Tag: Kathryn Merrow

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What Causes Muscle Knots In Your Upper Back

A “knot” is a contraction (shortening) or spasm in a muscle. It is a place where a muscle has become ‘tight’ for one reason or another. Overwork is the most common cause.

That doesn’t mean that YOU are working too much–it means that some of your muscles are.

When you were a child you used all of your muscles all of the time. You have over 600 muscles! But then you grew up. Most of us adults use fewer than 100 muscles on a daily basis.

That’s how we get into pain. We get out of balance.

Some of your muscles are Continue reading “What Causes Muscle Knots In Your Upper Back”

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How Your Mind Causes Pain

Your thoughts can cause pain.  When you have certain thoughts you will assume certain postures.

If you are depressed, you might hunch forward.  You get a depressed posture. If you don’t, you cannot stay depressed.

If you are sad, it’s reflected in your mouth and face and in your whole body.

When you are happy, it also shows all over.  You smile, your posture improves, you may even glow.  And your immune system will be happier, too!

If you continually keep thoughts that affect your body in a negative way, your body will get used to being in that position.  And when your muscles get ‘stuck’ in a position like that you will end up with pain.

Try this:  Change your posture.  Lift your shoulders and breastbone.  Change your expression.  Lift the corners of your mouth.  Let your eyes crinkle.  Smile.

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Massage Gets Rid Of Pain!

Massage is the oldest pain medication in the world!

You may know that I have been in the massage field for over 30 years.  In that time I have seen over and over and over how beneficial massage is for so many pain issues.

Basically massage is used for 3 things:

1.  To control pain.

2.  To eliminate pain.

3.  To create wellness.

I love massage!  It really can get rid of pain in your body.  It’s good medicine.

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Upper Back Pain Causes and Natural Relief

What’s the most common cause of upper back pain?  Muscles!

Upper back muscles get strained from being stretched and overused.  Then they get cranky and start complaining.

You might feel the complaint as muscle strain, a headache or neck ache, a muscle spasm near your shoulder blade or “knots” in your upper back.

But guess what?

You CAN get rid of upper back pain.  🙂  I have seen it happen over and over.

Once you understand WHY you have Continue reading “Upper Back Pain Causes and Natural Relief”

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A Wonderful Natural Pain Relief Remedy For Knots In Your Back – Ice!

Upper back pain?  Muscle spasms?  Knots in your back?  Here’s a “cool” natural self-help tool:  Ice!

Ice can be a very good friend!

Lots of folks prefer heat.  They like the way it feels more than they do ice (and I don’t blame them one bit!)

But as a pain relief tool for getting rid of muscle pain and “knots” in your back ice can’t be beat.

And here’s a tip:  Don’t Continue reading “A Wonderful Natural Pain Relief Remedy For Knots In Your Back – Ice!”

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Vitamin D3 Gets Rid Of Muscle Pain And Does Lots Of Other Great Things Too

Every time I read a new article about Vitamin D3 (the sunshine vitamin) researchers have discovered new benefits!

Here’s the link to an article that explains how D3 works and what it does.

Vitamin D3 (<– click here)

Vitamin D3 (read the label) is the proper form of D to take and it’s a really low-cost way to boost your health.  If you are one who gets SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) in the darker Continue reading “Vitamin D3 Gets Rid Of Muscle Pain And Does Lots Of Other Great Things Too”

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Who Gets Massage And How Does It Help

I grabbed this article a while ago from The American Massage Therapy Association.  It might not be terribly exciting reading but it shows how the understanding of the value of therapeutic massage is changing.

It also shows why YOU should consider massage as a natural tool for stress and pain relief.

These statistics are old and the numbers have gone up a ton since.

Who Gets Massage, Where And Why?

* According According to the 2009 AMTA consumer survey, an average of 22 percent of adult Americans received at least one massage between July 2008 and July 2009, and Continue reading “Who Gets Massage And How Does It Help”

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Pain In Your Big Toe, Big Toe Joint Pain

When I was in ninth grade my big toe joint swelled and hurt.  The school nurse wasn’t very sympathetic.  She blamed it on my shoes.

Maybe so.

But they were cute.  Cheap but cute.

They probably caused me to curl my toes to hold them on my feet.

But according to Doctors Travell & Simons MD, bunions (enlarged big toe joints) show up more in certain ethnic groups than others.  They also said there may be a strong hereditary component.  (If your parent had them, you have a good chance to have them, too.)

There are several possible causes for pain in your big toe joint.

Bunions cause a muscle imbalance which just makes matters worse.   It causes Continue reading “Pain In Your Big Toe, Big Toe Joint Pain”

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What Causes Pain On The Bottom Of Your Foot

What is the cause of pain on the bottom of your feet?

There are several possibilities including the muscles on the bottom side of your foot.  Those muscles can be pressed into with fingers or a tennis or golf ball.  The muscles to press tend to be in the area of foot pain.  They tend to be in the arch.

If those muscles are strained, wearing arch supports in your shoes may help by supporting them.

Another cause that is commonly overlooked is the piriformis muscle.  This muscle runs from your sacrum (the wide, fused end of the spine just above your tailbone) to the head of your femur (top outside of your thigh bone.)

The piriformis is usually covered by the thick gluteal (butt) muscles.  It can develop Continue reading “What Causes Pain On The Bottom Of Your Foot”

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How Your Body Heals Naturally from Muscle Injury or Joint Pain

You have muscle or joint pain and, of course, you want to get rid of it.  You prefer to get rid of your pain naturally without the use of drugs or surgery.

Is this possible?  Yes.  Why?

Your body heals all the time.  It is constantly changing and making corrections (when it can.)

Let’s use me as an example:

I used to have such severe asthma (difficulty breathing) that I ended up in the hospital twice and I took steroid medications for almost 20 years.  Now?  No problem.  No drugs.  No wheezing.

In case you are thinking that I finally outgrew it, nope.  I outsmarted it.  Made corrections to my diet and started taking vitamin and mineral supplements seriously.  Lots of illnesses are caused by nutritional deficiencies.

Now let’s use you as an example:

Have you ever had a broken bone?  It healed?  And how about all of those scrapes, cuts and other injuries you Continue reading “How Your Body Heals Naturally from Muscle Injury or Joint Pain”

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Hypermobility and Massage Therapy

Is massage therapy good for people who have hypermobile joints?  Here’s a question I received and my response.

Question:

I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Hypermobility Type.

Have you worked with this disorder before?  If so, is there any type of massage that I should avoid?

I know I don’t like the deep tissue massage, and any type of rolfing.  I have had a reaction to too much of the heated sonar prior to massage which makes me feel like I had a sunburn.

My Response:

Prime Olympic athletes receive a type of sports massage which neither loosens nor tones their muscles.  It just allows them to remain in their peak condition while still having the benefits of massage.

I wonder Continue reading “Hypermobility and Massage Therapy”

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Not Getting Enough Sleep Causes Pain–Here’s How To Get More Sleep

Did you know that pain can be caused by not getting enough sleep?  Researchers have been able to create muscle pain in healthy, young college students simply by depriving them of sleep!

The kind of pain they developed was the type that people with Fibromyalgia Syndrome have:  all-over joint and muscle aches.

If you have trouble falling asleep and Continue reading “Not Getting Enough Sleep Causes Pain–Here’s How To Get More Sleep”

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Gratitude is Natural Pain Relief Technique

What’s the relationship between gratitude and pain?

It turns out that when you realize all that you have to be grateful for, your levels of stress and pain go down.  That’s a very good thing!

Gratitude helps you feel better on ALL levels.  Being thankful for what’s good in your life can help you feel warm fuzzies and that increases your immune response.

Increase Gratitude, Decrease Pain and Suffering.  And start feeling better!

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What Causes Back Pain

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”

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Tooth Ache–Is It Really Pain In Your Tooth

Have you ever heard of someone having a tooth pulled because they had pain in the tooth?  But afterward they still had the pain?  I have.  Here’s how:

There are muscles in your head that can actually cause you to feel pain in your teeth.  The pain is not IN your tooth but that is where you feel it.  Removing the tooth doesn’t get rid of the pain because that wasn’t the cause of the pain to start with.

The muscles in your head can get “tight” and ornery just like any other muscles.  They can develop trigger points.  Trigger points are areas in muscles that “fire” or cause pain at some distance.

The muscles at the sides of your head–your temples–can Continue reading “Tooth Ache–Is It Really Pain In Your Tooth”

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