Knee Pain Has Many Causes

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 “Knee Pain Has Many Causes”

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How Food Causes Pain

Can food cause pain?

A very common reason for 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 company’s 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 “How Food Causes Pain”

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Simple Pain Relief As Your Feet Get Older

Pain on the bottoms of you feet as you age?  Could happen!

And what can you do to have happy feet again?

Feet do change as you age.  Some people notice that the fat pads on the bottoms of their feet aren’t there anymore.  However, other people do NOT lose their fat pads.

Let’s talk about age-related changes and I’ll share my thoughts.

Me:

Yes, the fat padding on the bottom of the foot does Continue reading “Simple Pain Relief As Your Feet Get Older”

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Restless Legs Natural Relief

Tingling, creepy, crawling, wiggling, bugs-under-your-skin feelings?  This is what restless legs can feel like.

It’s really quite annoying because it usually kicks in just when you start to relax or fall asleep.

Dr. Andrew Weil is an alternative M.D. and he suggested there is no cure in an article but he had several suggestions.  I do, too.  I’ll share mine in a bit.

Dr. Weil said:

1.  Stop smoking.  Smoking impairs blood flow to the legs.

2.  Avoid caffeine and alcohol.  They can both make symptoms worse.

3.  Take a calcium/magnesium supplement at bedtime.  He suggested 500 mg of calcium citrate and 250 to 500 mg of magnesium to calm muscles.

4.  Exercise, stretch or massage your legs.  He said this helps most people who Continue reading “Restless Legs Natural Relief”

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Jaw Pain – Causes & Natural Cures for TMJ

Having a forward head  posture puts a lot of strain on the muscles of your neck and jaw.  Having a “forward head” means that your head (and often one or both shoulders, too) are in front of your body.

Where should your head be instead?

Well, when you were a toddler, it was pretty much directly over your body and that’s still where it should be.  Due to habits, furniture, car seats, work and life, sometimes our head moves out in front of us.

That causes a lot of symptoms and temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ)  pain, or pain and difficulty moving your jaw, can be one of those symptoms.

If chewing has been painful for you…

or if it’s been hard to open or move your jaw…

or if it feels as Continue reading “Jaw Pain – Causes & Natural Cures for TMJ”

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Muscles in Your Jaw Cause TMJ or Jaw Pain

Do you have pain in your jaw?  Is it hard to open and close your mouth?  Do you clamp your teeth together without even thinking about it?

Did you know that there are muscles around the joint of your jaw that will cause these symptoms?  Let’s talk about those muscles and about that joint–the temporomandibular joint or TMJ.

If you have pain around your TMJ, you may have TMJD.  TMJD means dysfunction of the TMJ.  That means it doesn’t work as easily as it should.

There are muscles inside your mouth, outside your mouth and in your cheeks that can be tight.  They can Continue reading “Muscles in Your Jaw Cause TMJ or Jaw Pain”

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How To Get Rid Of Pain Caused By Collapsing Posture

If your posture begins to fail–if you start to collapse forward with your heavy head leading the way–you will begin to have muscle pain in your lower, mid and upper back and also in your neck and head.  Maybe even in your arms and hands.

That is not a good thing.

But, if you strengthen your back muscles, they will keep you from collapsing forward.  How cool is that!

You can strengthen your back muscles by Continue reading “How To Get Rid Of Pain Caused By Collapsing Posture”

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Massage Therapy for Muscle Pain

Does massage help relieve muscle pain?

Oh my goodness!  Don’t even get me started on the benefits of massage.

I am SO biased!  I LOVE massage!

Pain happens for lots of reasons but therapeutic massage can help with virtually ALL of them.  Why?  Because muscles are responsible for so much of your pain.

Massage ranges from so light it barely touches the skin to very deep, specific and corrective.  There are almost as many types of massage as there are  massage therapists!   🙂

The very light or subtle forms of touch can help comfort people who are dying or who have fibromyalgia or RSD.  I remember barely tracing Continue reading “Massage Therapy for Muscle Pain”

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Detoxing for Muscle Pain Relief

Certain drugs and processed foods can cause muscle pain.  A reader asked me what to do for muscle pain that has continued even after she ended her course of medication.  I’m not a detox expert or a doctor (and I can’t play the piano, either) but I will share what knowledge I have.

1.  Certain medications affect the endocrine system.  Endocrine systems get damaged and unhappy when we put certain things (including certain food ingredients and medications) into our bodies.  We need our thyroid and Continue reading “Detoxing for Muscle Pain Relief”

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How To Get The Natural Curves Back In Your Spine To Improve Posture And Reduce Neck and Back Pain

If you have neck pain or back pain there’s a really good chance that you have lost the natural curves in your spine.

When you were born you were curled into a rounded-back position.

In a little while you began to stretch your arms and legs and rolled over and arched your back in the opposite direction of that birth position.  You pushed up with your arms and lifted your head.  Why?

You were getting the muscles around your spine and torso ready to walk!  You were creating the natural curves in your back that you needed.

So now you have back or neck pain because you’re losing those natural curves but bodies heal all the time.

It’s important Continue reading “How To Get The Natural Curves Back In Your Spine To Improve Posture And Reduce Neck and Back Pain”

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Why Are Your Muscles Sore After Massage

Some people have soreness following therapeutic massage and others never do.

The possibility of having sore muscles following a massage  is more common with your very first massage. Soreness occurs because “new” things are happening to your muscles.  They get kneaded, moved, squeezed.

All of this can release metabolic (body) wastes and other materials that are stored in your muscles and other soft tissues (skin, fat, fascia.)  These waste products are being manually flushed from the soft tissues.

Massage stirs things up.  This is not a bad thing but sometimes, for some people, massage can cause muscle soreness.

A deeper “therapeutic” massage is more Continue reading “Why Are Your Muscles Sore After Massage”

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