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!
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”
Shoulder pain can occur in a variety of places around the shoulder and almost always muscles are at the root of the problem.
Unhappy muscles cause most pain. Our goal is to keep our muscles happy.
The following request for help is very specific about the location of the pain: the bottom half of the shoulder blade and the outer side of the shoulder blade near the armpit. Using a movement with the arm in front of the body makes it worse.
Here is the email:
“I really need your help for my shoulder problems from which I am suffering from past many years.
I am getting pain on my right shoulder, on the lower half of the scapula muscle(Teres minor and major area) of my shoulder. The pain exists at approximate all the time but increases if I repeatedly do an activity (A simple activity like holding a book will aggravate the pain). I can always feel their is a difference between my right shoulder and left shoulder because of the pain.
I have shown to many doctors and had done many tests but they could not come out with any conclusive results. Their advice was just to strengthen my shoulder muscles and to do some physical activity.
Whats the best way to strengthen my shoulder. Will joining gym will be a good option or doing Aerobics .
Please suggest if something better can be done.
Thanks,”
Here is my response:
Based on the information Continue reading “Pain on Lower Half of Shoulder Blade Can be Relieved”
“Multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence.”
I received some email from Raven Fisher who has MS. Raven is a remarkable woman who is proactive in her care. She does things for herself. She is an inspiration! And that is her message.
People write to me and basically say “I feel better now because of something that you said.” Everyones’ words are different but their message is similar. Something that I said made a difference for them–it helped them feel better.
The reason it worked is because THEY worked!
They did something to help their smart body feel better. I only provided a little bit of information that they needed.
When Raven first contacted me, she told me that my carpal tunnel pain relief information was helping her even though she did not have carpal tunnel syndrome–she had MS.
How could this be? It is because each part of your body is attached to every other part.
I asked Raven if I could share parts of her following emails with you and she graciously said Yes.
Here is her story.
“Four years ago when I was diagnosed with MS I also got the terrifying news that my life expectancy is 2yrs. Knowing what is actually wrong with me I immediately thought no way, who said so? God did not say it so I don’t believe it! I was in a wheelchair, could not walk, talk properly, read a book, focus on touching things. My brain told me to pick up that pen but my body did not want to. I did not know when ever my bladder and colon wanted to work, it always came as a surprise. Even when I was in public, embarassing, but hey, I blamed it on Continue reading “Raven Fisher – Inspiring People With Multiple Sclerosis (MS)”
You’ve seen people who are only 40 who already look “old.” And you’ve probably seen folks in their 80’s or 90’s who still have a spring in their step or a sparkle in their eyes.
Why do some of us grow old so quickly and other stay youthful?
Here are 3 reasons:
1. Attitude. Optimists may not always have the most realistic outlook, but they live longer, healthier lives than pessimists and enjoy living more. Attitude can be learned and unlearned. A healthy attitude includes gratitude and happiness.
2. Nutrition. People who give their bodies all the nutrients it needs are much more likely to be healthy and feel better longer. This gets harder and harder as more of our “food” comes from factories rather than farms and gardens, but it CAN be done. The best place to buy your groceries is in the produce section, and if possible, the best ones to buy are organic. Try to eat a lot of different colored foods (and Froot Loops don’t count.)
3. Posture. When you lose the fight to gravity, and gravity is winning, your heavy head moves in front of your body. Then, gravity can pull you forward even more! Your posture can be corrected, at least enough to relieve some of your pain. Posture is a BIG key in aging. When you collapse forward, your organs gets squashed. How can your heart function its best when it is being compressed? How can your intestines and stomach do their best job? This is a common cause of constipation. You can overcome poor posture by stretching the muscles in the front of your body and strengthening the muscles in the back.
George Burns, the comedian, said: “It’s okay to get older, as long as you don’t get old.” I’m sticking with George!
How can yoga help relieve your headaches? Oh, let me count the ways:
Yoga is a full-body stretching and strengthening movement program with a lot of benefits.
If you take a class, always remember: It’s your body. If a move doesn’t feel appropriate to you, or feels like it will make your head hurt or your headache feel worse, DON’T DO IT. Instead, practice a different movement (pose) or breathing.
So, yoga helps take the pressure off the muscles around your head and neck, and helps you relax, and reduces stress, and improves your breathing (shallow breathing could also be a cause of your headaches by not giving you enough oxygen.)
That’s how yoga can help you get rid of your headaches.
Here’s another way I can help you get rid of your migraines and headaches: Head Pain Natural 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?”
I hate to tell you, because you probably already know, but, er…a lot of your pain and diseases just may be caused by unhealthy habits. There. It’s out.
So how long did it take you to develop these “bad” habits? And, what are they?
Only you can answer the first question, but it probably happened over a long time. You probably already know the answers to the second question, but I’ll list a few here.
I have GOOD NEWS for you! You can change all of those things, and more. Your body wants to be well and healthy. Sometimes it just needs some help from you.
Unhealthy habits interfere with your good health. They are not health promoters. You want to feel good until you die, right?
So, how long does it take to create a healthy habit?
I have read that if we do something faithfully for 21 days, it becomes a new “habit.” That’s not too long, that’s only 3 measly little weeks, right?
If you forget, forgive yourself and just get going again.
Here are some tips to help you get started so you can change “bad” habits into “good” ones.
Let’s use slouching Continue reading “How Long Does It Take To Create A Healthy Habit?”
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?
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!”
You probably know the back pain I mean. It’s that nagging, cannot-be-ignored pain between your shoulder blade and spine. It often feels like a knot or spasm.
It’s usually on the side of your dominant hand. If you’re right-handed, it will probably be on the right side of your back.
There are two likely causes and one that often gets the blame, but usually isn’t the cause.
The rhomboid muscle (there is one on each side of your back) often gets blamed as being the cause of that pain. The reason for this is probably because the muscle happens to be in the same area as your back pain. This is the muscle most massage therapists will probably try to rub out for you, but it may or may not (probably not) be the cause of your pain.
If this massage doesn’t help, or the muscle “won’t release,” then the rhomboid muscle is not the cause of your pain.
A more likely cause is that the muscles where your knot is located are being overstretched or strained. They are complaining about this by causing pain. Overstretched muscles will go into spasm to keep from being stretched further and torn.
Your back muscles can get overstretched when the muscles in front of your body (your chest and neck) are short and tight. Over-stretching can also occur when you work or play a lot with your arm stretched out in front.
You can correct this by strengthening the muscles between your spine and shoulder blades. The stronger muscles won’t be so easily overstretched and so won’t go into spasm like they do now. Also, strengthen the muscles behind your neck gently so you won’t go into “forward-head” posture, which also strains your upper back muscles.
Loosen, relax and open the muscles in front of your body, too, with stretching or massage.
Another likely cause of this back pain could be the scalene muscles, which are located on each side of your neck. These muscles can harbor trigger points. Trigger points in the scalenes refer, or cause, pain into the rhomboid area.
Often a massage therapist will try to work out a pain by working where it hurts. That only works sometimes, in some situations.
You can see in the two likely causes above, that the problem can be elsewhere. The pain between your spine and shoulder blade may be caused by muscles in front of your body being short or trigger points in your neck.
The first thing I would suggest today would be to begin a strengthening program for your upper back. This will help you get rid of that nagging pain between your spine and shoulder blade.
It doesn’t matter whether you call them “knots” or muscle spasms or contractions, they hurt! And you CAN get rid of them naturally. 🙂 This is good…
Because You Deserve To Feel Better!
Last week I worked on a police officer.
I hate to say “worked on” because my feeling is that I work “with” people rather than “on” them. But, if I tell you I worked with him, you’d think I work with him, which I do not…
Anyway, back to my story – the officer was complaining of pain in the back of his upper arms.
As many people in law enforcement are, he was very involved with working out with weights. It is important to be physically strong in his field. Sometimes it is necessary to control a person, and an officer needs every advantage.
I noticed his shoulders were rounded very far forward.
When you lie on your back, your shoulders should be on or pretty close to the floor or bed.
But, this policeman’s shoulders were not anywhere close to the treatment table he was on. I could slide practically my whole fist under his shoulders.
The gap behind his shoulders was huge!
I explained the necessity of getting his back stronger. I explained how his tight front muscles (pectoral muscles) were pulling his shoulders forward.
I explained how his forward shoulders were pulling on and overstretching the muscles in his back and the back of his arms.
His chest muscles were the cause of his pain!
And then I suggested that he lay off the pectoral muscle exercises while he gets back in balance.
He chuckled.
I knew what that meant.
Up to that point, he was with me – he heard what I was saying. But, when I said, “Lay off the pecs for a while,” I lost him.
I saw it in his eyes.
He had no intention of stopping his chest exercises, even though they were causing physical pain symptoms for him.
In his mind, working his pectorals was important to his well-being and safety.
My suggestion was outside of his comfort zone.
But, sometimes, there comes a point when someone is so tired of their pain, they will do anything necessary to feel better.
They will stop blaming aches and pains on “I’m getting old,” or “My aunt had the same pain.”
Sometimes people get to the point where they realize that no one can fix them except themselves. And so they find out what to do.
And they do it.
And they feel better.
Because we can.
You can, too.
Bounce on over to SimpleStrengthening for lots of info on strengthening your back and getting back in balance.
“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”