SIMPLE PAIN RELIEF with Kathryn Merrow, the Pain Relief Coach

Tags: Kathryn Merrow The Pain Relief Coach

Muscle pain always has a cause.  Sometimes the cause is a crooked body.  This can happen from an injury, poor standing or sitting habits or bones that are not equal in length.

Bodies are really logical.  And smart, too!  But sometimes they need a little help.  From you, of course.

If you have muscle pain in your lower back or neck, you might be crooked.  You may have a tilt.  You might be able to figure it out or you may need someone else to ‘eyeball’ you.

Here’s how your logical body works:

When one shoulder is high, that means the other side is Continue Reading »

Tags: back pain, cause of muscle pain, Kathryn Merrow, muscle pain, natural pain relief, pain relief coach

Muscles respond very well to heat and ice therapy.  Why is this?

Applications of heat fill the tissues with blood and increase circulation.  Short applications of ice also increase circulation.  This is all good!

Longer applications of cold by itself reduce the flow of blood to the area so keep application of cold in an area to less than one minute.  (Water Therapy, Leon Chaitow MD)

What is contrast therapy?

Alternating heat/hot and cold/ice applications helps increase circulation, increases oxygen supply to the soft tissues and Continue Reading »

Tags: contrast hydrotherapy, contrast therapy, heat therapy, ice therapy, Kathryn Merrow, pain relief coach

I had a great time talking with muscle expert and author Gini Maddocks at PainReliefRadio.com Gini always has a lot of excellent input to help listeners get rid of their pain and today was no exception.

We talked about your hip, how it moves and why you have hip pain.  Gini told us about her super-dooper pain-relieving tool that you probably already have in your own kitchen.  And then I came up with another use for it.  I’ll bet you might, too. 

We had a fun talk.  I always enjoy interviewing someone who knows her stuff.

I know you will have a better understanding of your hip pain after you listen.  That’s important because it IS your body.

I also know you will gets lots of natural self-help relief techniques for the pain in your hip(s).

Here’s the link to the interview:  http://budurl.com/hiphip

After you listen, leave a comment here and let me know what other pain relief topics you’d like to hear.

The interview is only 30 minutes.  Don’t you owe that to yourself to get hip pain relief?  I’m thinking YES!

Tags: Gini Maddocks, hip pain, hip pain relief, Kathryn Merrow, pain in hip, pain relief coach

Readers ask a lot of questions about  knots in their backs.  I’m going to give you several links to articles that I wrote which will give you a lot of insight into the causes of pain in the shoulder and upper back.

Usually people have shoulder and shoulder blade pain on the side of their dominant hand–the hand you use all the time.  This is because that arm and hand are in front of you for long periods.  But sometimes it’s on the opposite side of the body.

Sometimes you have to be your own diagnostician and try to figure out what exactly is causing your pain.  (There is always a cause—it is not just “old age.”)   Sometimes it’s something as simple as carrying a heavy purse or bag over your shoulder and hiking your shoulder to “hold” the bag in place without even thinking about it.

Sometimes it’s a sitting position or sleeping position that aggravates your muscles and causes muscle knots.  Do you squash your shoulders when you sleep on your side?  Are you a stomach sleeper?  That can Continue Reading »

Tags: Kathryn Merrow, knot in back, knot in back near shoulder blade, pain relief coach, shoulder blade spasm

If you have pain or numbness in your hands and in your feet, it’s a good idea to see your doctor to rule out any serious medical condition like diabetes.

Although some people are more prone to get diabetes than others, it is largely a disorder caused by lifestyle and what we eat.  Some doctors will have you exercise and change your diet to control it.  Some doctors don’t have faith in their patients, so they will offer medications to you.

But sometimes it is NOT a whole-body issue.  Sometimes the cause of pain or numbness in your hands and feet is caused by separate things.

If the muscles in your butt–your  gluteal muscles–are tight, they can cause Continue Reading »

Tags: feet numb, foot pain, hand pain, hands numb, Kathryn Merrow

When your back hurts you might think you will have back pain forever.  Not so!

You have a smart body.  Your back pain is a message.  Your body is telling you that it is not happy about something that is happening.

There are a lot of causes for back pain but most involve your muscles.  Muscles move joints, bones, disks in your spine and press on nerves. Muscles rule!

My client Sharon said, “My mom’s been having a lot of back pain lately.  She tried one massage and hurt more afterward so she’s afraid to try again.  She’s going to have hospital tests next week.”

I called Lisa and asked her about her back pain.  (Pain is a Continue Reading »

Tags: back pain, back pain relief, cause of back pain, Kathryn Merrow

If you have muscle or joint pain, your immune system can be involved.  The immune system is part of your endocrine system.  The “endo” system are the glands who run the whole show; when they’re happy and functioning well, so are you.  When they are not happy, you aren’t feeling so well either.

Here’s an interesting interview I did with a woman who is an expert in the endocrine system.  She had to be in order to Continue Reading »

Tags: cause of joint pain, cause of muscle pain, joint pain, Kathryn Merrow, muscle pain

Knee pain can be caused by strains and tears to ligaments, injuries to the structure of the knee, or by soft tissues.  Soft tissues means everything that is not bone.  That includes muscles.

You may have to see a doctor if you have an injury which requires repair.  But for knee pain which has come on over a period of time, the following steps may be all you need to get rid of your knee pain.

1.  Re-balance and strengthen the muscles in your upper leg.  The front and back of your thigh were balanced when you were a child and used to always be on the move.  You used ALL of your muscles then.  But, now?

Well, now you have knee pain, right?

Start using all Continue Reading »

Tags: cause of knee pain, Kathryn Merrow, knee pain, knees hurt, natural knee pain relief, pain relief coach

There are many causes for knee pain.  Sometimes painful knees may have several causes working at the same time.  The good news is that most of the causes involve muscles and soft tissues (not bone) and can be easily “fixed.”

Sometimes knee pain is caused by an accident or injury to the bones and ligiments.  And, sometimes surgery is required to repair the damage.  In that case, muscles may still be involved.  Working on your muscles–getting them balanced by using all of them, relaxing those that are “too tight” and releasing trigger points–will still benefit you.

Muscles in your thigh can cause knee pain.

Muscles in the hamstring can also cause knee pain.

So can the muscles of your lower leg.

And so can the muscle directly behind Continue Reading »

Tags: cause of knee pain, Kathryn Merrow, knee hurts, knee pain, pain in knee

There are lots of reasons for pain in your muscles and joints.  But very often, the culprit behind your aches and pains, tiredness and fatique, diabetes, lack of energy, osteoporosis and other problems and diseases is…TA DA!  The stuff you put into your mouth. 

You may have heard me complain before about the state of our “food.”  Too much highly processed food (gee, I hate to call it ‘food’) comes out of the supermarket.  The packaging is pretty.  The tastes and smells and colors leap out at you.  It’s planned.

Did you know there are “food chemists” and whole industries whose only job is to get you to buy more of their companies’ products?

Do you know that a lot of the flavors and scents they create and add to your food are petroleum based?  Yup, the same thing that fuels your car.  But your car was built to use petroleum.  You were not.

And ’spices’?  Turns out that Continue Reading »

Tags: food cause pain, Kathryn Merrow, muscle pain and nutrition, natural pain relief, sugar causes pain