Joint pain, too?  Yes.  Often we think it’s the joint when it’s actually muscle pain.  So these three ways will help your joints feel better, also.

If you don’t move enough–too little–your leg muscles will start to get weak and unhappy.  They won’t be able to support and move you.

If you move too much there is a good chance that you are only using some of your muscles too much.  If you do the same movements over and over without making sure that all of the muscles in your legs are being strengthened, that makes your leg muscles ‘out of balance’ and they start causing pain.

1.  Start using ALL of the muscles of your legs.  The easiest way I know to do this is to walk.  (Click here ->> to get my free walking report.)  The next easiest way is to exercise in water.  Water acts as resistance and helps strengthen your leg muscles.  Do scissors kicks and regular kicks and even just bob.  Whatever you can do will help strengthen your legs and that is what will help get rid of your muscle pain.

2.  Have a massage.  A skilled massage therapist can relax the muscles from your feet to your lower back.  He or she can knead the muscles that are ‘too tight’ to help them relax and help tone the muscles that are a bit too weak.  You may be surprised to discover that your gluteal muscles–your buttocks–have a lot of tender places.  Those tender areas can cause aches and pains in your legs.

3.  Be sure you are eating a healthy, balanced diet.  Your muscles need lots of nutrients–minerals, specifically–to function their best.  Calcium, magnesium and potassium are three minerals that help muscles feel better.  Taking a good multi-vitamin-mineral supplement can help you get rid of the joint and muscle pain in your legs.

They are trying to tell you something.

They are saying, “Help!  I’m not happy!  You are straining me!  Stop it!”

But what do we often do?

>  Take a couple of pills to hopefully relieve the discomfort in your back.  But that doesn’t really cure the back pain; just helps cover it up, maybe.

>  Use heat.  Oh, not good!  Why?

Because heat helps those poor overstretched muscles relax and get even more stretched.  And even more unhappy.

There are lots of articles at http://SimpleBackPainRelief.com to help you get rid of all types of back pain.

And you will find lots of articles right here at SimpleStrengthening.com to help you get rid of your aching back by doing gentle movements to strengthen your back muscles.  When they are strong, your back muscles are less likely to be stretched too far.

If your mother ever told you to ‘watch your posture’ or ‘straighten up’ she was right!    A strong back will help you do that.

And that means…your crabby overstretched muscles will be less likely to give you a back ache.

Your hamstrings aren’t the problem.

Almost always, the problem is that your quadricep muscles in the front of your thigh are too tight.  They are stronger than your hamstrings.

Your ‘tight hamstrings’ are just a symptom.

The muscles in the front of your body are generally about 30% stronger than the muscles in the back.  It’s easy for the bulky front muscles to over-power the back muscles.  That explains lots of back and neck pain, too.

The reason the muscles in the back of your thigh feel tight is because your hamstrings are in a specialized type of contraction.  They are in eccentric contraction.

An eccentric contraction happens when a muscle is being stretched more than it likes.  It responds by contracting but it cannot relax like a regular contraction (concentric contraction) can.

Imagine this:

You are pulling on one end of a rope.  Your friend is pulling on the other end.  There is a knot in the middle of the rope.

Can that knot be un-knotted while you are both pulling on the rope?

Nope.

You have to let go of at least one of the ends so the rope can be un-knotted.  Same thing with ‘tight’ hamstrings.

You have to relax the muscles in front (the quads) that are causing the hamstrings to go into an eccentric contraction and feel tight.

Here’s how it works:

The stronger quadriceps are attached to your pelvic bones.  They pull on your pelvis.  That pulls your pelvis into a more forward, downward-tilting position.  And THAT is what causes your hamstrings to be stretched and unhappy.

The interaction of the leg muscles with the pelvis can cause back and neck pain, too, because it’s all attached.  You can find lots of self-help articles from me for that at http://SimpleBackPainRelief.com

What’s the answer?

Stretch your quads.  Make them a little longer.  A massage therapist can help relax them, too.  Then they will pull less on your pelvis and that will take the strain off your hamstring muscles.

Why does a strong back equal strong bones?

Here’s how it works:

When your bones are all stacked up the way they are supposed to be they support the weight of your body and head.  Supporting you is what makes bones strong.

Their job is to support you.  And the job of your muscles is to help you move.

But when your back muscles are weak you collapse forward.  Your head moves in front of your body and your shoulders will roll forward.  Your back will complain.

When you are in that position your bones are not stacked up properly.  They are not getting the work out they need because they are not doing the job of supporting you.  So your bones get weak.

And your poor muscles?  They are acting as bones to hold you up but that is not their job!

When you strengthen your back it will stop complaining AND your bones will be supporting you again.  They will get stronger and you will stay healthier longer.

There are lots of articles right here at SimpleStrengthening.com that will help you get a strong back and keep your bones strong.

If you have access to a swimming pool or other safe body of water, here’s an idea:

Get into the water and move.

If you don’t swim (I don’t) then wear a grown-up floatie (I do.)  That way you can go into the deeper water and move your legs in all different directions.

Or hold onto the edge of the pool and kick your legs as though you are swimming.  Let your knees bend slightly.

Try it with your feet flopping like a fish or hold them bent.  See what works best for you.

You might hear some clunking or cracking–that’s your bones moving back into their correct location (where they used to be.)  Or maybe it’s ligaments and tendons getting used to moving again.

How long will it take until your knees start to feel better?

Well, it took a while for them to get unhappy but I’ll bet you will start to feel benefit in just a couple of weeks of daily pool movements.

That might sound like a long time but what’s the alternative?  Drugs don’t cure pain; they mask it.  Surgery?  Sometimes it’s necessary but sometimes you can be your own natural surgeon by getting your muscles back into balance. 

Why did you get the pain in your knees in the first place?

We have over 600 muscles and they like to be used.  (That’s why we have them.)  Sometimes our muscles get ‘out of balance.’  We use some but not others.  Then they start to cause pain in the joints that the muscles cross over.

Sometimes we actually have joint pain but most often the pain we feel is from the muscles.

I knew an attorney who had no cushioning left in his knees from a couple of different accidents.  But as long as he did exercises to keep his leg muscles (especially the thighs) strong, he had no problems even walking on the stairs.

Sometimes people say it hurts too much to move but when you are in the water it’s much easier.  The water supports you.  It massages you.

Don’t like the water or want to get wet?  Here’s the link to another article that can help you get happier knees:

http://www.simplestrengthening.com/2009/01/10/get-strong-legs-on-your-stairs-how-to-use-your-legs-walking-on-stairs/

So, to wrap it up, I’m not a doctor but a swimming pool or lake can be a wonderful, natural tool to help you get rid of your knee pain naturally.

When your back muscles and abdominal muscles (your ‘core’) are not strong enough to hold you up, you end up with forward head posture–collapsed posture.  That creates the posture of  ‘old age.’

You see, a lot of the problems of old age are caused by losing the fight to gravity.  Gravity wins.  Boo!

Bodies like to have long, strong muscles.  Not short, tight–long, strong is what they like.

Here are a couple of easy ways to strengthen your core muscles in a way that will help them be long and strong:

1.  Lay on your back.  Place your arms up and back so you feel long.  Now squeeze your belly button to your spine and hold the squeeze.

You can do this same movement while sitting on a flat chair and squeezing your belly button to your spine while reaching for the ceiling.

2.  During the work day, sit up in a chair.  Lift the crown of your head toward the ceiling.  Feel how that lengthened your whole sitting posture?  Again, hold in your stomach muscles.

You can do these movements 4 or 5 times each day.  As your muscles get stronger, it will get easier and you can do them even more often.

It may feel a little strange at first but soon you notice your body saying:  “Hey, that feels good!  Let’s do it again!”

It’s really is that easy to get strong abdominal muscles and feel better all over.

Just squeeze your shoulder blades together.  S Q U E E Z E  them to your spine and hold them there for a few seconds.  Repeat 3 times.

Do this only 3 times a day for the first few days or your muscles will ache from overwork.  You have to adapt to new movements gradually.  After a few days, you can start increasing the amount of shoulder blade squeezes by a couple a day.

You can do this when you are sitting, standing or laying in bed on your back.  Or all three ways! 

Please watch the positioning of your head when you do this move.  The reason I like doing this on a flat surface is because your head is in a fairly neutral muscular position.

When you are standing or sitting, some people want to move their head forward.  That strains neck and upper back muscles.

Squeezing your shoulder blades toward your spine will strengthen all of the muscles in that area of your back and will help improve your posture and your comfort, too.

And, if you suffer with muscle knots in your upper back, I’d like to invite you to go to http://KnotsInYourBack.com and pick up a free report about the causes of those miserable knots.

By letting the shoe do the motion rather than the joints in your feet, you are not using your foot and leg muscles fully.

Here’s an article about this very thing from my friend, Dr. Brian Rothbart.

click here –>  The Truth About Rocker Shoes

You DO want strong legs.  They will help with balance and they will help keep you young.

You can easily strengthen the fronts of your lower legs simply by lifting your toes or your feet toward the front of your knee.

Your calf muscles, though, should be long and soft rather than short and tight.  They tend to need stretching and lifting your toes (as described in the previous paragraph) will stretch your calves at the same time.

So, what’s the answer to rocker shoes?  Just say,  “No thanks.  I’ll use my own muscles.”

I learned this from a physical therapist.  The easiest way to strengthen your abdominals is not to do crunches or sit ups.

I don’t like crunches or sit ups for a few different reasons and sometimes they can actually cause back pain.

The easiest way is to simply pull in your stomach!

And did you know that you can pull in the lower abdominals or the upper abdominals?  Or all of your stomach muscles?

And if you pay attention, you can even contract the muscles that run on the sides of your belly.

You see, you have layers of muscle that run lengthwise, sideways and also cross-ways on your abdomen.

If you have forgotten how to pull or suck in your belly, the easiest way to remember is to lay on your back.  That way gravity can help a bit.  And then just “pull” or move your tummy toward your spine.

You might even feel the muscles getting tired from this simple movement.  That’s okay.

Muscles like to move!   That’s their job.

And since you want muscles that are both long and strong, while you are holding in your stomach muscles, stretch.  Lift your arms over your head or lift your breastbone.

This will help make your abdominal muscles long and strong.  Long, strong stomach muscles will help you look better and feel better, too.

When you get beyond that point or if you want to get seriously stronger and really work your muscles, Eric from Ground Up Strength is the guy to go to.

Learn more about Eric and pick up his free reports about strength training at the following page:

http://www.simplestrengthening.com/strength-training/