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.