back pain relief

How to Get Better Posture for Back Pain Relief

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!

October 22November 7

Walking Can Relieve Your Back, Hip and Pelvic Pain

Does walking cause back pain? You bet it can! It also causes pain in your hips and pelvis IF you don’t move the way your body was designed to move.

Every week I do another episode of Pain Relief Radio. Today we talked about how to walk to prevent or get rid of back pain. We talked about how our walking patterns become faulty and how that causes pain.

We talked about walking with stiff knees and hips. This kind of stiff walk contributes directly to arthritis in your hips and knees and fragile bones in your pelvis. But bones stay strong and healthy when we use all of our muscles as they were designed to be used.

Meir Schneider wrote a great book, “The Handbook of Self-Healing, Your Personal Program for Better Health and Increased Vitality,” and I quoted lots from Meir and threw in plenty of my own thoughts, too.

Meir is a brilliant bodyworker in San Francisco. I’m so fortunate to have taken classes from him. There are people who understand how bodies work and what we must do if we are to be pain-free. Meir Continue reading “Walking Can Relieve Your Back, Hip and Pelvic Pain”

July 24November 7

Why do Musicians and Band Members Get Back & Neck Pain?

Playing musical instruments can be a pain in the neck.

I was 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? Stretching, strengthening and massage.

The muscles in the front of the body support the instrument. The are the ones that are Continue reading “Why do Musicians and Band Members Get Back & Neck Pain?”

July 11November 7

Flexibility Helps Relieve & Prevent Painful Stiff Backs

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:

Move to the the front edge Continue reading “Flexibility Helps Relieve & Prevent Painful Stiff Backs”

June 24November 7

Ice and Simple Pain Relief – How to use Ice

Ice or heat for pain relief?

Ice can help you heal and get rid of your pain much more quickly than heat. My friend Bette will share her experience with you. Bette was an endocrine specialist. She LOVES ice!

Here’s what Bette said about ice therapy:

Muscle problems tend to accompany endocrine issues, especially adrenal glands that can’t or won’t keep up.

Our muscles get inflamed and “knotted up,” worse on some days than others.

Accupressure massage helps, but few therapists do it right. Several therapists have had at my back. Some felt like they were tickling me; some bruised my muscles and left me sore for days. Only one, the physical therapist who treated me when I lived in Tucson, made a real difference. He’s a magician, but most aren’t.

Doctors usually advise hot baths–the exact wrong thing to do. Heat just inflames muscles all the more.

I know, I know. Heat feels really good. Problem is, all the while it’s feeling good, it’s making things worse.

Answer me this: A half hour or so after you get out of a hot bath or the Jacuzzi, are your muscles better or worse? And how much progress have you made with your muscle pain since you started treating yourself with heat?

A lot of people, especially men and senior citizens for some reason, won’t even consider giving up hot soaks, fully persuaded that some day they’ll work, and all the pain will disappear. It reminds me of when Continue reading “Ice and Simple Pain Relief – How to use Ice”

May 22November 7

The Sitting Disease

It’s a serious problem, and lots and lots of us are affected by it! The Sitting Disease is caused by…too much sitting!

All that sitting causes lots of muscle and body malfunctions and aches and pains and premature aging.

Knots in your back, problems breathing, constipation, carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoporosis, back pain and headaches and MORE are caused by “The Sitting Disease.”

It’s practically an epidemic! But there is a simple, natural cure.

Walk.

Can’t get much more simple than that, right?

When you walk correctly, you use almost all of the muscles in your whole body! Pretty cool.

My friend, Rosalie, had the sitting disease. At first, she could only walk around her own back yard and then, eventually, around the block. And then she ended up race walking and had a ton of health benefits!

All from walking, even though she didn’t want to, and from gradually ‘stepping up’ her walking distance as her ability increased. 🙂

May 5November 7

When Muscle Pain Won’t Go Away, Look For Trigger Points

If you have muscle pain or other symptoms that just aren’t going away with conventional (medical) treatment or with massage therapy, there’s a reason.

The reason could very well be “trigger points.”

Here’s an example: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is very often caused by trigger points in your muscles. The trigger points in this case are in the neck, upper chest, front of the arm and lower arm. They “fire,” or refer, pain into the area of the carpal tunnel in the wrist.

A “syndrome” is a collection of symptoms.

Symptoms are things like pain, numbness, tingling. If you can get rid of the symptoms, or the causes (triggers) of the symptoms, you get rid of the syndrome, too.

Trigger points are hyper-irritable (very irritated or crabby) areas of muscle. Trigger points can also be found in other soft tissues like skin and organs. Soft tissues are everything except our bones.

What do trigger points do?

They cause pain and symptoms in other parts of the body, sometimes at a far distance from the trigger point. This is called “referred” pain.

We ALL have the potential to have them, because we all have soft tissues.

When a nagging pain or symptom won’t go away with treatment, that most likely means that a trigger point is causing the pain and needs to be released.

Whatever caused the trigger point also needs to be corrected. Everything has a cause!

When I was making my notes for a recent Carpal Tunnel Radio show, I noticed a relationship between Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and trigger points: All of the things that cause trigger points also cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome! And, so it is with a lot of our body pain.

A great deal of our pain and other uncomfortable symptoms are caused by trigger points.

Trigger points and muscles are largely overlooked by the medical community (your doctor) as a cause of pain. It’s just not widely taught in medical schools. In fact, very few doctors understand the roles of muscles in pain syndromes and fewer still understand trigger points.

Here are some of the things that cause (create) trigger points:

* abnormal bone structure that Continue reading “When Muscle Pain Won’t Go Away, Look For Trigger Points”

April 23November 7

Chronic Back Pain and Muscle Strain – Is There a Simple Pain Relief Answer?

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:

Foods that causes inflammation (swelling in your muscles and soft tissues.)
Additives (chemicals & toxins) that are in your food.
Vitamin & mineral deficiencies.
Artificial sweeteners (chemicals & toxins) (Oops! Did I already say that?)
Muscles that are “out of balance.” That means muscles on one part of your body are not in balance with the muscles that oppose them. Some of your muscles are “too tight” and some are not strong enough to keep you where nature designed you to be. This creates muscle strain.
Injury to a muscle or area of soft tissue from incorrect use or an accident.
Anger and sadness; strong negative emotions.

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?”

April 23November 7

Why Do We Have Pain? Self-Help for Backaches, Headaches, Fibromyalgia & More

There are reasons why we have pain. We don’t get a backache or a headache or any other pain unless there is a reason.

Chiropractor Greg Fors has written “A Complete Physical & Spiritual Guide To Healing Your Chronic Pain WHY WE HURT Your Total Self-Care Guide for Backaches, Headaches, Shoulder Pain, Arthritis and Fibromyalgia.”

Yes, that is a very long title, but perhaps that’s okay because it’s a very thick book. Dr. Fors explains that pain can be healed. He tells us the causes of pain, which he believes are 3: physical, biochemical and spiritual.

Dr. Fors goes into the causes of pain, too. Some of the causes may never have occurred to you. He’ll tell you where the toxic chemicals that affect your health come from, and much, much more.

Why We Hurt is a logical, well-written, pretty easy to read pain relief book.

April 19November 7

How Poor Posture Causes Low Back Pain & How To Fix It

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”

April 16November 7

Back Hurts? What Should You Do for Back Pain Relief?

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?”

April 8November 7

Is Your Posture Good Or Poor? How Can You Tell?

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?”

April 8November 7

The Muscle That Causes Carpal Tunnel & Knots in Your Back

There is a set of muscles on each side of your neck that can cause pain in your upper back, arm, wrist and hand. Those muscles are called the scalenes.

If the “knot” between your spine and shoulder blade “won’t” go away, blame the scalene muscles. It can’t go away until the scalene muscles are released (relaxed.) The knot is a symptom; the scalenes are the cause.

If your carpal tunnel symptoms “won’t” go away with conventional treatment, blame the scalenes. The symptoms can go away when the cause (the scalenes) are released.

Nerves run from your neck bones to your upper body and arms. If those nerves get compressed, or pressed on, by the scalene muscles they can cause uncomfortable sensations in the areas that the nerves serve (enervate.)

If your doctor thinks your pain is “all in your head,” boy, is he Continue reading “The Muscle That Causes Carpal Tunnel & Knots in Your Back”

January 1November 7

You Went to a Massage Therapist for Your Back Pain–Why Didn’t It Help?

I recommend therapeutic massage for almost every type of physical pain.

Why? Because it works!

Massage is old medicine. It’s used all over the world for a wide variety of ailments.

Why? Because it works! (Oh, I already said that, didn’t I?) 🙂

But sometimes when you go to a massage therapist your pain doesn’t go away. Maybe it feels better for a short time, or even just while the therapist is working on your painful area. But, it comes right back. Or, it is back within just a few hours. Or, doesn’t feel better at all.

When that has happened to one of my clients, I told them what that means.

That means I was wrong about the cause of their symptom (their pain.) It means I didn’t work on the muscles or soft tissue that was the true cause of their pain. That means we have to try again.

The unfortunate thing is, many massage therapists only know how to do a relaxation-type massage. Relaxation or stress-reduction massages can be really great, but…

When you have pain, a relaxation massage probably won’t give you much benefit.

If you have pain symptoms, and you want relief, you will have to find a massage professional who “knows his or her stuff.” Someone who can assess WHY you are having pain. Someone who can figure out a “treatment” plan to help you become pain-free.

If your massage therapist rubs and presses on the painful area (and some will do this for the whole hour) and your pain doesn’t go away, then that therapist doesn’t “know their stuff.”

And, if that therapist can’t figure out why your muscle won’t release (relax) then she doesn’t “know her stuff.”

And, if she says it’s the worst “knot” she has ever seen, she should not be in the massage field at all, in my opinion. Her job is to help you feel better, not worse.

When your painful muscle spasm won’t release, it Continue reading “You Went to a Massage Therapist for Your Back Pain–Why Didn’t It Help?”

March 31November 7

Another Cause For That “Knot” Or Muscle Spasm In Your Back

Does your upper back pain feel like a “knot” or muscle spasm between your shoulder blade and spine?

Last time we talked about muscles in your torso that could cause this pain. Today we will talk about another cause, which is almost always overlooked.

The muscles that can cause that miserable “knot” in your back are on the side of your neck. There is a set of muscles on each side of your neck called the scalenes.

First, you’ll notice and feel a thick set of muscles on either side that run from the notch in your collar bone to behind your ear. Those are the sternocleidomastoid muscles (SCM). The scalenes are tucked behind the SCM’s.

When the scalene muscles get tight, or aggravated, they develop “trigger points.”

If you have a therapeutic massage to work out your knotty back problem, and it doesn’t help, then the problem isn’t in your back. (I am assuming here that your therapist worked ALL of your back and rib muscles, not just the knot.)

The problem is in your scalenes.

Trigger points in your scalene muscles are “firing” or causing pain in your upper back. If you get a well-trained massage therapist to work on your neck muscles and release the trigger points, your back pain will go away.

If you suspect this may be what is causing that knot in your upper back, you can try to release the scalenes yourself.

Press gently into the side of your neck. Using the pads of your fingertips, explore the muscles that run on the side of your spine, or neck bones.

If you feel hard, knobby things, those are probably the edges of your vertebrae, or neck bones. If you feel a pulse, move off it.

Thoughtfully and carefully explore the length of your neck from your jaw to your collarbone. If you run into a very tender area, gently hold pressure there for about 12 seconds. If it doesn’t “release” or become less painful, move on. You can come back to that tender area a few more times, after letting it rest for a few minutes, to see if it will release.

If an area refers pain into your “knot” on your back, you have found the trigger Continue reading “Another Cause For That “Knot” Or Muscle Spasm In Your Back”