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 »
Tags: burning rhomboid, how to get rid of rhomboid, Kathryn Merrow, knot in rhomboid, pain in rhomboid
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 »
Tags: cause of back muscle knots, Kathryn Merrow, knots in your back, natural remedy back knots, pain relief coach
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 »
Tags: back pain natural remedy, get rid of back pain naturally, Kathryn Merrow, stop back pain
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 »
Tags: Kathryn Merrow, muscle spasm upper back, natural cure upper back muscle pain, shoulder blade muscle knots, upper back muscle pain
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 »
Tags: back pain massage, Kathryn Merrow, massage for back pain, natural back pain relief massage, natural back pain remedy
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 »
Tags: cause of pain low back, how to get rid of pain in your low back naturally, Kathryn Merrow, low back pain, lower back pain
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 »
Tags: breast implants back pain, breasts cause pain in back, Kathryn Merrow, large breasts upper back pain
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 »
Tags: cause of upper back pain, driving causes back pain, driving causes pain, Kathryn Merrow, upper back pain natural relief
Here’s a walking tip that will help your poor upper back start to feel better.
Did you know there is a right way to swing or move your arms when you walk? There is! Moving your arms correctly takes the strain off your upper back muscles.
Here it is:
Thumbs up!
Just as though you are going to shake hands.
Stand up and look down. If the backs of your hands are facing forward, that means the muscles in the front of your body are short.
Those short muscles are turning your hands like that. They are also Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: arms upper back pain, cause of upper back muscle pain, get rid of upper back pain naturally, Kathryn Merrow, natural remedy for upper back muscle pain
Back pain can be caused by tight calf muscles. That means your calves are stronger and tighter than the muscles on your shin. Our goal is to have soft calves.
Stretching your calves and strengthening the fronts of your lower leg (the shin) can help get your leg muscles balanced.
When you stretch your calf muscles be careful not to stretch tooooo much. Just a nice, small stretch and no bouncing.
You can strengthen your shin muscles by tilting your toes upward toward your knees. At the same time that movement also stretches your calf muscles.
Flat feet are another cause of back pain.
If you don’t have your own natural arches, running shoe stores sell arch supports that will go into your shoes. They probably work best if you wear loafer type shoes or athletic shoes. You have to buy arch supports that really have a firm arch to them and that fit where your own natural arches would be. Mushy, soft shoe liners are not the same as arch supports.
Running shoe store employees should know how to make sure they fit well. They should cost around $30.
Also, try “making” arches with the muscles in your feet. If your muscles feel like they want to cramp, back off and go slowly. Eventually your foot muscles will get better at doing this and you will to have at least some benefit.
If you have knots in your back your flat feet could also be part of the cause of those knots. Flat feet put a lot of strain on your upper back and neck as well as your lower back.
But when you have arches in your feet, your head is more balanced over your body and so there is less back muscle strain.
Tags: back pain natural relief, cause of back pain natural relief, Kathryn Merrow, strengthen your shin muscles, stretch your calf muscles
