Tag Archives: Kathryn Merrow

Natural Back Pain Relief, Self Help

Your Legs Can Cause Low Back Pain

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Do you have lower back pain?  Did you know that your legs might be causing that pain?  It’s true!

I’ll give you some background and then a quick stretching tip for getting rid of the pain in your lower back:

Here’s how your body works:

The muscles in the front of your thighs and the  insides of your thighs (where they touch each other) pull on your back because they are actually attached to your pelvis and spine.  Since they are attached to your bones,  the muscles can PULL on your pelvis and spine.

Those muscles pull on your Continue reading Your Legs Can Cause Low Back Pain →

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Causes of Back Pain, Natural Back Pain Relief

Why You Must Treat The CAUSE Of Your Back Pain

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The pain in your back is a symptom.  It means something is wrong but it’s probably not the cause of your back pain.

Here’s a good analogy about getting rid of back pain that involves unlocking the door to your home.

Treating symptoms without treating the Cause of the symptoms is like trying to unlock your door by turning the key but leaving the deadbolt locked.

It just doesn’t work.

When therapy or surgery isn’t successful it is because Continue reading Why You Must Treat The CAUSE Of Your Back Pain →

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Natural Back Pain Relief, Self Help

Does Yoga Help Get Rid Of Back Pain Naturally?

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Can yoga exercises get rid of your back pain?

Last week two different people wrote to tell me how much difference yoga made in their pain.  And did you know there are yoga classes specifically for people with back pain?

The really good thing about the practice of yoga movements is Continue reading Does Yoga Help Get Rid Of Back Pain Naturally? →

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Natural Back Pain Relief, Self Help

Inversion Tables – Does Inversion Get Rid Of Back Pain?

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Have you been wondering about using an inversion table to help get rid of back pain naturally?  Or how inversion tables work?

Here’s some helpful info:

Inversion tables DO help get rid of back pain.  They create a little more space between your spinal bones.  Stretching two or three times a day for at least a few minutes reduces the pressure of gravity.

That’s the whole thing:  Gravity.

It keeps us from floating off into space but it also squashes us down.

Gravity can cause pain unless we do things to counteract it.  Inversion is one of those things.

Some of the older style inversion tables have Continue reading Inversion Tables – Does Inversion Get Rid Of Back Pain? →

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Lower Back Pain

Does Your Mattress Cause Morning Low Back Pain?

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Do you wake up with pain and stiffness in your lower back?  I did, too.  But I was only 30 years old at the time!

I thought it was me but when I got a new mattress, like magic, I was ‘cured.’

Sometimes your mattress is too soft for you.  If it’s more like a hammock, that’s too soft and your muscles can be strained when you lay in the deep pocket.

If your mattress is too hard, it doesn’t Continue reading Does Your Mattress Cause Morning Low Back Pain? →

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Upper Back Pain

What Causes Upper Back Pain In The Morning

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You woke up with pain in your upper back.  It may feel like a knot or a muscle spasm.  You aren’t happy.

Muscle knots in upper back
You can get rid of miserable muscle ‘knots’ in your upper back naturally!

Isn’t it truly amazing that we can hurt ourselves in our sleep?  I think so.

Sometimes it’s from something you did the previous day but maybe you just slept “crooked.”

Maybe you laid too long with an arm out in front as you slept on your side and that strained the muscle.

Or perhaps you slept with your neck tilted to one side or the other and that caused an unhappy scalene muscle in your neck. If a muscle  gets unhappy it can develop trigger points.

Trigger points are hyper-irritable places in muscles that refer pain elsewhere.

Trigger points in the scalene muscle can cause a knot or muscle pain in your upper back.  In fact, they do it all the time.

Sometimes this pain in your upper back could be Continue reading What Causes Upper Back Pain In The Morning →

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Self Help, Upper Back Pain

Using A Tennis Ball To Reduce Upper Back Muscle Pain

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Muscle “knots” in your upper back can go away.  In fact, you can get rid of your upper back muscle pain naturally!

Here’s a conversation I had with a reader who woke up with muscle pain in his upper back and neck.

The morning I woke up with the pain, It was literally unbearable. It faded (Over a month) into discomfort, then almost gone (without me doing anything). The pain seemed reminiscent of a muscle tear or muscle strain. It would come back as mild discomfort if Continue reading Using A Tennis Ball To Reduce Upper Back Muscle Pain →

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Natural Back Pain Relief, Self Help

You Have A Really Strong Back That Can Heal Naturally

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You have a really, really strong back. Really, you do!

But, sometimes when something happens, like a spasm or a “catch”, you might start to think that your back is frail or fragile. You might think you have to “baby” your back.

When we start to baby our back, or move tentatively, we are setting ourselves up for injury. We start to move stiffly instead of smoothly. And, we are more likely to Continue reading You Have A Really Strong Back That Can Heal Naturally →

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Causes of Back Pain, Self Help

You Will NOT Have Back Pain Forever

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When your back hurts you might think you will have back pain forever.  But that’s not usually true!

You have a smart body.  Your back pain is a message.  Your body is telling you that it is not happy about something that is happening.

There are a lot of causes for back pain but most involve your muscles.

Muscles are the most commonly overlooked cause of pain.

Muscles move joints, bones, disks in your spine and press on nerves.

Muscles rule!  🙂

Here’s a back pain healing story:

Sharon said, “My mom’s been Continue reading You Will NOT Have Back Pain Forever →

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Lower Back Pain, Self Help

Simple Way To Relieve Lower Back Pain – Part Two

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Lower back pain?  Last time we talked about a simple method to relieve your low back pain.  Here’s Part Two.

The last lower back pain relief article ( <–click here to read) said to lay on the floor with your legs at 90 degree angles at the hip and knee. Both calves were supported on a chair seat or similar piece of furniture.

Please click on the link and read everything before you go on. Thank you!

Here is the Continue reading Simple Way To Relieve Lower Back Pain – Part Two →

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