Ask yourself...and maybe even write down the cause(s) of your pain.
I've learned a lot about my own neck pain (and other physical pain) over the past three years and what I've learned is vastly different from what I originally thought. You can read in my post "My story...Your story?" all about the pain in the neck I was experiencing and my path to healing.
What people have told me about their pain:
- It's hereditary, my dad/mom/grandparent always had issues with _________
- I have osteoarthritis
- My bed and pillows are bad
- My work station is awful
what i've learned about pain & posture:
- Our posture has far more to do with our pain than anything listed above
- Is your head in a forward position or does your ear line up over your shoulder?
- Are your shoulders rounded forward from sitting at a computer or driving all day?
- Mis-alignment of joints, caused by compensating or dysfunctional muscles, causes pain
- Posture is hereditary based on doing what you saw & learned (walk with feet out or bent stance) far more often than being born with poor posture. Just look at baby pictures of yourself when you first learned to stand or walk and note the position of your feet, shoulders, head and hands...my guess is that you had pretty good posture at one point
- Pete Egoscue says, form follows function, meaning that what you see, looking at your posture is a result of what is or isn't happening correctly from the inside out
- Pete also says your bones do what your muscles tell them to do, so for the person with osteoarthritis...we have great news! Fix the muscular compensations and dysfunctions and see your osteoarthritis dissipate.
- Katy Bowman, who holds a Masters in Biomechanics & whose writings I have recently started studying says "osteoarthritis is not a disease (like rheumatoid arthritis), but is damage caused by user induced friction of the joint"...in other-words, the way we (users) move (friction) due to compensation and dysfunction has caused the joint damage and can be reversed by reducing or eliminating the friction on the joint
- Reduce friction on your joints by retraining your muscles to work as they were originally designed to work through gentle corrective exercises (a few freebies below!)
- Right shoes (sadly those without any heel) are helpful in regaining right posture and reducing pain throughout the body...with that said, I still wear heels, just not daily!
- A family friend recently said Motion is Lotion and I agree...as long as it is correct motion!
A few exercises to help re-introduce correct motion:
- Lie on your back with your legs pointed straight up and against the wall, upper body relaxed with arms out to sides at about 45 degrees and palms facing up
- When getting into this position, get your hips as close as possible to the wall, so once you are in position your butt is also as close as possible to the wall
- If your hips are lifting off the floor then scoot your butt back until you are able to place your hips flat. As you get more functional, your hips will sit closer to the wall and be flat on the floor at the same time
- In this position tighten your thighs and pull your toes down and back toward you
- Your feet must be pointed straight for your hips to properly do the needed work to stabilize your spine
- Hold as directed on your menu
- Be sure to keep your toes pulled back and thighs tight
- Lie on your back with your arms at your side, palms up, and hands relaxed
- Place the soles of your feet together
- Center your feet along the mid-line of your body and let your knees relax down to the sides
- Relax
- Do not press your knees/ legs to the ground. Just let gravity pull them down
Do you feel better?
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me! Come in for a free postural evaluation and let’s find out what the root of your problem is and get you on the road to recovery!