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 muscles can be fixed.
When your back muscles get overstretched, they will complain and cause back pain.
So, how do muscles get overstretched?
For your upper back it is usually from reaching forward, or working with hands in front of you a great deal of time, especially with your dominant hand. For example, most hairdressers use one hand more than the other, and the side they use most can get pain, unless…
They take the time to strengthen their back, and to do periodic stretches to lengthen the muscles which have become short in front of the arm and chest. (The front muscles become short due to the arm being held in front of the body for so long.)
If you work with both hands in front (reaching or stretching) for long periods, your whole upper back can get overstretched and be uncomfortable.
So, how do the muscles in your low back become overstretched?
If you lose the nice low curve you used to have in your back, pain comes as a complaint. Your muscles are telling you they are not happy, they are out of balance, they want to be back in neutral.
How did you lose the low back curve? Mostly, it is from the way we sit and sometimes how we stand.
Our couches, car seats and desk chairs don’t serve our muscles well. They let us slouch. They often don’t fit us. Instead of looking for a better fitting seat, we allow our backs to round in the opposite direction of where we ought to be, of where we used to be, unless…
We strengthen our large gluteal muscles – our butt muscles – which are very powerful, and our hamstrings in the back of our thighs, and our backs. Doing this will help bring the curve back into our low back, and help reduce our pain.
Strengthening your back side will help you stand and sit straighter. That will cause less pull on your muscles, and so less pain.
How does your neck get overstretched? Sometimes it is as simple as lying wrong in bed, or having your head turned in one direction for a long time, or any of the rotten things we do to our necks when we are slouching on a chair or straining to see a computer screen or game or driving.
Your neck will have a hard time staying in neutral, with its own nice small curve, if you have lost the curve in your low back. Those curves are related.
What goes on in the low back, goes on in the neck, and vice versa.
Sometimes we just want to feel better…NOW! That would be great, but…
It takes time. It takes time for bodies to heal, but they do. You know they do. If you get a little cut, you keep it clean, and covered, and keep germs and dirt out, and it heals.
Muscles are bigger than a little cut. They take longer to “heal” and get corrected. A cut happens in an instant. Muscle pain usually took a long time, a lot of overuse or abuse, until it started. It will take longer to get rid of, but it can be done!
You can start getting a stronger back side by following the steps that I share with you here, or you can use another program if you prefer.
The important thing is that you start doing what needs to be done to feel better.
Why?
“Because You Deserve To Feel Better.”
