Director at NW Thurman)
(Originally published in About Face Magazine, issue 08) When a patient comes in to see me, I get a brief opportunity to facilitate a shift toward the positive. I might overhaul their diet, give them exercises, insert acupuncture needles, or prescribe some medicine. It’s clear…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) Traveling, whether by plane, train, car, bus, or unicycle, is often hard on the body. There are many things you can do to make traveling a less painful experience. It does require some work, but…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) Acceptance is an essential prerequisite to letting something go. Although it’s natural to fight the things we dislike, when the struggle is within us, it only strengthens our relationship with the thing we dislike. Perhaps…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) Our food choices often play a major part in the development of chronic pain. All of the ways our diet affects our internal chemistry is too big a topic for this forum, but there are…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) The increase in Americans’ use of oral pharmaceutical drugs over the past several decades is nothing short of mind-blowing. I always ask my patients what drugs they’re taking – if any – and I routinely…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) Since at least several hundred years B.C., people in Greece, India, China, and elsewhere have used a technique of applying friction to the skin in order to resolve pain and treat deeper medical disorders. The…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) Ok, so tennis elbow – AKA lateral epicondylitis – has never been just an affliction of tennis players. They’re just especially prone to it because the shock of whacking a tennis ball (especially backhand) tends…
Bad posture has many forms. It’s not just the slouching that mothers like to point out. There are all sorts of ways in which our positioning can produce significant stress on our muscles and joints (and even our internal organs). Curcumin has been shown to…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) Plantar fasciitis is a painful condition of the sole of the foot. Technically, plantar fasciitis means inflammation of the plantar facsia – the connective tissue on the sole that runs from the heel to the…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) If you suffer from neck pain, there’s a good chance it’s nothing serious, and even something you can get over rather quickly. The muscles that run along the back of the neck join at their…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) In the practice of Chinese Medicine, heat is nearly always considered preferable to cold for the treatment of pain. A fundamental principle of this medical system is that all pain is caused by stagnation –…
(Originally published as an eight part series of articles for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) Part One Of the various approaches I recommend for pain relief, visualization and other mental techniques are the most interesting to me. Our mind has the power to stop the worst…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch.) I was working an office job about 20 years ago with a nice guy about ten years my senior. We were getting to be friends, and this helped break up the dreary routine of the…
(Originally published as an article for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) It sort of feels risky to me, given how many yoga teachers I know, to say anything negative about stretching. Luckily, most of them are pacifists, so I don’t think they’ll beat me up. So…
From a Chinese Medical perspective, all pain is caused by same basic mechanism: stagnation. Blood, lymph, energy, food, or other substances are inhibited from their usual flow, and this feels uncomfortable – whether it’s the result of a crushing your finger with a hammer, cramming…
(Originally published as a three part series of articles for Imbue Pain Relief Patch) Part One As early as I can remember doing weight bearing exercise, I nearly always emphasized the “pushing” or contractive part of the movement. If I was doing a push-up, my…
In high school and college, I spent hours every day playing my guitars and writing songs. Music was the main outlet I had for the angst and depression I felt in my late teens and early twenties. In grad school, I began to emerge from…
(Originally published as a newsletter for The Dragontree Holistic Day Spa) I was recently at a workshop to study a particular style of Chinese pulse diagnosis with an expert in San Francisco. This form was brought to the U.S. by a doctor named John Shen,…