Kathryn Merrow on February 5th, 2012

Got muscle knots in your shoulders?  You need someone to help you figure out WHY you are getting these knots.

The answer is not to attack only the area where it hurts because those are just symptoms. The answer is to get to the cause of your pain. Figure out the cause of your knots and get rid of it.

It could be posture-related. Do you slouch or slump?

It could be that you always lean into the same corner of the couch.

It could be your heavy book bag that causes you to lean forward.

It definitely is something and that something needs to be changed so you will stop getting these knots.

And did you knw that muscles need minerals to function their best? Do you eat a good diet that supplies lots of vitamins and minerals or do you eat mostly pre-packaged, highly processed foods and fast foods? They cannot supply what your muscles need.

You cannot fool your muscles with fake foods.

One more thing: The knots in your back may be caused because of tight muscles in the front of your body. Most of the time we have our hands and heads in front of our body and this shortens the muscles in the fronts of our chests, abdomen, arms and neck. And maybe you slouch.

That means the muscles in the front of the body need to be stretched. They are most often the culprit!

If you can give your body movement, nutrition, stretching in the right directions and good posture you can get rid of your knots.  Click here –>to get your free report about the five most common causes of those miserable knots in your shoulders and discover how to get rid of them naturally.

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Are you confused about your scoliosis?  You aren’t alone. Most doctors don’t understand what causes it or know much about it, either.

In fact, they often say it is idiopathic.  That means ‘no known cause.’

Well, maybe.  Sometimes.

Here are some thoughts:

1. Everything has a cause.  It just requires digging to find the root of the problem.

2. Pain medicines will not help you get rid of the curvature in your spine.

3. If you do not get rid of the original causes of your scoliosis your curves will continue to Read the rest of this entry »

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Kathryn Merrow on January 6th, 2012

Do you have burning in your back between your shoulder blade and spine?  That area has a muscle called the rhomboid.

It gets blamed for pain all the time but it is usually NOT the muscle at fault!  Poor rhomboid.

Rhomboid area pain is typically caused by that area being over-stretched.  The burning is a symptom.  You have to figure out the cause and get rid of it.

Your neck could be involved if the scalene muscles on the side of your neck are causing you to have a ‘knot’ in your back.  The scalene muscles in your neck can have trigger points Read the rest of this entry »

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How can you get rid of the knots in your back naturally?

The first thing is to figure out WHY you are getting these knots.  I’m not being silly here.

There are always reasons why you have pain.  Usually the reasons involve muscles.

Muscles move bones.  Muscles can press on nerves.  Muscles are usually overlooked as being causes of pain.

So the answer is not to attack only the area where it hurts because those are just symptoms.

The answer is to get to the root cause of your knot. Figure Read the rest of this entry »

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Kathryn Merrow on December 3rd, 2011

Your back pain is getting worse?  Here are nine tips to help you feel better:

1.  Hold in your stomach muscles (that’s the best and easiest way to strengthen them.)  Just suck them back to your spine.

2.  Lift your chest (this strengthens your back.)

3.  Create a small hollow behind your waist if you don’t have one (you should have one.)

4.  Try to use ALL of Read the rest of this entry »

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Kathryn Merrow on November 28th, 2011

What causes the pain between your shoulder blades?

Could it be stress? Overwork? Old age? Arthritis? Or maybe your nerves or bones?

Would you be surprised if I told you that the cause was most likely…in most cases…muscles?

But not any old muscles.

Overstretched muscles cause most back pain, especially pain between the shoulder blades.

Pain between your shoulder blades and spine can Read the rest of this entry »

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Kathryn Merrow on November 24th, 2011

Does massage get rid of back pain?  A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine said it can.  (And that is no surprise to me!)

The study compared patients in three groups:

1.  Conventional medical treatment of medicine and exercises
2.  Structural massage (deeper pressure)
3.  Swedish massage (more gentle form of massage)

Guess who won?  :-)

1.  4% improvement in back pain for Read the rest of this entry »

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Kathryn Merrow on November 21st, 2011

Do legs cause low back pain?  They do when one is shorter than the other.  And about 1 out of 10 of us has a difference in leg length.  This is not the only cause but it is a commonly overlooked cause.

I had an elderly client named Bob.  He had lower back pain from the time he was a very young man.  He used to get his children to walk on his back to get the muscle spasms to go away.

Bob had surgery later in life.  That helped some but his leg length difference was so great that, in the xrays, it could be seen that the fusing hardware had broken.

His doctors never looked at his legs as a possible cause of Read the rest of this entry »

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Kathryn Merrow on November 2nd, 2011

Can large breasts or breast implants cause pain in your back?  That’s the question I received from Carol.  Here’s what she said:

“Kathryn – Hi, maybe you have some ideas.  I am considering breast reduction.  How much do large breasts play into my back strain?  I used to belly-dance but I think the extra weight up top & out front puts me out of alignment.  I always get low back strain now when I try to dance.”

“The Dr I went to for cosmetic assistance (enlargement) went overboard.   Do you think breast reduction will help?  I am 5’4″, weigh 120 lbs, with a slight build.  I wear 36DD.”

Here’s my answer:

Yes, large breasts do cause back and neck pain issues.

I don’t know how much weight implants have but if they are about the same as natural breasts that’s a lot of weight.

The women I know who have had breast reduction surgery said it made a great deal of Read the rest of this entry »

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Kathryn Merrow on October 30th, 2011

Linda’s back and hip hurt.  Here’s what she told me:

“I drive for a living.  Drive up to 10 hrs a day, my hip & back hurt nearly all the time.  I am 51 years old.  My hip (I think it’s the iliopsoas, but my rehab guy says tight quadriceps)… anyway that little muscle will go into spasm and it’s quite miserable.”

Here is what I told Linda:

I’m thinking that your seat may be not quite close enough to the wheel.  That would cause you to strain the upper back muscles.

Additionally, it Read the rest of this entry »

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