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 but bodies heal all the time.

It’s important for you to know this.  Bodies are always changing and they CAN and DO change for the better!  And you might have all the equipment you need right now to make this happen.  You have MUSCLES!

I saw an advertisement for a product that was designed to help people get the natural curves back into their spines.  It’s called the Posture Pump.  You might want to look at the ad just to see how your spine is supposed to move and how the curves should be.  It has some good pictures of unhappy spines.

The ad talks about using the pump to hydrate the disks in your spine.  That means the disks will be more fluid-filled and healthier.  And when your posture is better, you will have less neck and back pain.

But…

Since you have MUSCLES…and you were built to USE those muscles…here’s another option.

Lay in bed, on your back, and “lift” your waist toward the ceiling.  That moves the spine, disks and muscles; it helps relax the soft tissues and hydrate the disks.  Lift your waist in a rhythmic way, as you inhale.  Lift, inhale.  Relax, exhale. Get a rhythm going as you do this over and over.

If you pay close attention, you will discover that your head is gently rocking as you lift your waist.  What does that mean?  It means your cervical spine–your neck–is also moving.

Lifting your waist creates movement in your whole spine and everything which is attached to it.  (Which is all of the rest of your body!)

And, simply breathing–filling your lungs–will cause your chin to tilt up and down.  This won’t have as much of an impact on your lower back as lifting your waist will, but breathing in a deliberate manner helps relax the muscles and soft tissues of your neck.

By using these simple ways to move your spine, you can start to get the natural curves back in your spine.  This will help you improve your posture and help relieve your back pain and neck pain.

Moving your feet while you lay in bed can help you get rid of a stiff back, stiff neck or tight hip muscles.  Moving your feet actually causes movement in all of the muscles up to your head.  Why?  Because they are all attached!

Here are some simple pain relief movements you can do.

Lay on your back.  Uncover your feet if you are in bed.  Hold one foot toes up and swish your foot from side to side.  Pretend your foot is the windshield wiper on a car.  Do this movement until your muscles start to tire or for about a minute.

If you place your hand under the top of your upper leg (your hip joint) you will feel movement there.  And “all” you have done is move your foot!

Then rest for at least 20 seconds.

While you are resting, pay attention to the sensation in your leg.  Warm & buzzy?  Nice.

Now make circles with your foot in one direction until your leg starts to become tired or for about one minute.  If you cannot make big movements just make small movements; that will work just as well.  Then rest and observe.

Do all of the movements you can think of with one foot, in every direction you can think of.  Rest between each movement.  Then do the same movements with your other foot.

This is good to do when you are going to sleep or when you wake up…or both!

Imagine:  Moving your feet to get rid of pain in your neck.

Your neck is also attached to the rest of your body.

That means that muscles as far away as your feet (!) can cause neck pain.  Your whole body is one unit; all of the muscles act together.  Even when you are not aware of it, the muscles in your lower body affect your neck and your posture.

This means the more ways you use your body–all of the muscles instead of only the same ones over and over–the less pain and more “balanced” you will be.

This may sound strange but how about starting off by rotating your feet?  When you’re laying in bed, roll/rotate them both in one direction until your lower leg muscles start to get tired.  Then rest for a few minutes and feel the nice sensations in your feet and legs.  Then reverse the circles and do it again in the opposite direction.  Why am I suggesting this?  Because your feet are attached to your neck, of course!    Honest!

With your upper arms supported on your bed, you can also rotate your hands at the same time as your feet.  Just be sure to pay attention and try to make circles.  If this aggravates anything in your feet, legs, hands or arms, then don’t do it.  That’s why you need to pay attention to how it feels so you can know if you should continue right then or not.

Remember, I’m not a doctor or a physical therapist.

Bodies do heal and can get better.  We just have to keep our backsides strong and use ALL of our muscles.  You can find lots of articles at www.SimpleStrengthening.com that will help you strengthen the muscles of your back side (which is usually one of the weakest muscle groups when you have neck pain).

The rule of thumb is:  Ice for nervy pain and heat for muscular pain.

If you use heat and feel slightly worse afterward, that means heat is not the correct treatment.  Use ice instead.  You can find more information in the “Heat & Ice” Category right here at SimplePainRelief.com

Tiny movements are more beneficial to help relax tight muscles than large neck movements.  Muscles that are in contraction won’t necessarily stretch but small repetitive movements can help them warm and relax.

Here’s one small movement you can use:

Pretend a pencil is attached to your chin.  Pretend to “draw” little tiny circles with the pencil.  Make them the size of a dime or smaller.  Try to make circles rather than triangles.  You want to make the movement as smooth as you can.

When muscles cause pain in your neck and back, you can often “treat” them yourself naturally.  You have a smart body that wants to be well and right now it just needs a little help from you to get rid of your neck pain.  Check out Back Pain Natural Relief. They offer lots of self-help pain relief ideas.

I was recently at a high school symphony band concert and was struck by the extremely poor posture and “forward head posture” of many of the musicians.  Even though a lot of young people have “forward heads,” it was much more so with the musicians than with the general student population.

Why would this be?

Most of us hold our arms and heads in front of us most of the day, but musicians–musical athletes–hold their instruments for extended periods without the opportunity to stretch or relax the muscles that support their instruments.

What could help?

The muscles in the front of the body support the instrument.  The are the ones that are contracted and shortened simply due to the work they do.

Strengthening your back will help and so will stretching the muscles in the front of your body.  Massage therapy would also help but which muscles should be massaged?

The muscles that would need the most pre- and post-event treatment would mostly be the ones that SHORTEN during practice and performance.  This does NOT mean the areas of complaint.  The complaining areas of muscle  are most often SYMPTOMS and not the cause of the pain.  The shortened, front-of-body muscles would need the most massage to help them get back to normal resting length.

Before a performance, a general full body “warm up” should work well.  But, many massage therapists do a “full body” warming massage while avoiding working on the front of the neck, chest, abdomen, front of thighs and inside of thighs.  Those areas need warming too–those are the shortened muscles–and shouldn’t be avoided.

After a performance, I would suggest again that the muscles that were shortened (usually the muscles in the front of the body) get the most massage even though the back muscles may be the ones complaining.

Rather than just work where the pain (symptom) is, a massage therapist or musician should ask:

• Okay, what’s attached to the wrist?
• What’s attached to the neck?
• Which part of the leg gets the most worked when performing?  Front, back, gluteal muscles (butt)?  Upper, lower?
• Which muscles pull the head forward?

A massage therapist who is really good will thoughtfully assess the client and their activities  and work on the CAUSES of pain and not just SYMPTOMS.  That’s when you will have the most pain relief in your neck and back.

And now I’d like to invite you to visit http://SimpleBackPainRelief.com (<–click here.)  While you are there you can request a copy of a free report about getting rid of the knots in your back.

A hard jarring sneeze or cough can also cause a stiff neck, and this may be even more uncomfortable than the one that comes during your sleep.   An accident that whips your head from side to side or front to back might cause pain in your neck, too.

When the muscles go into spasm, or seize up and keep you from moving your neck, that can be a protective step by your body to prevent injury.  Be mindful as you apply the following steps and pay attention to what your body is telling you.  If something doesn’t feel appropriate, don’t do it.

Here are the 3 natural steps you can take to help your neck relax:

1.  Use heat on the muscles on the tops of your shoulders.  You can also apply heat to your upper chest and upper back.  If heat is not the best treatment for you to use, you’ll be able to tell; you’ll feel slightly worse afterward.  If you use a hot shower, direct the water to your upper back, tops of shoulders (each separately) and the front of your upper chest and neck.

2.  Use ice on the muscles at the back of your neck.  Also, wrap the ice pack around your neck to benefit the muscles on the sides and front.  It may feel like the pain is in the back of your neck, but there’s a good chance that all of the neck muscles are involved.  Some muscles run from your collar bone to the back of your head.  If you only have a small ice pack, your muscles will just have to take turns!

The rule of thumb is:  Heat for tight muscles and ice for nervy symptoms.  Since a stiff neck may involve the nerves in your neck, go for ice around your whole neck and upper chest toward the middle.  Ice will relax the muscles and also helps numb the pain.

3.  Gently, slowly move your neck into slightly different positions but only a very small amount.  Breathe into these little tiny movements.  Stretching tight muscles won’t help, but warming them with subtle, gentle, slight movements will help them relax.

It also helps to place your neck in the most comfortable position you can manage.  That’s called the ‘position of ease.’   Doing the tiny movements while you are in your position of ease helps the most.

If you have a liniment, you can rub it on your neck and shoulder tops.  The rubbing helps at least as much as the liniment.  Remember your chest, too.  Some people will take some over-the-counter pain relief medicine which may help relieve symptoms.  Prescription muscle relaxants apparently relax all of the muscles but they don’t relieve spasms.

Massaging or rubbing tight areas will also help, but don’t expect your stiff neck to get better instantly.  If it’s stiff from sleeping or some over-activity, it may take a couple of days.  If a hard sneeze or some type of jamming activity caused your neck pain and loss of range-of-motion, it might take 5 days or so to gradually feel better.

If you feel that you need to see your doctor, be sure to do that.  Just remember, bodies change all the time.  Just because something is happening today, tomorrow may be a whole different story.  Today’s tests may be inaccurate by next week as your body has begun to heal itself.

Your body wants to be well and it has the ability to heal.  These 3 natural steps will help you get rid of your stiff neck.

Years ago I worked with a woman who fell asleep reading in bed. She fell asleep with her head propped forward. After several hours, she awoke in pain. She could hardly move one of her arms. Over the next month, she came into work only two half days. You could see the pain in her face. She had to go home.

She had been to a chiropractor and a neurologist, but neither could help her.

One day, her daughter came over and said, Mom, could you watch the new baby for just a few minutes while I go down the street?

Well, the new baby started crying, and the woman tried to reach down to lift the baby from its’ seat on the floor with her good arm. As she did that, her neck popped, and her pain went away. She was back to work the next day.

Healing Story Number Two:

A few years ago, a woman had shoulder pain. She went to a physical medicine doctor who sent her to physical therapy, and her shoulder got better.

When her other shoulder started to hurt, she had deep muscle massage and it helped, but still her shoulder hurt. So she went for physical therapy again. By the fourth session, she realized that it was making the shoulder pain worse, so she stopped going.

That weekend, she helped her husband lift a six-foot long counter top. Her pain stopped and her shoulder has not hurt since.

Healing Story Number Three:

A construction worker came home in pain. He had hurt his shoulder. His boss said to go to physical therapy. He went for four sessions, but didn’t think it was helping.

Then he came home one day with a big smile. His pain was 90 percent gone! He had lifted something heavy at work, and his shoulder popped and the pain left. Now it is almost completely well.

Healing Story Number Four

A woman tripped on her doorstep. She fell face first into the room. It was a jarring fall, and it hurt. For the next several days, her back hurt and she could barely get comfortable in bed.

One night, she couldn’t sleep, so she got up. Her husband came out and asked what she was doing. He said, come back to bed and I will rub your back.

When he pressed on her back, it popped loudly! He jumped back, afraid that he had hurt her. “What was that? Did you hear that?” His wife said, “Yes, I did. I felt it, too. In fact, I think I’m better now.” And, she was.

What Do These Stories Mean?

Well, let’s see. They could mean that sometimes we get a dislocation. That sometimes we just need a little movement to correct a problem. That bodies want to heal themselves, and be well. That sometimes we need to allow our body to heal in its’ own time. That sometimes the correct counter-movement or counter-pressure can get things back to where they were.

They could mean that bodies want to be well, and that sometimes we need a little assistance or a little time to heal.

Physician, heal thyself. You can be your own best physician.