Well, here’s the deal.  We have several hundred muscles and most of us use only the same sixty or seventy all the time.  That gets us out of muscular balance.

So, mix things up!  Wake up the muscles that you haven’t been using.  Stretch the muscles in front.  Most of us have muscles in front that are way too tight and short.  That causes back pain.

Strengthen the back muscles.  Most of us have weak backs and we collapse forward.  Make those back muscles strong again.

If you take on a program of movement that is too far different from your usual activity, you will be sore tomorrow.

• Start gradually.
• Move thoughtfully.
• Pay attention to what feels tight.
• Look in the mirror to check your posture.

Even simple, subtle movement will help your back muscles feel better.

Some designers seem to think that car seats are for lounging.  C’mon now.  Drivers are supposed to be alert and able to see the road.  I’d like to be supported rather than reclining.

1.  But sometimes car seats don’t have anything to support your lower back while you are reclin…I mean, driving.  If you don’t have a lumbar support you can create one easily and cheaply.  Fold a hand towel into quarters or eighths or whatever thickness fits between you and your car seat.  It goes behind your waist.

If you have access to a small baby pillow or a batt of fiberfill they will work, too.  You might even find a nicely shaped lumbar support at the dollar store.  When I found a bin of them at a dollar store I bought several.  Those are some of the best dollars I have ever spent!

2.  Sometimes car seats recline so much that your head is forced to jut forward.  That strains upper back and neck muscles.  If you can put your seat into a more upright position that will help.

3.   Lots of headrests stick out too far.  All I can figure is that the designers are trying to support the heads of people who are really dysfunctional and are ignoring the folks with nice, neutral, straight posture.    It’s really annoying for someone with nice posture to sit in those cars; they cause head and neck pain in short order.  What can you do if your headrest sticks out too far?  Well, you could throw it out the window.  Or you could just pad up the seat back so your whole body will move forward.  And in some cars adding a lumbar pillow or support can move you forward just enough so the headrest won’t bug you as much.

So your back pain might not be your fault.  If you hurt when you drive it could well be your seat.  If your car seat isn’t comfortable for you, give yourself some props, cushions or supports.  Create your own custom seat so you can drive without back pain.

Here’s another idea:  Sometimes use the lumbar support and sometimes don’t.  Or use differently sized back supports.  Switch it up so you keep flexing your muscles and spine in different ways.  That will keep things flexible.

We like flexible, relaxed backs.  They don’t have pain.

And what are bulging disks, anyway?

Imagine this:

The bones of your spine are stacked one on top of another.  In between the bones are jelly donuts.  The donuts are tough on the outside and have jelly on the inside.  Those jelly donuts are your disks.

If the jelly squeezes through the tough outside of a disk it is called a rupture. The jelly can press on nerves and cause pain down your leg or hip.

If the jelly stays inside the disk but the disk shifts out of place it can also press on nerves.  That’s called a bulging disk.

What causes disks to rupture or bulge?

Well, it could be from a violent accident such as falling off a bridge.  But, more often (thankfully!) a disk is moved by your muscles.

Why do your muscles move disks?

That’s how bodies work.  Bones and disks cannot move on their own but when muscles get ‘too tight’  or ‘too weak’ or out-of-balance the muscles allow the bones and disks to slip or move out of place.

The disks don’t really ‘slip.’  It’s more like they are pulled or pushed out of place by muscles.  They actually are!

There are strong muscles on either side of your spine and along the length of your spine.  There are muscles that attach from your thighs to your spine.  If they get too strong or tight on one side or the other they pull on the disks and spine bones.

If those same muscles get weak or stretched, they cannot hold the spine bones and disks in place.

Too strong or too weak means out-of-balance.  So the goal is to keep all of your muscles in use and in balance.

Yoga is a very good way to use all of your muscles.  Yoga makes muscles long and strong all over your body.

Any type of balanced movement program can help you get rid of your bulging disks.

Wait!  Movement can help a slipped disk?

You bet!  Disks can move back into their natural location if you take the pressure off them.  If the too-tight muscles are stretched or relaxed, the pressure on the disk and spine gets less.

But can a ruptured disk heal naturally?

My understanding is that often after a period of time the disk will seal and heal itself naturally.  The ruptured jelly will shrink and cause fewer symptoms.

And if you can get to a therapist who can help you release and relax those tight muscles within a period of a few weeks after a rupture occurs, the jelly can slip back into the disk.

You might need the help of a neuromuscular massage therapist or physical therapist to help get your muscles back into balance.   I have seen people go from having lower back pain to being pain-free in a matter of several weeks when they had the appropriate muscle therapy.

“A matter of several weeks” might sound like a long time to you but recovering from back surgery can take a long time, too.  And since the cause of lower back pain is often caused by muscles many back surgeries failed.  That’s why fewer are done now.

And sometimes it feels like a slipped disk today but after sleeping or sitting in a different way, it’s magically gone in just a few days.  It takes just a hair of pressure on a nerve to cause nervy pain.  A slight corrective movement can change things quickly.

Bodies heal all the time.   That includes spines, too.

Watch your posture because poor posture is a big player in causing bulging disks in lower backs.

And if you are overweight you might seriously consider losing weight because that will help take pressure off your muscles, disks and spine.

Dr. Marcus has Pain Centers and medical experts from all over the world praising his work.

Here’s one review:

“The Treatment of back pain in American has suffered from weaknesses of diagnosis and a poverty of effective treatments.  This volume…brings intelligence and clarity to an area that profoundly needs such an activity.” – Robert Cancro, MD, Lucius N. Littanuer Professor of Psychiatry and chairman emeritus

Here’s another:

“Your back pain can be cured.  Read this book.  Dr. Norman Marcus eliminates low back pain by focusing on the major problem–muscle pain.  His treatment and prescribed exercises work–I know because he treated and cured me.” – Thomas J.J. Blanck, MD, PhD; Dorothy Reaves Spatz, MD Professor of Anesthesiology, Physiology, and Neuroscience chairman, Department of Anesthesiology, NYU Langone Medical Center

Wow!  This book is regarded as breakthrough treatment for back pain by highly regarded authorities and pain clinic experts.

There’s just one funny thing…

Here are some things from the book:

1.  Dr. Marcus says muscles are the primary source of 75 percent or more of all back pain, not the spine.  (But you knew that if you read here much.  I would have estimated 90 percent.)

2.  He says medical tests make you more likely to have surgery because they show such things as herniated disks but they may–or more likely may not–be the cause of your back pain.  (And this is true, too.  Most of us have abnormalities in our spines and disks but no pain.  Just because something is seen on a test does NOT mean it is the cause of your back pain.)

3.  He treats painful back muscles with forms of electrical stimulation to fatigue them and relieve their tightness and pain.  (That’s a more high tech way than massage therapy.  Massage is low tech and also can be very, very effective in getting rid of pain.)

4.  He says “The widespread failure by doctors to recognize muscles as the primary source of back pain is helping to fuel an epidemic.”  (Good way to put it, Doctor!   Med schools don’t teach much at all about the relationship between muscles and pain.  Or muscles, period.)

Dr. Marcus also has self-help exercises in End Back Pain Forever.  There are a few I don’t care for like sit-ups.  You can injure your tailbone or your neck with sit-ups.  Reverse crunches are safer.

So, why is this a brilliant book?  Because it was written by an MD who says exactly the same things my brilliant non-MD instructors have taught me over the years.

But there is something funny about it…

But you know what?  His fellow doctors will not believe him.   A few will be won over when he helps them relieve their own back pain but most will scoff.

That’s okay.   We believe him.

• Take action.
• Do the correct exercises.
• Take care of your muscles with massage.
• Pay attention to true messages.

You can end your back pain forever!

Oh, are you wondering what the ‘funny thing’ is?

Dr. Marcus seems to believe he is the only one who can help people get rid of pain and dysfunction with his technique.

No where in the book does he acknowledge that muscle therapists who understand and practice trigger point therapy can do what he does with his equipment.

It’s important to know that many doctors and massage therapists who say they practice trigger point massage really don’t get it.  I think Dr. Marcus says that, too.  But there are many who do and those people make enormous differences in the way people feel and function.

So, the book is quite good but there’s just something funny about ignoring a large segment of the natural therapy field.  Perhaps his research didn’t take him quite far enough into the field of natural back pain relief.

There are several layers of muscle next to each side of your spine.  The largest, longest muscles are closest to the outside of your body.  The smaller, shorter ones are closest to your spine bones.

And any of them can go into spasm or contraction.

Your muscles all belong to the same union.  When one of them becomes unhappy they invite their brothers to join them in complaining.  What does this mean?  You might not have only one muscle causing your pain.

When one muscle is ‘tight’ it pulls on bones and other muscles.  One muscle in contraction can cause other muscles to also go into contraction.

Sometimes it’s a more serious problem but most often back pain is muscle-related.  (And remember:  I’m not a doctor and I’m not giving you a diagnosis.)  (But if I were and I did, I’d probably say, “It’s just muscles!”)

What helps get rid of muscle pain next to your spine?

1.  Professional massage can help by manipulating the muscles and helping them relax or soften.

2.  Tennis Ball Therapy can help.

4.  Two tennis balls or similar balls tied in a sock will let you treat both sides of your spine at the same time.

5.  If you just developed the pain on your spine, use cold therapy.

6.  If it’s been over 2-3 full days, you can use heat or alternate cold packs and heat packs.

7.  Self-massage helps.  Apply pressure with an S-shaped pressure point tool such as the TheraCane.

Muscles cause almost ALL of our pain.  And they are commonly overlooked.  A diagnostic test may show a displaced spine bone or disk but it didn’t move by itself.  It can’t!

When the muscles are in contraction or spasm they move bones and disks.  When you get rid of the spasm in the muscles, the disks and bones can move back to their correct place and you can be rid of the pain next to your spine. 

We tend to use words that describe how we feel.  Getting a pain in the back, the neck, the rear–those are all real feelings that can turn into real honest-to-goodness pain.

Stressful emotions can cause back pain.  Here’s how:

Think of a stressful situation or person for a moment.

What happens to your body when you feel stressed?  Some part gets tight.  Muscles get tense.

Is it your jaw?  Your upper shoulders?  Or, do the muscles in your lower back tighten up?

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

1. Meditation can help.  When you learn to meditate you become an observer.  Things are not so stressful because you just let them happen without emotional involvement.
2. Breathing can help.  Deep, even breathing settles down bodies.
3. Exercise helps.  We were born to move!  When we stop moving, stress builds up.  You need active movement!  Choose something you enjoy and JUST DO IT!

This may seem very simplistic.  In fact, way too simple especially if you have a lot of pain.  But here’s the deal:

Bodies heal all the time.

The more help you, yourself, can give your body the quicker your back pain can heal.  You have a smart body and it wants to be well.  It just needs some help from you.

If you change the way you respond to stressors, you will feel better.  If you learn meditation or breathing exercises you will focus on something other than the stressful event.  You will be more relaxed and so will your back.

And what does balanced exercise do for your back?  It helps your muscles get back in the game.  It wakes up muscles that have been sleeping and got lazy.  Movement gets the blood flowing into the tissues and gets the lymph flowing, too.

Even if you can barely move right now because of back pain, try this:  Put yourself into the most comfortable position possible.  Take deep, even breaths.  Direct them into the painful area of your back.

Imagine that your breathing is soothing and massaging your tight back muscles.  It is.

Imagine that more blood is flowing into your tight muscles.  It is.

Imagine that your muscles are starting to relax.  They are.

And, remember, bodies heal all the time.  That includes yours.  You CAN get rid of your back pain naturally! 

Sure it’s muscles, most likely.  But why are they complaining?

1.  Do you type?  Do you sit facing the right while you are at the computer?  The best way is to face the monitor or your material squarely in front of your nose.

2.  Do you always watch the television from an angle?  Or sit in the same corner of the same couch with your head tilted?  How about changing position so you look directly and straight at the television or book?

3.  Do you sleep on your side with your head tilted either up or down?   You can prop your neck and head in a more neutral position to avoid neck muscle strain.

4.  Do you tuck the phone between your shoulder and ear?  That’s hard on your neck muscles!

5.  Are you a new mom always looking down at your beautiful baby while you hold him?  Umm hmm.  Muscle strain.

So any of those positions can strain the muscles on the left (or right) side of your upper shoulder where it joins your neck.  If a muscle area is overstretched it tries to protect itself by going into a type of contraction.  That is a symptom (symptoms are clues.)  And that is what you feel–the strained muscle.

Or if a muscle is held in contraction for a while, it may tend to ‘stay’ there.  And then the symptom (the clue) that you feel is the short, tight muscle.  This is what happens when you hold the phone between your ear and shoulder.  But on the other side of your neck, your muscles are being over-stretched so they might also complain!

Massaging or rubbing the painful area or applying ice will usually help but the best strategy is to avoid doing whatever aggravates your neck and shoulder muscles in the first place.

And if you need help to get rid of the pain in the left side of your neck and shoulder most massage therapists would be happy to help.

The most common cause of back pain is under-use of muscles!

This happens when you spend too much time sitting.  We were built to move–to walk, swing from trees and all the things we don’t do much anymore.  We are supposed to use ALL of our muscles but we mostly use just SOME of them.

That makes muscles unhappy so they get knots and they complain.  Weak muscles are easily overstretched and that is a common reason for muscle pain in your back.

Poor nutrition causes muscle pain in your back.  Muscles need minerals to function well and a lot of the things we eat don’t supply all of the nutrients that used to be in (real) food.  (<–click to article.)  Worse yet, some of the things we eat actually deplete our bodies of necessary vitamins.  Yikes!

Poor posture causes back pain, too.   Poor posture is often caused by poor habits–slouching, leaning to one side, sitting with your head way forward, ‘forgetting’ to stretch.  If you have the feeling that you are curling forward it’s time to stretch.  Get your arms up and back, (<– click to article.)  squeeze your shoulder blades to your spine, lift your chin.

You may have noticed that all of the most common causes of back pain are things that can easily be fixed.  But you have to take action!

Take control of your posture and nutrition, get moving and USE your body and you can get rid of the most common causes of pain in your back. 

Sometimes pain in your back is caused simply because tight muscles in the front of your body are pulling and causing stress in your back muscles.  Sometimes the muscles in front have trigger points.  Trigger points are crabby areas of muscle that cause pain elsewhere.

By massaging, rubbing or pinching the following muscles you can help the muscles relax.  You might also be able to knock out any trigger points that are causing your back pain. 

Chest muscles can cause back pain.

This link will take you to an article with more information about stretching your chest muscles.  It even has an illustration!

http://simplepainrelief.com/2012/08/19/a-good-stretch-for-neck-and-upper-back-pain/

Rib muscles can cause back pain.

The good thing about the rib muscles in the front and sides is that you can reach them yourself to rub and massage them.  Pinch them if you can and lift them.  Roll tender areas between your fingers.

Abdominal muscles can also cause back pain.

You can also massage, pinch, lift and roll the muscles on the upper abdomen.  You want to pick up muscle, not just skin.  If you lean forward a bit it will be easier to pinch the muscles. This is much easier to do if you don’t carry too much weight in your abdomen.

When you find tender areas, those are the muscles and tissue to focus on.  Spend more time massaging tender areas than places that don’t have discomfort.

You may discover some very, very uncomfortable tissues in the front of your body.  And if you pay attention you may also find that your back feels a bit looser and more happy after you treat and relax the muscles in the front of your body.

You could also notice the next day that you feel a little tender or bruised where you were treating.  That’s a perfectly normal reaction that happens when tight tissues are manipulated.  Drinking extra water (and lots of it!) can help prevent a lot of the tenderness following ‘deep tissue massage.’

We want to have long, relaxed front muscles.  By helping the muscles in the front of your body relax you will prevent muscle strain in your back.

The little report will tell you:

• Why your muscles are complaining
• What causes knots in your back
• How to relieve them naturally with steps you can take NOW
• What trigger points are and how they cause knots
• and more.

Chris emailed me after he got the free report and this is what he said:

I have gotten rid of my knots. It’s first time I haven’t had back pain in awhile. I couldn’t have done it without your expertise! Thank you so much. ~ Chris

Imagine!  He got enough information in that report to get rid of his knots.  But I have to tell you:  It’s because he took action.

He got the report, read the report and took action.  That’s the best way to get better.

Sometimes you just need a little bit of help to get rid of knotted up muscles in your upper back.

And there are lots of articles right here at Simple Back Pain Relief, too, that will help get you on the road to understanding WHY you have muscle knots and the steps you can take to get rid of them just like Chris did.