SIMPLE PAIN RELIEF with Kathryn Merrow, the Pain Relief Coach
It's NOT just "old age"! Discover the truth about why you hurt and the "secrets" to becoming pain free!
We humans get back pain when our muscles get out of balance. How does this happen?
Well, we are supposed to move, run, jump, climb, roll and continue doing all of the cool, fun things we did as young children.
But most of us do not. 🙁
So, we get back pain.
Why? Because we are no longer using our muscles in a balanced way. We use the same 60 or 70 or so each day and the rest of the 600 muscles are ignored. When those muscles get unhappy, you Continue reading “What Causes Back Pain”
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 “Muscle Pain Is Caused By Being Crooked”
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 her mom and asked her about her back pain. (Pain is a Continue reading “You Don’t Have To Have Back Pain Forever!”
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”
Back pain responds to stretching but not just any old stretching. The muscles that need to be lengthened are not necessarily the same ones that are complaining!
You may not remember but when you were a baby you were stretching all the time.
If you watch a cat or dog, they stretch often.
And, you? Do you still stretch up and out and back like you did when you were a baby? If not, this is a good time to start.
So what will stretching do for you? It will move your blood and lymph fluids. It will help your body “wake up.” It can get rid of the causes of your back pain and help get your muscles back “in balance.”
If you’d like even more information on ways to get rid of your back pain, go to http://BackPainNaturalRelief.com
Upper back pain, mid-back pain or lower back pain all have the same most common cause: Your muscles.
Muscles are the most frequent cause of back pain. And that’s good news! Why? Because muscles can be “released” or treated and get back to their normal healthy state.
Here’s more about muscles:
Your muscles don’t usually act all by themselves; they pull all the other parts of your body into the act. Why? Because all of your parts are attached. That means ALL of your body should be assessed to figure out WHY you are having pain in your back.
If you’ve had your Continue reading “Got Back Pain? Muscles Cause Pain In Your Back – Here’s How”
Back pain is often caused by posture. When your posture collapses–you “fall forward” with your head leading the rest of the group–the muscles in your chest get short and tight. That makes it hard to breathe, hard to hold your head up, hard to have good posture.
At the same time, the muscles in your back get overstretched and strained and so they complain. (They hate being stretched too far!) They give you pain to call your attention to the fact that something is wrong.
Collapsed posture also causes lower back pain, headaches and migraines, constipation and lots and lots of other problems.
It’s a primary cause of “old age.”
You had wonderful posture when you were very young and with a bit of help from you, you can have it again.
In a very small nutshell, strengthen the muscles of your backside from knees to head. Lengthen (stretch) the muscles of your calves and the whole front side of your body from knees to head.
If you happen to see a baby, a cat or a dog stretching, imitate them. 🙂 They are stretching the correct muscles to be functional and pain-free!
If you have pain in your back it might be from muscles on the back side of your body.
Or…it may be from the muscles on your abdomen! Your belly is the “front of your back.”
Today a client told me that she had a great weekend stretching and straining and balancing on a ladder to trim, prune and clean up her yard. She said it looked beautiful! And she felt fine until she sat down.
When she tried to get up, her back from hip bones to shoulder blades went into spasm and tightened up!
She tried to press into her muscles to relax them the best she could but basically she had spent the last two days in bed. She was very uncomfortable.
I warmed, massaged and pressed into the tight muscles along her spine for a while. They were very tender but they didn’t seem to be releasing or getting better even though she said a few times, “I think you’re on the cause!”
So I suggested we work on the muscles on the front side of her body. The right side of her abdomen was fine; no pain and no referrals.
The left side of her abdomen was “on fire” when I stretched the muscles on the soft abdomen. Her ribs were “on fire” when I pressed into the muscles that ran up from her belly.
For whatever reason, the muscles on the left side of her abdomen had spasmed or “tightened up” and they were causing her back pain. Even though Continue reading “Back Pain? Your Stomach Muscles Can Cause Pain In Your Back and Massage Can Help!”
Is your back a little stiff? Do you wish your posture was better? Are you as flexible as you’d like to be?
Are you feeling “stuck”?
I will always believe that massage is the best thing to help muscles relax but stretching is the next best. So, here’s something that’ll help you get “unstuck” and relieve your stiff back.
Are you familiar with the stretches called “cat” and “dog?” I’ve also heard them called “camel” and other variations.
Sometimes they are done on all fours, on the floor, but I’m going to share a seated version with you. If you are so stiff that it’s hard to get on the floor, you will appreciate this version.
These are good movements because they get your spine moving from front to back and your ribs moving. These movements warm the muscles of your back and whole torso, or trunk. They get your circulation going and can help to strengthen your back.
Here is the seated version:
You are not alone. Millions of people suffer from chronic back pain.
Sometimes your back pain is caused by something that you do.
Other times, it’s caused by something you DON’T do. Okay, I’ll be totally honest:
There are a LOT of reasons for chronic back pain. It could be caused by:
Let’s just stick to muscle strain here. We can talk about the other causes at a different time.
Can muscle strain can be caused by doing things over and over?
Yes, and especially when the same movement is done over and over again incorrectly.
Here’s an example:
I was at the airport and I was watching the men who Continue reading “Chronic Back Pain and Muscle Strain – Is There a Simple Pain Relief Answer?”
Most of us had good, balanced posture when we were toddlers. We held our little heads directly over our bodies and had nice curves in our lower back.
But, then…we went to school and sat on furniture that didn’t fit us. Sometimes we had to sit for hours at a time instead of running around using all of our muscles.
That’s part of the problem. We stopped using all of our muscles.
Most of us use only the same 60 or so. Since we have over 600 muscles, that means we use only about 10% instead of 100%. That gets us “out of balance.” This creates poor posture and back pain.
Or, maybe you continued using most of your muscles but in ways that caused some to be much stronger than others. Your posture might look pretty good but still you feel strain and pain in your back. That’s a clue that your posture isn’t balanced. This causes back pain.
What causes poor posture?
When you hold your head and arms in front of your body for most of the day, like most of us do, the muscles in the front of your body get short. They pull, or round, your shoulders forward. They pull your head forward and down and make your chin stick out.
When your back muscles get weak because you’re not flexing (strengthening) them, they get overstretched and strained. Instead of holding you upright, your weak back muscles let your spine round at the top and you lose the curve in your low back, too.
Then what happens?
Your bones are the support system for your body.
When your posture gets weak, or collapses, your poor muscles start acting as bones to hold you up. Your muscles are straining to hold your heavy head up while gravity is pulling it down. (Remember why? Because your head has moved in front of your body instead of being held directly over it.)
So what can I do?
There are several natural things you can do to improve your posture and get rid of your back pain.
1. Assess your posture. Have Continue reading “How Poor Posture Causes Low Back Pain & How To Fix It”
There can be many causes for back pain, but most of them involve muscles and soft tissues (nerves, fascia, and everything except bones.)
When you were little, you used all of your muscles. At some point, for some reason (sitting, sports, injury) you started getting out of muscular balance. When this happened, you were setting the stage for pain in your back.
When all of your muscles were “balanced” (neither too tight nor too weak) you didn’t have back pain. But, now you do.
So, what should you do?
Part of the answer depends on exactly what is causing the pain in your back.
Do you have trigger points? Trigger points are hyper-irritable places in muscles which refer, or “fire,” pain elsewhere (sometimes far away.)
Does your back hurt simply because of tight muscles or muscle strain?
Is it due to the positions or furniture you spend a lot of time in? Or your mattress?
Could it be poor posture or habits? A rotation in your torso? A “slipped disk”?
The first part of the answer is to stretch the muscles which have become shortened. These muscles are most likely at the root of your back pain, and Continue reading “Back Hurts? What Should You Do for Back Pain Relief?”
Is your posture good or not-so-good?
People with poor posture look like they are leaning or collapsing forward.
Often their head is way forward in front of their body (“forward head posture.”) The curve in their neck is either too much or too flat, and so is the curve behind their waist. Their shoulders round forward.
Poor posture impacts a LOT of your body! Almost every part of your body is affected by collapsed posture.
Here are several things you can check so you will know whether your posture is good or not-so-good.
1. Stand up and hold your arms at your sides in their usual position. Look down. If your thumbs are pointing to each other, your shoulders are rounded forward. Your chest muscles are tight and shortened. They are pulling your shoulders forward. 🙁 But, if your thumbs point straight ahead, your shoulders aren’t rounded forward. 🙂
2. Are you constantly straightening up and constantly collapsing forward again? That’s a clue that the muscles in the Continue reading “Is Your Posture Good Or Poor? How Can You Tell?”