Category Archives: Lower Back Pain

Lower Back Pain, Self Help

Intense Pain in Lower Back and Legs–Natural Pain Relief

Leave a comment

Cool message I just got from a man who was complaining about intense lower back and leg pain just a few days ago:

“God Bless You Kathryn Merrow. 90% better already. I was in pain for 2 months and you solved it in one night. 2 visits to the ER, sonograms on my legs, and still the “Doctors” couldn’t solve it.
A blanket under one cushion, some flexing and a little massaging was all it took. I’m simply AMAZED. Thank You, Thank You,Thank You. I say 90% because I’m still a little sore but all is well. I can sleep again.  ” – Jimmy

Look at his words. He went to the Emergency Room in desperation. They gave him some serious-sounding potential diagnoses.

The important thing to know is that I didn’t see him in person! But I listened well and he asked one good key question that gave me more insight. I explained what was happening and how to correct it. He listened and followed the suggestions I gave to him. He makes it sound easy and, basically, it was. Just had to understand what was going on to cause his pain and steps to make it better.

He asked me how long it would take until he started to feel better. I told him within several days but it was just a few. 

Because bodies are logical (almost everyone has the same symptoms for similar reasons) they can heal when you just understand what’s happening and what to do to fix it.

I don’t know everything and I’m not a doctor but, as a manual therapist who specializes in pain relief from symptoms based on soft-tissue dysfunctions, I’m a pretty good “assessor.”

And, I’m available for long-distance consultations for a reasonable hourly fee. 

I always want to say, “just easy monthly payments,” but sometimes one consultation is all it takes.

 

Share
Lower Back Pain

What Causes Bulging Disks In Your Lower Back?

2 Comments

What causes bulging disks in your lower back?

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 and by things that we just do.

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.

Muscles attach to bones.  Muscles move bones and disks.

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.  The movements of yoga make 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.  Movement is a way to do-it-yourself.

But can a ruptured disk heal naturally?

My understanding is that often after a period of time the Continue reading What Causes Bulging Disks In Your Lower Back? →

Share
Causes of Back Pain, Lower Back Pain, Natural Back Pain Relief

What Causes A Wide Band of Pain In Your Back

6 Comments

Do you have pain in the middle of your back?  Does it feel kind of like a wide band of pain below your shoulder blades?

Or do you have a wide band of pain across your lower back?

Wide Band Of Pain In Your Back

You know how I’m always telling you that muscles are the largest cause of pain?  Well, this may come as a surprise.  It’s still muscles but if your pain pattern looks like the red areas in this picture, the muscle to blame is in the front of your body!

The abdominal muscles right next to the midline of your body (rectus abdominis) can cause referred pain into your back.  This happens when the muscle develops trigger points.  Trigger points cause referred pain.

Sometimes only one side of the rectus abdominis has a trigger point but it still causes pain on both sides of the back.

How can you get rid of the trigger points that cause your back pain?

You could have someone rub on your back until the cows come home but it won’t help if your back pain is caused by muscles in front of your body.  You have to relax the trigger points in that abdominal muscle to relieve your back pain.

See the X‘s on the abdominal muscle?  Those indicate the locations of trigger points.  Those are the areas to treat.

The easiest way to treat those Continue reading What Causes A Wide Band of Pain In Your Back →

Share
Lower Back Pain, Sciatica

Poor Posture Is A Common Cause Of Lower Back Pain

Leave a comment

Are you suspicious that your poor posture or slouching might be causing your lower back pain?

You may be right!

Your spine is supposed to be shaped like this skeleton on the left.

Do you see the nice curves?

That’s how your spine is supposed to look.

But if you sit on your tailbone–if you are a ‘sacrum sitter’–instead of sitting flat on your ‘sit bones’, then you are almost guaranteed to have low back pain.   Probably upper back, neck or head pain, too.

Now look at the skeleton below. 

She has lost the curve in the lower back. This person is quite likely a sacrum sitter–she slouches and slumps instead of sitting on the sit bones.

When you were a little child you could get away with variations of posture.  That’s because children use all of their muscles all of the time.  Their muscles are balanced. 🙂

But when we grow up most people only use some of their muscles, some of the time.  You got out of muscular balance. 🙁

But that’s okay because bodies heal all the time.  Bodies are capable of changing.

Do you have to take action?  You surely do; there is no way around it.

But you can do it!  There is a lot of good information here at Simple Back Pain Relief to help you learn how to correct your posture and stop Continue reading Poor Posture Is A Common Cause Of Lower Back Pain →

Share
Lower Back Pain

What’s the Most Common Cause of Lower Back Pain?

Leave a comment

Do you know the most common cause of pain in your low back?   Pain in your lower back is almost always caused by muscles.

Here’s what muscles do:

Muscles move bones, joints and disks in your spine.  Bones, joints and disks cannot move unless muscles move them.

Muscles are the prime movers of your body!  You can only move because you have muscles.

But sometimes your muscles get out of balance–that means they are too strong on one side of your body and too weak on the other side.

That’s a problem.  It causes back pain as well as head and neck pain.

Well, it’s not their fault.  They wouldn’t be unhappy and complaining if we did everything perfectly in all of our movements.

But we don’t.  🙁   But we can change. 🙂  Here’s how:

We can add movements that balance our muscles better.  We can use ALL of our muscles instead of the same old ones over and over.  That causes low back pain.

But using All of your muscles will Continue reading What’s the Most Common Cause of Lower Back Pain? →

Share
Causes of Back Pain, Lower Back Pain, Self Help

Lower Back Muscle Pain Can Be Cured Naturally

Leave a comment

Did you know that pain in your lower back is almost always caused by muscles.  Why is this?

Well, muscles move the bones, joints and disks in your spine.  Muscles are the prime movers of your body!  You can only move because you have muscles.

Yay, muscles!!  🙂

On the other hand, when your muscles get out of balance–too strong on one side of your body and too weak on the other then we don’t say, “Yay, muscles!”

We say, “Ouch!”

Dang muscles.  🙁

Well, it’s not their fault.  They wouldn’t be unhappy and complaining if you did everything perfectly in all of your movements.

But you don’t.  🙁

But you can change. 🙂  Here’s how:

You can add movements that balance your low back muscles better.  You can Continue reading Lower Back Muscle Pain Can Be Cured Naturally →

Share
Lower Back Pain, Self Help

Can Your Leg Length Can Cause Lower Back Pain?

Leave a comment

Do legs cause low back pain?

Legs do cause low back pain when one leg 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 Continue reading Can Your Leg Length Can Cause Lower Back Pain? →

Share
Lower Back Pain, Natural Back Pain Relief

Lower Back Pain and Massage Therapy

Leave a comment

Got pain in your lower back?  Want to know how to get rid of it? |

Therapeutic massage could be the ‘magic pill’ that you are seeking to get rid of that low back pain!

Here’s why your lower back aches:

There are muscles on the front and back sides of your body and on the outer sides of your spine.  If any of those muscles get out of balance–some tight and some weaker–you can have lower back pain.

Those muscle can get out of balance from lifting with a rounded back, twisting and tilting while lifting, having a leg length difference, or something as simple as always sitting or sleeping in the same position.

How can a massage therapist help?

If you go to a massage therapist who only rubs your back, that Continue reading Lower Back Pain and Massage Therapy →

Share
Causes of Back Pain, Lower Back Pain, Natural Back Pain Relief

A Common Cause of Low Back Pain

1 Comment

What’s the most common cause of lower back pain?  Well, there are actually TWO common causes.

Cause #1:  Not enough curve in the lower back caused by collapsed or slouching posture.  We are supposed to have a nice, easy curve behind your waist that goes toward your tummy.  When we collapse forward, we lose that nice curve.  You get a ‘flat back’ and a ‘forward head.’

Cause #2.  Too much curve in the lower back.  That happens Continue reading A Common Cause of Low Back Pain →

Share
Lower Back Pain, Natural Back Pain Relief, Sciatica

How To Massage Gluteal Muscles For Back Pain Relief

4 Comments

Your gluteal muscles (your powerful buttock muscles) can cause pain in your hips, sacroiliac joints, your legs, lower back and feet.

You can massage your own gluteals (or glutes, for short) and it’s pretty easy.

A tennis ball or similar ball that is quite firm is a good tool you can use.  This ball will cause pressure on the muscles and that will cause them to relax.  Directions are below.

You could also use something larger like a small piece of carpet rolled into a tight tube, oh, maybe 2 feet long.  Or, you can make your own “tennis ball” by rolling a face cloth into a relatively round ball shape and tying it with rubber bands.

Here’s how to use your pain-relieving pressure tool:

You will lie on the firm carpet roll or ball.  Yes, it is as simple as that. 🙂

Lay on your back (preferably on the floor–if you lay on the bed, a lot of the ball gets lost in the mattress but if you have to be on the bed, then look for a larger firm ball) and place the tube or ball in the center of your glute on one side.

Look for the most uncomfortable place on your glute and place it there or roll onto it.  Just move thoughtfully around until you find the place that hurts most and leave it on the ball.  (You’re aiming for soft tissue/muscle.  You don’t want to press on bones although sometimes really tight gluteal muscles might make you think of bones.)

And then just lay there.  No moving is necessary.

Let gravity work for you.

In about 5 minutes, you will notice that you really don’t feel the ball much anymore in that spot.  That means your gluteal muscles are relaxing.  So move a little bit to find the Continue reading How To Massage Gluteal Muscles For Back Pain Relief →

Share