Category: muscle pain

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Six Reasons for Painful Muscles between Your Spine and Shoulder Blade

Miserable Upper Back Pain
Without even seeing his face, you can tell this man has pain!  Does it look familiar?
Arrrgh!  Do you hate having that upper back pain?  Those muscle spasms between your spine and shoulder?  Those miserable knots in your back?

I hated having them, too.  But that was a very long time ago.

I got rid of the knots in my back naturally and you can, too.  🙂

So many people just don’t understand how bodies work and why we get into pain! It’s something they don’t teach us in school.

But there are perfectly logical reasons you have that pain in the rhomboid area.  (Poor rhomboids–they get blamed all the time and it’s just not their fault!)

If you’ve got “knots in your back,” or if you know someone who does, I wrote this post for you! Or them! ?

So here we go:

Sometimes muscles complain.  When you get “knots” or muscle spasms in your upper back, that’s one of the ways your body says, “Hey, pay attention!  I’m not happy!”

Knots in your back muscles are symptoms that there’s an issue somewhere—a cause.  The knot aren’t the problem.

They are the result of ‘something.’

There are common causes of one-sided pain between your shoulder blade and spine and we’re going to talk about them right here.  When you discover those causes, you’ll be on the road to get rid of your painful knots.

So, what causes one or more muscle knots in your back?

1.  Thyroid.  Thyroid or other immune system dysfunctions can cause a tendency to have muscle spasms (knots.)  I’m not a doctor and you may need to work with your doctor if you have this diagnosis but natural therapies can still help you, too.

2.  Posture. If you have a “forward head” posture or rounded shoulders the muscles in your upper back get stretched and strained and complain.  They get into spasms or “knots.”  Slouching or even straining to see the computer screen can be a cause.

3.  Weak back muscles. If your back muscles are weak, the stronger, shorter muscles in the front of your body will pull you forward.  This can be a cause or a result of poor posture.  It strains your back muscles and causes muscle knots in your back muscles.

4.  Holding an area of your back in contraction (shortened) for a long time.  Perhaps you work with your elbow behind the midline of the side of your body?  Muscle contractions that continue for a long period of time make your muscles think they are supposed to be in that position all the time.  You get lopsided. Perhaps you lean on the armrest of your chair, couch or in your car?  Or, always cross the same leg over the other leg?

5.  Tilting or rotating. This can happen due to habit if you always stand or sit in the same off-balance position.  It can be caused by such things as stretching to keep your hand on a mouse or leaning to one side a lot.  Scoliosis (curvature of the spine) can also cause tilts and rotations.  Scoliosis can sometimes be corrected naturally, by the way.

6.  Mineral deficiencies.  Muscles really need to have certain minerals in order to function their best.  Magnesium, potassium and calcium are big players in muscle health.

Minerals help prevent miserable muscle spasms.

Now you know the most likely possible causes of those nasty knots in your upper back naturally.  If you get rid of the causes, you’ll be rid of the muscle knots.  

If you’d like, I can help you do that. 🙂

If it’s okay with you, I’d like to invite you to discover an online course I designed just for you!  https://www.KnotsInYourBack.com

Knots In Your Back has all of the information you need to get rid of the gnawing pain between your shoulder blades and spine from a trusted, reliable source (me!) in just one place.  You won’t have to search the Internet trying to figure out what’s actually helpful and true and what’s not.

I’ve done all the research for you and have over thirty years of experience helping people get out of physical pain.

Upper back muscle spasms?  I’ve helped lots of clients get rid of them and I’ve gotten rid of my own miserable knots in my upper back, too!

Check it out and see if it sounds interesting to you.

And thank you for reading!   https://www.KnotsInYourBack.com

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Natural Way To Get Rid Of Muscle Pain In Your Breast

Trigger Point Causes Breast Pain
Do you have pain in your breast that’s in about the same pattern as the deep red in the picture?

All the little red dots indicate a typical area of discomfort but the more solid red indicates an area of more pain.

You have muscles behind your breast tissue in your chest.  You might not have thought of muscles causing your breast pain.  Most people don’t.  Not even most doctors.

Regardless, muscles are responsible for most pain, one way or another.

Do you see the “X“?  That is the location of a trigger point.  A trigger point is an area of extremely irritated soft tissue that causes or “triggers” pain at a distance away from itself.

The X is where you want to focus.  The muscle that harbors the trigger point is on your chest, on the ribs, toward your armpit.

How can you treat the X–the trigger point-to get rid of the muscle pain behind your breast?

You may be able to apply pressure from the outside of your chest.  Just press into the tissue.  It’ll be tender.  Tender means the muscle is “too tight.”

But if you are the one doing the pressing you can easily control the amount of pressure.  You definitely want it to be uncomfortable.

If you don’t feel any discomfort it won’t help.  If it’s too much discomfort, it won’t help as much as if you keep it around a “7” out of  “10.”

That’s the goal whether you do this yourself or have a professional massage therapist or someone else help you.

Alternatively, you can reach behind your chest muscle from the armpit side.  Curl your fingers toward your heart to catch the muscle.  Pull the muscle toward your breastbone.  See if you can get your fingers into a tender place.

This is not a job for people with long fingernails!  Ouch!  🙂

You can help the muscle with the trigger point relax by massaging, pressing or pushing into it where the X is.  Hold the pressure for about 12 seconds.  You can always go back and do it again.

When the muscles on your chest relax, the pain from the trigger point will start to go away.

That’s how you can get rid of the muscle pain behind your breast naturally.

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What Are Muscle Spasms and What Makes Spasms Go Away

Muscle spasms are contractions in your muscle.  Imagine you are flexing your upper arm by bending your elbow.  Your bicep muscle will pop up.  It is contracted or in contraction.

At the very same time, the muscle in the back of your arm is also going into a different type of contraction.  It has to.  That’s how muscles work.

When a muscle stays contracted for a long time it can develop a fairly constant but reversible spasm.

Sometimes a spasm Continue reading “What Are Muscle Spasms and What Makes Spasms Go Away”

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5 Natural Steps for Happy Muscles and Less Pain

Muscle pain happens for reasons. The good news is that you can get rid of those reasons by taking simple, natural actions. I’ll tell you about five of them shortly.

As a Neuromuscular Massage Therapist, I learned a lot from my clients, my instructors and my own body and pain.  That’s how I know that bodies want to be well. Sometimes they need a little help, but they are able to get better.

Bodies change all the time.  Bodies can heal. Bodies do heal.

That means your body, too.

Bodies are brilliant. Give them what they need, and they WILL get better.

So what do bodies need?

1. Your body needs Continue reading “5 Natural Steps for Happy Muscles and Less Pain”

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Muscle Pain Is Caused By Being Crooked

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”

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How To Get Rid Of Pain Caused By Collapsing Posture

If your posture begins to fail–if you start to collapse forward with your heavy head leading the way–you will begin to have muscle pain in your lower, mid and upper back and also in your neck and head.  Maybe even in your arms and hands.

That is not a good thing.

But, if you strengthen your back muscles, they will keep you from collapsing forward.  How cool is that!

You can strengthen your back muscles by Continue reading “How To Get Rid Of Pain Caused By Collapsing Posture”

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Detoxing for Muscle Pain Relief

Certain drugs and processed foods can cause muscle pain.  A reader asked me what to do for muscle pain that has continued even after she ended her course of medication.  I’m not a detox expert or a doctor (and I can’t play the piano, either) but I will share what knowledge I have.

1.  Certain medications affect the endocrine system.  Endocrine systems get damaged and unhappy when we put certain things (including certain food ingredients and medications) into our bodies.  We need our thyroid and Continue reading “Detoxing for Muscle Pain Relief”

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What Causes A Knot In Your Back?

There are muscles in your back between the shoulder blade and spine called rhomboids.  There is one on each side.  The rhomboid muscles are often blamed for pain and knots in their area. Actually, that area can be the “symptom” and not the cause at all!

People (including professional massage therapists) often massage the rhomboid area trying to release the knot or pain there.  If it doesn’t release (relax) the knot or pain, that means the cause is somewhere else.

Let’s pretend your back pain is a dragon.  Sometimes Continue reading “What Causes A Knot In Your Back?”

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How To Find A Massage Therapist Who Can Relieve Your Pain

When you have muscular pain and want relief, how can you find a massage therapist who will give you the most benefit for your money?

A nice “feel good” massage has many benefits but not when what you want is pain relief.

There are many types of massage and a few different professional organizations and lots of massage schools.  There are all types of different philosophies, personalities, beliefs and training.   Some massage therapists have a ton of Continue reading “How To Find A Massage Therapist Who Can Relieve Your Pain”

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Pain Happens for Reasons and Therapeutic Massage Can Relieve Pain

Back pain, migraines, hip pain, headaches, that “knot” in your back.  Those are all symptoms.  Something caused those symptoms.

If you can get rid of the something, you will get rid of the pain.

Now, sometimes a baby is born with a structure that is a bit different than usual and may have asymmetries (different leg lengths, for example, or upper arms that are shorter than average) which can make it more challenging to avoid pain and dysfunctions (not functioning easily and correctly.)   So, some of us start off with more to deal with.

But sometimes a little creativity and an understanding of the roles of muscles can help those people to feel better.

Others may have an injury or accident in childhood or later which can also be a cause of pain and symptoms.  You have pain but sometimes the doctor says:  There is nothing wrong; all of your tests are fine.

That is GOOD NEWS!

Why?  Continue reading “Pain Happens for Reasons and Therapeutic Massage Can Relieve Pain”

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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:

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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. 🙂

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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.

 

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Senior Citizen Pain, Posture & Exercise

Lots of times doctors tell us we have pain “because, after all, you are 60 years old.”  Or 50, 49, 72, or 84 years old.

They often neglect (just because they don’t know) the roles of your muscles and posture as causes of pain.

What are some of the benefits of senior citizens exercising and doing movements to get a straighter, stronger back?

  • You will have less back pain.
  • It will be easier to breathe.
  • There will be less pressure on your internal organs so they can function better (heart, etc.)
  • You will feel better about yourself because you will be straighter and taller.
  • You will have less pain in your back, neck, arms and hands.
  • You’ll have less constipation. (Increased movement helps your bowels move.  Straighter posture takes compression off your intestines so they have more space to move.)
  • Your blood and lymph circulation will improve.
  • Your strength will improve.
  • And, your balance will be better and that’s really important!

If you go to SimpleStrengthening.com you will find lots of articles  which explain both why people have pain and how simple strengthening movements, that you can even do in bed, are done.

You can see there are many benefits for you, as a senior citizen, to exercise, move and get a straighter, stronger back.  And that’s a good thing

“Because You Deserve to Feel Better!”

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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”

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