Dr. Ben Kim's blog

Clearly, it's best to stretch all of your major muscles. Stretching promotes healthy blood flow and fluid exchange, which keep your muscles well nourished and relatively free of buildup of waste products, which lead to optimal function and lower risk of injury. Read more

After posting some recommendations on casual shoes and sandals for healthy feet, a number of readers wrote in asking about supportive dress shoes.

For the past few months, with the help of a few good men and women in my extended family, I was able to assess about a dozen pairs of dress shoes that made it onto my research list. Read more

Female night shift workers have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than the rest of the female population. An interesting study in the December 1, 2005 issue of Cancer Research provides new information that might partly explain why this is.

Researchers found that sleeping for several hours in nighttime darkness promotes a healthy blood level of a hormone called melatonin, which can significantly suppress the growth and proliferation of breast tumours. Read more

Though I don't usually feel a connection to rap music, "Just the Two of Us" is an all-time favorite of mine. Many years before I became a dad in my early 30's, I longed to live out the lyrics of this song with my future children. Read more

Giving thanks for the works of Korean pianist, Yiruma. Read more

Your hip abductors are muscles that lie on the upper and outer portion of your buttocks. These muscles - called your gluteus medius and minimus - allow you to move your lower extremities out and away from your midline. They also allow you to rotate your legs inward so that the toes of one leg face your opposite leg. Read more

I'm not sure how long foam rollers have been around, but over the past several months, I've discovered how powerful a therapeutic tool they can be for promoting and maintaining optimal physical health.

The idea is simple enough: Using your own body weight and agility, you roll specific muscle groups against a firm foam roller to mimic a deep, gliding massage. Read more

During my first few years of private practice, for most cases of jaw pain and dysfunction, I applied a carefully executed manual adjustment to the temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ), also known as the jaw joint, found in front of each ear. This is the protocol that I learned as an intern from a supervising clinician. Read more

If you chew gum on a regular basis, please consider the following:

1. Chewing gum causes unnecessary wear and tear of the cartilage that acts as a shock absorber in your jaw joints. Once damaged, this area can produce pain and discomfort for a lifetime.

2. You use eight different facial muscles to chew. Unnecessary chewing can create chronic tightness in two of these muscles, located close to your temples. This can put pressure on the nerves that supply this area of your head, which can lead to chronic, intermittent headaches.

If you ever find yourself at a Korean restaurant and unsure about what to order, know that you can't go wrong in ordering bi bim bap (pronounced bee-beem-bahp).

Bi bim means "mixed," while bap means "rice." But bi bim bap is far more than mixed rice. It calls for perfectly cooked rice with a number of well seasoned vegetables, mixed with sesame oil and just a touch of red chili paste. If you enjoy mushrooms, eggs, chicken, or beef, you can add any one or all of these items to create your own version of bi bim bap. Read more