I have had many senior citizen clients who have had heart surgeries (even an artificial heart!) and with asthma or other breathing problems.  We have been privileged to serve clients in their 90’s.

Every massage therapist is different.  Ask friends and relatives for their recommendations.  If someone you know has been happy with their therapist, there is a good chance you will be, too.

What does massage do?

Massage boosts your immune system.  That means that regular massage will help improve your health.  By “regular” it could be every week or every few weeks or even once a month.

If you have trouble breathing or asthma, having massage on the muscles in your back and the front of your chest and shoulders will help relax the muscles that have become tight from difficulty breathing.

Massage feels good.  It helps your muscles normalize.  Massage acts as exercise (but you don’t get the the aerobic benefits, of course.)

You may wish to have a general all-over massage because that improves circulation all over your body.  Your therapist could also focus on areas where you have aches and pains.

There are many types of massage and a good massage therapist will ask you questions about your health and any health problems before they begin to treat you.  You can tell your therapist how much pressure you prefer.  You can also let them know where you would like them to work.

Have a conversation with your therapist.  He or she wants you to feel better.

I would suggest starting out with a medium pressure general massage if you are in generally good health.  If the pressure seems too much ask the therapist to lighten the pressure.  If it seems not enough, you can ask for more pressure.  It’s your massage and your body so you always get to make those important decisions and share them with your therapist.

A good therapist will work WITH you not just ON you.

You can tell when the pressure is right if it feels right.  If it feels too uncomfortable or inappropriate, the therapist is working too deeply for you at this time OR in the “wrong” area for your complaint.

If you go to the Categories on the right hand side of the page here, and scroll down to the Massage Category, you will find an article about how to find a massage therapist who can help you.  Just ask the questions that apply to your situation.

I applaud you for considering massage as an important part of your good health.  Therapeutic massage has tons of benefits for older folks and senior citizens.

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 down.  It has to be.  Equal and opposites. Bodies are logical.  Not always anatomically symmetrical but logical.  If one hip bone sticks out farther, the other has to be farther out in back.

How can you tell?

You might be able to assess your body in your mirror.  Place both feet at the same place and line up your toes, point them forward, hip width apart, and look really hard in the mirror. (It does take lots of practice to get good at observing like this.  If you can imagine straight lines running through your body, that may help you see.)

• Is one shoulder lower than the other?
• Does one hip stick out to the side more?
• Does your waist look even? Or is it flatter on one side?
• Does one hip bone stick out farther in front than the other?

Those are all clues.

What do they mean?

They mean that you now have to figure out the next step.  It may be a lift in your shoe, a therapeutic massage for the short, tight areas or changing the way you sit.  There can be lots of causes for being “out of balance” (asymmetrical.)  That means there are lots of natural cures, too.

Lots of folks will tell you, “Oh, no one is perfect,” or, “No one is symmetrical.”  But the truth is some people are symmetrical.  LOTS of people.  But some of us aren’t.  And that can cause muscle pain.

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 improves drainage to reduce inflammation (swelling.)  Dr. Chaitow suggests finishing [More...] with cold in most instances.

Heat increases blood flow to tight muscles and cold reduces inflammation.  But sometimes you don’t have to decide.  Sometimes you can use both!

Here’s how to use contrast therapy:

You can alternate hot packs and cold packs.  You might use ice massage (actual massage with a ice cube) and alternate it with hot towels or hot packs.  Or you might use two dishpans with hot water in one (98-104 degrees F maximum–hot enough to tolerate comfortably, not to burn) and very cold water (55-65 degrees F) in the other.  You can tell if the cold is cold enough if ice doesn’t melt as it floats.

You can place your hands, elbows, arms or feet in the contrast baths.  Soak for two or three minutes in each bath.  Alternate from pan to pan several times.  You can do both arms or feet at the same time in the same or different pans.

Pay attention to your body.  You may get some unusual sensations because your body isn’t used to processing the two different sensory inputs at the same time.

Lots of times people think of heat as being more soothing and therapeutic.  If you apply heat and feel slightly worse, that means that ice/cold will benefit you more.  Even though ice can be very uncomfortable, it is often the treatment of choice.

Contrast therapy (also called contrast hydrotherapy), using both ice and heat, can help your muscles feel better.  Muscle tissue can relax and soften, it becomes easier to stretch, and pain is lessened.

You can still use ice or heat by themselves but now you have another choice:  contrast therapy for muscle pain relief.

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!

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 aggravate your back muscles and cause them to develop “knots.”

A forward head & shoulders posture can do it, too.  This posture will over-stretch your back muscles and cause them to complain.  When you see yourself in a photo or catch yourself in a mirror, is your head way out in front of your body like a stork instead of over your body?  This causes a lot of muscle strain in your upper back.

Another cause can be muscles below the pain pulling on your painful area.  Do you feel as though ‘something’ is pulling on you?  All of your muscles are attached.  That means that when one area is tight it pulls on the surrounding areas.

I am almost finished with a digital (electronic) book and program about causes of knots in your upper back and natural cures.  I’ll let you know as soon as that’s ready so you can grab the free report.  Working on it has been very exciting for me because so many people are suffering and there are simple natural ways to get rid of your knots.

In the meantime, here are some links to articles that may help.

http://simplepainrelief.com/2009/12/10/what-causes-a-knot-in-your-back/

http://simplepainrelief.com/2009/11/15/got-back-pain-muscles-cause-pain-in-your-back-heres-how/

http://simplepainrelief.com/2009/07/24/why-do-musicians-and-band-members-get-back-neck-pain/

http://simplepainrelief.com/2009/04/23/chronic-back-pain-and-muscle-strain-is-there-a-simple-pain-relief-answer/

Your body is logical.  It has pain for a reason.  When you understand the reason(s) and what to do, you can get rid of the knots in your back.  Let’s work together on that.

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 sensations in the soles of your feet.  So can the nerves in your back if anything is pressing on them, even barely brushing them.  Sometimes it’s pressure from a bone but much more often it’s muscle pressure.

And muscles move bones and disks.  That means your muscles are almost always causing symptoms in your feet, one way or another.  And your foot muscles can also be complaining.

If the muscles in your neck and arms are tight, they can cause sensations in your hands, wrists and lower arms.

But, if you have any reason to believe that you should see your doctor,  follow your instincts and do it.  You must be your own “medical adviser” and sometimes that means conferring with another medical practitioner–your doctor.

But if your doctor doesn’t find anything wrong that’s good news!

Why?  That almost always means your symptoms are caused by muscles (doctors don’t know much about muscles as a cause of pain or symptoms.)  And muscles can be treated!

So whether your foot and hand pain or numbness is caused by a whole-body issue or two separate issues, if you do what your muscles need to be happy you will have a good chance of getting rid of both your foot and hand pain.

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 symptom – your body is telling you something.)

I listened while Lisa told me where it hurt, how her symptoms had been growing worse and what her doctor said.

She even told me what she suspected caused her back pain.

I told her she was probably correct about the cause of her pain.  It sounded logical to me and bodies are logical.  When she drove her car, she would “hover” her foot over the brake pedal in case she needed to respond quickly.

That put a lot of strain on her emotionally and it put a lot of strain on her muscles, too.  Tight muscles can press on nerves.

Her doctor had told her to “just wait it out.  It will go away on its’ own.”

I told her that was wise of her doctor.

I explained why doctors do so many fewer surgeries now for back pain.  In many, many cases there was no relief.  (That’s because they were chasing a symptom rather than actually taking care of the cause.  The cause may well have been muscular.)

I also explained how a nerve needs only a whisper of anything pressing on it to cause symptoms.

Take that barest of pressures off the nerve, and it will settle down.  Sometimes it’s as easy as changing positions.  I suggested a relaxation position which would take pressure off Lisa’s back.  I told her about other people I knew whose back pain had healed naturally.

We made an appointment for Lisa to see me the following week.  But when I walked into the waiting room to get Lisa, she wasn’t there.  Sharon was there!

Sharon said, “My mom hasn’t had any pain in four days so I came in her place.”

She continued, “My mom said the strangest thing.  She said, ‘I don’t have to have pain for the rest of my life‘.”

One of the things I told Lisa and that I am telling you now is that you DO NOT have to have back pain for the rest of your life.

Our bodies are wonderful machines, designed to be healthy and last for years and years.  They are designed to heal.

Bruises heal, cuts heal, broken bones heal, even surgeries heal and those are BIG injuries.  Your body is designed to heal!

You do not have to have back pain for the rest of your life.  You can feel better. Click on that link and discover much more about your body and your back.

Will it take some work on your part?  Perhaps a few changes in the way you do things?  Maybe strengthening your back and doing movements to improve your posture?

Yes.  But you are worth it.  You really can get rid of the pain in your back.

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 overcome her own problems.

If you’re not sure what the endocrine system is yet, be sure to listen.  This is a jam-packed interview and is only about one hour long.

BOOST YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM AND LESSEN YOUR PAIN

People who suffer with muscle pain, fatigue, joint pain, various diseases and aches may have an unhappy endocrine system.  There’s a really, really good chance.  I want you to feel better and that is why I interviewed this expert for you.  When your endocrine system is happy, you will have less pain in your muscles and joints.

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 of your leg muscles again.  I don’t know what condition you or your knees are in but when you start using all of your leg muscles again, you will benefit.  You may be able to do leg presses or other strengthening exercises in a gym on equipment.  If not, here’s another option:

Lay on your back and point your toes to the ceiling.  Pretend one foot is a windshield wiper.  Wipe to the left 10 times.  Pause for the count of 10.  Wipe to the right 10 times.  Pause for 10.  Turn on the whole wiper and wipe left and right 10 times.  How come?

This moves your whole leg, all the way to your hip.  Your knee is between your foot and your hip.  This movement will help you use all of the muscles in your leg and help them re-balance.

Only move to a point of resistance.  Do not move to a point of pain.  If you have pain, make the move smaller.

Then rotate the same foot in circles.  Do 10 in one direction.  Pause for 10 seconds.  Rotate in the opposite direction 10 times and then pause again.

Pay attention to how your leg feels when you are done.  Just lay there and feel.

Then do the other leg, same way.

2.  Get arch supports or orthotics for your feet.  It’s best if you can get to a store but if you can’t, that link will take you to an online store.  You want a more rigid arch support not just an insole.  Why should you get arch supports?  Flat feet can cause knee pain.

If you have flat feet, you pronate.  That means your arches drop down and it throws your knees toward the midline.  This stresses knee muscles and causes knee pain.

I learned from a fitter at a running shoe store that there are shoes built especially for pronators (as well as for other arch types, too.)  If you are able to shop for your shoes at a running shoe store, an experienced fitter will be able to help you get a shoe that places your arch and foot in the correct position to prevent knee pain.  They may also have a good arch support to sell to you.

3.  Find a massage therapist who can do sports massage or trigger point therapy for you.  He or she can release tight muscles and trigger points that are causing your knee pain.

4.  Stretch your hamstrings in the back of your thighs and the quadriceps (thigh muscles) in the front of your thighs.  This is another way to re-establish balance in your leg muscles.

5.  Stand with relaxed (soft) knees.

6.  Soft calves are good.  Avoid exercises that will make your calf muscles larger.

You may be able to massage the fronts of your thighs yourself.  By pressing deeply, you may be surprised to discover deep tender areas.  You might have found the cause of your knee pain.  Press into a tender area for about 12 seconds.  Then look for another tender area to press.  You can always go back to an area more than once.

Some of the trigger points for knee pain are quite high up on the thigh, almost to your hip bone.

If you need to know how to find a massage therapist who can help you, scroll through the Categories to the Massage Category and look for the article that tells how to do that.

You will have to take action to get rid of your knee pain but you have a smart body.  It wants to feel well.  It just needs some help from you to be peak again.

You are worth it so take action.

Remember, I’m not a replacement for your doctor.  If you have questions, please ask him or her.

And, if you need additional help, a skilled massage therapist may be just the ticket to help you get rid of your knee pain.

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 your knee, in the bend.  That muscle can cause pain that is felt behind your whole kneecap.

Injections into your thigh muscle (for instance, insulin injections) can cause trigger points to develop and fire pain into your knee.

Sitting in certain postures and habitual positions can cause knee pain.  Some people sit with one foot tucked under their butt for long periods.  This can cause a trigger point in your thigh muscles to keep recurring.

So, muscles can cause knee pain simply by pulling on the knee cap AND/OR muscles can get trigger points which “fire” into your knee.  That means the pain is felt in your knee but the cause is elsewhere.  Get rid of the cause–the trigger point–and you will get rid of your pain.

What’s the reason this is good news?

Muscles can be released.  Soft tissue can be released.  Muscles can be normalized and function better again.

Look under Categories here for the Massage Category.  There you will find an article about How To Find A Massage Therapy Who Can Help You.  Massage therapists are muscle specialists.  Some are muscle pain specialists.

So knee pain is not always caused by muscles but it often is.  Taking care of your muscles with therapeutic massage, stretching and strengthening, and releasing trigger points can help you get rid of your knee pain naturally.