Helping You Get Straight and Strong with Kathryn Merrow, The Pain Relief Coach
Posted in leg pain, pain, posture, strength on Aug 23rd, 2008
I was starting to have “crabby” knees, and decided I had to do something about it. I remembered working with a man who had severe damage to both knees. He told me he could walk without pain, even on stairs, as long as he kept the muscles around his knees strong. He did this with [...]
Posted in back ache, back pain, exercise, posture, strength on Mar 19th, 2008
Here’s an easy, simple strengthening strategy to get long, strong torso muscles. We often fall into the habit of having a weak, collapsed forward posture. This simple strengthening tip will help you get tall, straight and strong. You can do this sitting and do this on your back in bed or on the floor. Lift your arms over [...]
Posted in back pain, exercise, headaches, posture on Mar 8th, 2008
A physical therapist told me that the best way to strengthen abdominal muscles was just to “suck in your stomach and hold it,” several times. And that does work, but when we want strong and flat abdominal muscles, we often think of sit-ups. Here are a few reasons why they may not be the exercise-of-choice [...]
Posted in back ache, back pain, pain, posture on Feb 24th, 2008
If I were to ask you what causes the pain between your shoulder blades, what would you say? Would you tell me the cause was stress? Overwork? Old age? Arthritis? Or from 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 [...]
Posted in back pain, head pain, headaches, migraines, posture, strength on Jan 12th, 2008
Is it actually possible that exercise can help get rid of your migraine headaches? 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 [...]
Does your back hurt now more than it used to? Do you have back pain between your shoulder blades? Is the pain more on your dominant side? Or, is it more lower back pain and/or your neck? There are many possible causes for back pain and muscles are the usual culprit! Honest! Muscles! That’s good news, because [...]
Posted in back pain, headaches, posture, strength on Nov 26th, 2007
After you have been in your exercise or movement program for a while, knowing how many repetitions of an exercise or movement you should do will become second nature to you. 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 [...]
Posted in leg pain, pain, posture, strength on Nov 25th, 2007
Shins? Why on earth would you need to have strong shins muscles? Here’s why. 1. Strong shin muscles create balance between your strong calves and the front of your lower leg. 2. They help prevent charley-horses, or cramps, in your calves. 3. They help create balanced posture. A balanced body has less pain. 4. And, I [...]
Posted in back pain, head pain, headaches, migraines, pain, posture, strength on Nov 12th, 2007
If our muscles get out of balance – some too tense or tight, and others too loose or flacid – it is easy to have muscle strain. 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 [...]
Posted in back pain, pain, posture, strength on Nov 5th, 2007
There is a reason for your upper back pain. Most of the time we hold our shoulders in a forward position. Our head and shoulders are in front of our body during virtually all of our activities. As a result, the muscles in our back get overstretched. Then those muscles hurt and complain. They don’t like being overstretched. Strengthening [...]
