Being straight and having a strong backside puts the pressure of being upright on your bones, where it belongs.  That lets your bones become strong.

And you can read about preventing osteoporosis with good posture (which you can create with the SimpleStrengthening exercises.)

I’m here to testify…

I kind of hate to admit it, but from time to time, I trip.

I had a lovely “trip” just a few days ago.  A five-point landing.  No one applauded, but I’m quite sure it was very impressive.

And, once again, I did not break any bones.

And, I am grateful.

How do I keep my bones strong and healthy?

Let me count the ways:

1.  Plenty of sunshine (creates vitamin D.)  Bones need vitamin D to absorb calcium from your food.  (D3 is the best type.)

Most people in the northern United States are deficient in Vitamin D.  This happens because you don’t get enough sunshine on your skin for one reason or another.  Your doctor can do a blood test to check if you are deficient, if you want.

A good time to get sunshine is while you are…

2.  Walking.  Walking is weight-bearing exercise.  So is being on your feet while you watch TV.

Instead of sitting, stand and do side-swaying movements or lunges or toe raises and calf stretches.  Just do something while you are on your feet rather than on your seat.

3.  A good quality multi-vitamin and mineral supplement.

4.  Lots of green, leafy vegetables (they contain calcium.)

5.  A varied diet with all kinds of wholesome foods (this means not highly processed and sold in a box.)

6.  And, always fight gravity!  Gravity is a very powerful force.  It is always trying to pull your head forward and down.  Stretching to open up and relax your chest and front muscles is a necessity.  So is strengthening the muscles on the backside of your body.

By the way, walking also strengthens your arms and upper body.

How?

When you walk, you swing your arms.  Your arms have weight.  This is weight-bearing exercise for your upper body.  The muscles in your arms pull on the bones all around your shoulders, and this makes your bones stronger.

So, that’s my secret.  This is how I keep bouncing instead of breaking.

And, one more thing.

The people who are most injured, and who take longer to recover from a fall or accident, are the ones who are most “out of balance” before the accident.

So, recovering faster and having less injury is another big benefit of being as straight, strong and flexible as you can be.  When you are learning to have a strong backside (from the back of your thighs to the back of your neck,) you will also be learning how to move your shoulder blades and your joints into neutral positions.

Your bones and muscles will be healthier and stronger, and you, too, can bounce instead of break.

(Although I hope you never trip.)

For more help, go to http://www.SimplePainRelief.com and http://www.CarpalTunnelPainReliefNow.com.

Here are a few reasons why they may not be the exercise-of-choice for you.

When you do sit-ups, it’s easy to aggravate your neck and upper back.  This can cause neck pain and or headaches.

Sit-ups strengthen the upper abdominals.  When the upper abs are tight, they can pull us into forward-head posture.  “Forward-head posture” means that when we are standing up, our head is in front of our body instead of over our shoulders.  Not good, for many reasons.

It’s easier and less potentially aggravating to strengthen your lower abdominals, instead.

This is how to get into position:  Start on your back with your knees bent and pointed toward the ceiling.  Lift, or move, your knees toward your head, so that your shins (lower legs) are perpendicular to the floor.  Now you are ready for the strengthening movement.

Note:  Your head will be resting comfortably and will never leave the floor during the movement.

This is how to do the movement:  Using only your lower ab muscles, not your legs or hips, move your knees closer to your chin.  That’s it.  Your tail bone may lift or roll slightly upward, off the floor or mat.  Go back to the position where your shins are perpendicular to the floor.  Repeat.

Isolating the lower abdominal muscles can be a very ‘interesting’ thing for a lot of people.  They want to do this move with their hip muscles.

If you place your hand on your lower abdomen, between your belly button and pubic bone (and closer to the pubic bone), those are the muscles you want to contract–make tight–when you move your knees closer to your chin.  It’s okay to practice with your hand pressed lightly there until you learn to isolate the lower ab muscles.

Do only two or three movements for the first few days.  Your newly awakened muscles may get sore from over-use if you do more.  After a few days, you may add one or two a day and gradually work up to ten movements once or twice a day.

Always pay attention to your body and move thoughtfully.

And, remember, if you work on strengthening your back side, from knees to head, those muscles will hold you straight, strong and upright and your belly won’t pouch out like it will if you have forward-head posture.

That would be very good.  For more help, go to http://www.SimplePainRelief.com

“Because You Deserve To Feel Better!”

Yes, in many ways.

Often the muscles on the tops of your shoulders, the front and the back of your neck, and your jaw get tight.

They get tight because we are out of balance, muscularly.  We can often blame this on our chairs, car seats, couches and work positions.

Sometimes we can blame it on the way we are built, when we stand a certain way to hide parts of our bodies.

All those things can add up to poor posture for us, and poor posture with our head forward definitely is a major cause of head pain and migraine headaches.

So where does exercise come in?

If we strengthen the muscles in back of our neck, shoulders, back, glutes (butt), and thighs, we can develop the good posture that we had when we were little.

When we are upright, strong and straight, with good posture, we have much less head pain.  There is less strain on our necks and heads, fewer tight muscles around our shoulders and less pain!

As a bonus, we will feel better all over.  Our whole body will function better, and we will have less pain in our back.

Here is something else to consider which affects 1 in 10 of us.  A short leg.

According to a study by the U.S. Armed Forces, 1 out of 10 of us has a short leg.  When people with a short leg of 1/8″ or more walk, it causes a rotation in our neck muscles near our head.

This rotational pulling causes migraines.

If you notice that one pant leg always needs to be hemmed, or you sense that you are rotating, get it checked out.  It’s very easy to correct by getting a special lift in the shoe of your short leg.

You’ll find lots of information right here to help you get straight and strong.

You deserve to feel better, and you can feel better.

Which step will you take first to get a strong back side?

Find more help at http://www.SimplePainRelief.com and www.CarpalTunnelPainReliefNow.com.

You will feel good when your muscles are moving in the correct ways.

You will do the movements often, because it feels good.  You will be able to feel the benefits.  Your posture will be better.  You will have fewer headaches and backaches.  You will feel more powerful.

But, for starters, if moving is a new thing for you, do this:

Start with just one movement, or repetition.  It’s better to do one perfectly than a whole bunch poorly.

It’s better to understand the movement and to do it slowly and thoughtfully.  And, if you do only one rep, you won’t get sore and stop moving.

You can do “just one” three or four times during the course of the first day or two.

Do one in bed when you wake up.  Do one during the day, during the early evening, and then at bedtime.

By the third day, you can increase the repetitions to three.  You can do three reps, three or four times each day for the next few days.

By the end of the second week, you will be able to do up to ten or twelve repetitions.  You might want to do the movements two, three or four times each day, just because it feels good, and to stay in balance.

We’re only talking about a few minutes each time.  It really doesn’t take long to learn to move correctly.  You will feel the benefits, but you will not have become sore.

Now your body is getting used to moving like it used to.  Your muscles are adjusting to the movements.

In fact, your muscles are starting to enjoy being able to move, and they like feeling more in balance!

My Simple Strengthening movements are designed to help you get back into balance, so you will feel better and function better.  These movements are so simple you can do them in bed.  You don’t need any special equipment.

You will find the whole Simple Strengthening program right here.  Just scroll down through the previous articles, and keep watching for more to come.

You do deserve to feel better!

Find more help at www.CarpalTunnelPainReliefNow.com and www.SimplePainRelief.com

Here is an example.  You may recognize this pain that lots of us experience:  The one on your back, between your spine and your shoulder blade.  If you are right-handed, it will be on your right side.

It feels like a knot, and almost feels like it is burning.  Do you know that pain?

Here is what happened.  The muscles in the front of your body, chest and arm, and probably your neck, become shorter and tighter.  This occurs because most of the time we hold our heads our arms in front of our bodies.   That makes the muscles in front become tight.

Unless you work to strengthen your back muscles, your tighter, stronger front muscles will win the body war.  They will make your body shorter in front and these shortened muscles will ”pull” on the weaker muscles in your back.

Your back muscles are getting stretched because they are not as strong as your front muscles.  Your back muscles go into a type of contraction, or spasm, to keep from being damaged by further stretching.  The stretching strains the back muscles.

You feel the contraction as pain or burning.  Your body is complaining.  It says, “Please fix me!”

So, when an area is stretched for a long time, or overstretched, the result is muscle strain.

How can you fix this?

Getting a strong back will balance your stronger front-of-body muscles.  A strong back will help you avoid muscle strain in your back.  A strong back will prevent your back muscles from being overstretched.

Strong hamstrings (the muscles on the back of your thighs) will help you avoid hamstring strain.

Strong muscles in the back of your neck will help prevent muscle strain that causes headaches.  When the muscles around the base of your skull or at the sides of your neck become strained, you can get a headache.

Strengthening the back of your neck will help you hold your head in the proper position to avoid straining those muscles.

There are Simple Strengthening Tips here to help you get a strong back side, and more to come.

It is never too late to change our bodies for the better.

Bodies sometimes just need a little assistance from us to feel better and perform better.

You can do it!

Find more help at http://www.CarpalTunnelPainReliefNow.com and http://www.SimplePainRelief.com.

Do you wonder why your head is hurting?  Do you notice that your back aches, or feels tight, at or around the same time?  Are your shoulders tight, too?

Here’s how it works, in a nutshell.  If we get out of balance – if our posture gets out of neutral – then our back will start to complain.  If we are doing some form of poor posture, like slouching, our back won’t like it.  It gets overstretched.  The muscles in our back will then get tight, or contract, to keep from becoming way too overstretched.

Since our body is all one unit, when one area is tight it will pull on other areas.  When the tight back muscles pull on our shoulders, the shoulder muscles get tight, too.  And guess where the shoulders and back muscles pull?  Why, on your neck and head, of course.

And then you have a headache.

There is a simple solution to all of this.  All you have to do is correct your posture so you don’t get back strain or headaches.

It might not sound so simple to you, but it really is!  We used to be in balance when we were toddlers, and we can get back into balance again.

Basically, all we need to do is strengthen our back muscles – the muscles on the back side of our body.  When they are strong, they are much less likely to get overstretched, and they won’t contract in retaliation.  And then, our back muscles won’t pull on our heads, and viola!

We won’t get a headache.

For more help, go to http://www.SimplePainRelief.com and http://www.CarpalTunnelPainReliefNow.com.

“Because You Deserve to Feel Better!”