Is Your Purse the Source of Your Pain?

I had a conversation recently with a client who realized how heavy her purse is and how much it is adding pain in her arm and shoulder.  It's a conversation I've had with many women, as well as men with their wallets.  So let me explain more in detail as this simple thing us females do everyday that gets so overlooked and could be the major source of your pain.

For many women, they carry large over-sized or overstuffed purses.  Most of them will carry this on one arm or shoulder without ever changing to the opposite side.  What seems to be an almost mindless daily activity can wreck havoc on your body without you knowing it.  If you think about it, a purse with all it's contents can weight as much as 25 lbs.  So everyday you are picking up a 25 lb weight with the same arm, same shoulder.  Then you might complain every day about that particular arm/shoulder and don't know what you are doing to make it hurt so much.  The thing is, it's we usually look for the *big* issues of what happened?  Did we fall? You can't remember what you did to cause this pain and it doesn't have to be a big thing such as a fall to have your body in pain.  Pain tells us something is wrong.

So a few solutions would be to make sure you switch your purse back and forth between the left and right sides.  Vary the sides every time you pick up your purse and switch back and forth when you are out for long periods of time.  Go through your purse and purge out contents that you really don't need...get rid of the excess weight.  Lastly, use a 'backpack' type purse, a purse that has straps to go over both shoulders for even disbursement.

For more information on Heavenly Healing Mobile Massage, please visit my website or follow me on Twitter.

Pillows for Great Body Health

Do you wake up day after day with aches and pains in your neck, back or shoulders? Have you ever considered the possibility that it could be your pillows causing this problem, or even the way your sleeping. Every day many people wake up feeling like this and don't understand why. There are ways you can help improve you bodies health during your sleeping time... use a good pillow that works for your body and your sleeping position. The spine has three natural curves to it. When you sleep you want to work with these natural curves, not against them. When you position your body against these curves that is when you get those morning aches and pains and kinks in your neck.

The best sleeping position for your body is the side. You want to use a pillow that supports your neck and head and does not position your neck towards either shoulder by being too high up or too low down. If the pillow has positioned your neck too close to either shoulder this will cause the kink or pain in your neck. Also another thing you can do for side sleeping is position a smaller pillow between your legs as this will help prevent your hips from twisting. The second best position for sleeping is your back. Again, the pillow for the back sleepers should keep your neck in-line with the spine and back and not push your head forwards towards your chest. So find a smaller pillow to support this style of sleeping then if you were the side sleeper. Another idea for back sleepers to help their bodies is to use a small towel under your hips to help the natural curve in your back, or a pillow under the knees to relieve the pressure in your lower back. The absolute worst position to sleep in is on your stomach. This position places too much pressure on your neck and the upper and lower back areas as it presses the neck into an unnatural position towards your back and undue pressure on the curve of the lower back. This can be a major cause of neck pain. So if you wake every day with these pains, maybe it's time to reposition your body and buy a new pillow.

For more information on Heavenly Healing Mobile Massage, please visit my website or follow me on Twitter.

Simple Self-Massage

Ever have that nagging pain in your shoulder that you just can't quite reach? There is an easy way to do a bit of self-massage to get into some of those areas that you just can't quite reach. What you need is either a tennis ball cut in half or a kitchen towel with a knot in it. Once you have one of these items (1/2 the tennis ball), place it on the floor. You will need to do this on the floor instead of a couch or bed as that is too soft. Lay down slowly on the ball or towel. Do not rush this as it may place too much pressure as well as it will probably hurt. When you have laid down on the ball, slowly roll your body around it. This rolling gives your body the (self) massage. Do this for one to three minutes max. Any longer then that and it will counteract the pain and will make your knot even more sore. Slowly lift your body of the ball or towel and your done. That's it. Simple self massage. :)

For more information on Heavenly Healing Mobile Massage, please visit my website or follow me on Twitter.

Shoulder Care Checklist (Part 4)

This is the final part of the four part series on the guide and care of your shoulders. I hope you have learned something great about taking care of your body!

The Shoulder Care Checklist
To prevent shoulder problems from occurring, always practice healthy shoulder habits with these helpful
ideas:

• Maintain good posture - stand with shoulders back and keep shoulders back when on the computer
• Avoid excessive and repetitive use of your shoulders
• If you sit at work, take frequent breaks and stretch
• Don’t put undue stress on the shoulders with heavy backpacks or purses
• Warm up your arms before exercising
• Consult your chiropractor, massage therapist or doctor if you injure or develop pain in your shoulder, even if it seems minor
• Do any maintenance exercises that is given to you
• Stretch shoulders frequently
• Strengthen shoulder muscles

For more information on Heavenly Healing Mobile Massage, please visit my website.

Shoulder Issues...Massage will help! (Part 3)

This is part three of a four part series on the guide and care of your shoulders.


Massage Therapy Can Help
Massage therapists can help when shoulder problems occur. More importantly, they can help prevent these kinds of problems from happening in the first place. Massage therapists can evaluate your shoulder through range of motion tests and other assessment procedures. They can then give you recommendations on the best course of treatment.

Their first priority is to make you feel more comfortable by getting rid of your pain. They can do this with specialized massage techniques. They may also use heat or hydrotherapy. To help the process along and to help prevent further problems your massage therapist can also give you exercises to help strengthen your shoulder and help maintain your mobility as well as refer you to a chiropractor for further treatment as needed. And again as the previous post, do NOT ignore your shoulder pain! The pain does not 'go away' it's more that you just get used to the pain until it gets so bad that you finally decide to get treatment.


For more information on Heavenly Healing Mobile Massage, please visit my website.

Shoulder Issues and Problems (Part 2)

This is part two of a four part series on the guide and care of your shoulders.

Shoulder Problems
The shoulder is prone to a variety of problems that can give you pain and limit your range of motion. Many of these are simply caused by wear and tear. For example, a common injury is tendinitis of one of the rotator cuff muscles called the supraspinatus. Through poor posture or overuse, the tendon becomes inflamed and painful. When the bursa becomes inflamed you develop what is known as bursitis. This can be extremely painful.

Trigger points, small knots in the muscles, are very common around the shoulder and can refer pain and tenderness into the muscles or joints. The referred pain can mimic other shoulder problems like tendinitis and frozen shoulder. Other issues such as sprains and dislocations typically result from falls. It’s a natural reaction to reach your arm out to catch yourself when falling, but the impact can strain or tear the shoulder ligaments. If the impact is severe enough, the humerus may be knocked right out of the socket and the shoulder becomes dislocated.

With a severe trauma, the bones may actually fracture or break. The collarbone is most likely to break although the humerus can sometimes break as well. When this happens the arm needs to be immobilized. Fractures can take up to three months to heal.

Whenever you have a shoulder problem, you tend to limit your movement to minimize the pain. This can lead to frozen shoulder. Your shoulder becomes stiff and you quickly lose mobility. It can soon become extremely painful to lift your arm. If you develop a frozen shoulder, it will take a long time and lots of therapy to regain your normal movement. Sometimes the only option is surgery. The best medicine in this case is prevention. As soon as you develop any pain or discomfort in your shoulder, see your chiropractor or massage therapist as soon as possible for treatment. Pretending like it doesn't hurt that much, or that the pain will go away will not make the problem better. Actually, ignoring the pain will make the problem worse. Don’t risk getting a serious and debilitating shoulder condition.

For more information on Heavenly Healing Mobile Massage, please visit my website.