Cauda Equina syndrome: Causes, symptoms, cure for back pain, weak leg muscles

Have you been experiencing severe back pain, difficulty in walking, or weakness in your lower leg muscles? These could be symptoms of the Cauda Equina syndrome. Never heard of the term before? “Cauda Equina syndrome is a rare disorder that affects the bundle of nerve roots (called cauda equina) at the lower (lumbar) end of the spinal cord. In this condition, the nerve roots in the lumbar spine become compressed, due to which sensation and movement are cut off. Nerve roots controlling bladder and bowel functions are particularly vulnerable,” explains Dr Ramananda…

Read More

Stress can ruin your beauty in the most shocking way: Here’s how to fight back

There are a few things that adversely affect your looks like stress. From premature wrinkles, acne, uneven skin tone and puffy eyes to dark circles, stress can lead to or aggravate a large number of beauty problems. “Living under constant stress is like leaving a soft rubber pipe under the sun to dry. Two of the most common skin problems that I see very young people struggling with these days is premature ageing and uneven skin tone. This is often a direct outcome of not being able to manage stress”,…

Read More

We give people their humanity back’: inside Croatia’s pioneering mental health centre

High walls still surround the oldest asylum in the Balkans, an 18th-century building pocked with the artillery scars of last century’s civil war, but the gates are no longer locked. Handles have been replaced on internal doors and bars removed from windows. “The jail,” said Darko Kovaoic, a 53-year-old poet with schizophrenia who lives here, “has broken open.” The institution in Osijek, eastern Croatia, is run by Ladislav Lamza, a former social worker who is taking on the government, the health minister, and his own staff to transform the lives of…

Read More

Back to school health check: Packed lunches

September is here, summer is over and it’s time to go back to school. Doubtless parents up and down the country have spent the past few days frantically buying uniform, seeking out sports kit and stocking up on stationery essentials – but amongst all start-of-term madness, have you given thought to your children’s packed lunches? Starting or returning to school places all sorts of social, emotional, and mental stresses on children, and nutrition plays a vital role in helping them face up to the day-to-day demands of school life with strength and confidence.…

Read More

This weekend, look back on Burman

For the next few weeks, the walls of the National Gallery of Modern Art will be filled with the works that are best described as dreamlike. Sakti Burman, now 84, gets a long overdue retrospective titled In the Presence of Another Sky – a show that surveys his output across nearly six decades.“The viewer who does not already know Sakti Burman’s work can look forward to being immersed in the magical universe of an artist who is by turns an enchanter, a mythologist, a storyteller, an archaeologist of memory, and…

Read More

Prabhu Chaat Bhandar: A Fine Taste of a Chaat Legacy Going Back 82 Years

Delhi’s obsession with chaats does not call for a description, neither does a Delhiite’s staggering loyalty of sticking to their favourite joints and eateries for generations. This loyalty and love lends a joint its iconic status. One such eminent food joint which has shouldered the great ‘chaat-legacy’ of Delhi for over 82 years is Prabhu Chaat Bhandar. Started by Nathu Laal in the year 1935, Prabhu Chaat Bhandar is situated right opposite to the Union Public Service Commission building in New Delhi, as such it is often referred to as…

Read More