Big Toe Pain

Yesterday I had an interesting (??) thing happen to me. My feet had been absolutely fine all day, I did my normal walking in the morning and had no problem. Then suddenly the bone at the base of my left big toe felt like it was hit with a hammer! I couldn’t put any pressure on it at all and bending my toe was out of the question.

This could be a really serious problem if you’re a runner and you’re going at full-clip, and I was really happy it hadn’t happened when I was miles away from home this morning. The bone hurt so badly that my leg almost collapsed. This was a new pain for me and it took a bit of detective work to find the spasms that caused the problem. Plus, it came on so suddenly I realized that it was actually a cramp in the muscle fibers — it was just figuring out which muscle fibers!

I slid my two pointer fingers from to tip of both big toes down over the joint and sure enough, the bone on my left foot was raised, like it had popped out of joint. And the bone hurt like crazy! I was afraid that I had a bone bruise and I’m sure glad that wasn’t the case. I once had a bone bruise on my heel that took a full year to resolve.

I started to explore the muscles that have any impact on that bone/joint and sure enough I found serious spasms in the tiny muscles that are between the metatarsal (long bone of the foot) that attaches to the big toe, and I also found a painful spasm on my arch, almost directly on the opposite side of the one between my metatarsals. Ouch!

I held my fingertip on each of the spasms for as long as I could, it hurt so much that I couldn’t hold it for a long time, and then let go and tried to move my big toe up and down. It hurt, but it was moving a bit. So I kept going back and forth – pressure for a few minutes, then bend my toe up and down. The downward movement was the most painful so I knew that the muscle on the top of my foot (between the metatarsals) was the initial cause of the problem.

It took a good half-hour of back and forth before I could walk normally. There was a little discomfort, but not really pain. I kept at it, although not to the intensity of when I first started, and this morning I didn’t have any pain at all.

I hadn’t thought after all these years of treating spasms that there was anything new that could be found – and I was wrong. I hope it never happens to you, but if it does you now know what to do and how to do it.

Moving right along!

Wishing you well,
Julie

Exciting News!

Hi,

I just can’t keep this secret any longer! My life-long goal was always to make the world a better place because I lived. That goal was realized in an unusual way, and was the catalyst to starting my career as a massage therapist, when by just rubbing his back I had been able to help a sailing-friend who was living with severe back pain.

I didn’t have any idea about what to do to help Adam, but when he collapsed on the ground and was barely able to breathe due to the pain, I just started to rub his back where it hurt. I found little “bumps” and when I’d touch them he would jump and groan. I knew I’d found something – I just didn’t know what to do about it. So, I kept my fingers there just so I wouldn’t lose the spot until I could figure out how to release that knot of pain. Well, it would just melt under my fingertips…and I actually got annoyed that it was gone and I hadn’t figured out how to help. Then I found another “bump.” Same process…hold it while I figured out what to do with it, and it just melted. Again I got annoyed because how was I to help him when they just kept going away?! Obviously I wasn’t Sherlock Holmes .

After doing this 3-4 times it finally dawned on me…just keep my fingers on it and the bump (I later learned it was a spasm) would melt. Hooray! He was thrilled, he’d gotten some relief. In fact, each week when our team would go sailing it became my job to work on Adam’s back when we got back to the yacht club — and as payment I could order whatever I wanted from the dinner menu. Not a bad deal!

Eventually I started thinking that people would pay to get out of pain, except I didn’t know what to call what I was doing to help Adam so how could I possibly advertise it? Someone said it might be called massage, but it sure didn’t resemble the massages I’d seen on TV and the movies. I wasn’t using oil, I wasn’t sliding on Adam’s back, and he was fully dressed. Oh well! I checked around and found out that it did fit into the world of massage. So, I went to school (The Swedish Institute in NYC) and was educated in the muscles and how to release tension and eliminate spasms.

I found that I didn’t like oil massages and I wanted to specialize in the treatment of chronic pain and sports injuries. This led me on a path of learning from some amazing experts, and even more, creating my own techniques. Years passed and my own injuries caused me to develop all of the self-treatments that I now teach via my books, DVDs, and the clinics I teach to anyone who will listen.

Now, for a sneak-preview of the secret that I’m bursting to share. This has gone on for 25 years and I decided that I may not live forever (I’m working on that one) so it’s important for me to teach as many people as I can. I’ve started to train massage therapists, physical therapists, and fitness trainers. I’ve worked with people from every area of the world — USA, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, Australia, New Zealand…you name it, I’ve taught someone from that country. It’s been exciting and I then decided that I wanted to have a more personal interaction with the people I’ve been teaching how to self-treat. With that in mind I went on a quest to learn how I can do that. And I found the answer!

I’m working on building a Member’s Only website! It started out pretty simple, people would get access to working with me for just $10 a month. I found that I don’t have a lot of time to answer questions for free (everyone has bills to pay and my time was getting really limited), but I hated the idea of not helping people when they were suffering. The new Member’s Only website will give people the ability to post on the forum that is already on my current website as often as they’d like during their membership period. Plus each level of membership will receive a copy of one or more of my books. The higher levels will receive either an email consultation, or Skype/telephone consultation, or both, and I’ve been arranging with some amazing experts in the fields of fitness and nutrition who will have specific days each month where they will teach (via video clips and/or text) hints on their topic.

Today I spent an hour talking to the man who is going to be the running coach. His name is still a secret right now, but I’ve seen the work he’s done with people he’s coaching — via Skype and email! His work is international and is fantastic. If you’re a runner you’re going to love working with him.

As we proceed I’ll be sharing all of the exciting news with you – I’m busting at the bit to tell you all about it, but until it’s all ready to start, I can’t :-(

Meanwhile, to get things set-up, please post on the still-free forum any problems you’re having and I’ll post my suggestions. I’ll be taking those messages as the topics I’m starting with as the member site is put together.

You’ll also be seeing me traveling a lot more, teaching self-treatment clinics in towns across the USA. I hope to ultimately expand that to other parts of the world, and with some of these incredible experts I’ve gathered for the Member’s Only site, that’s a distinct possibility.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Have a great day,
Julie

Happy For No Reason

Hi,

I called this blog Pain-Free Living because my work with thousands of people who were suffering from the aches and pains that are caused by tight muscles. As time went along I realized that when I worked with so many of my clients we had expanded our relationship to discussing the aches and pains that happen because of life experiences. We’d talk about marriages, kids, finances, unhappy jobs, and lots of other things. In fact, one client once said to me…”I’ve come to realize I don’t come here just to have my shoulder treated…I come here because you help me get my head screwed on straight!” I said to him “wonderful, I charge $80 for shoulders, I charge $100 for heads ” So each week he’d bring me a cupcake, or flowers, or something lovely to “pay” for helping him with his head.

Having said that, I decided to expand this blog to include things such as nutrition and stretching, and today I want to share something that was so important to me that it brought me to tears for having found it…tears of happiness.

I was driving from FL to NY and I always bring books on CD to listen to as I travel. One of the many audio books I brought with me is by Marci Shimoff. The title is Happy For No Reason and it includes PDF files with questionnaires to help you evaluate where you stand, and lots of other files to assist you in moving to higher and higher levels of happiness. We have all had reasons for happiness…being in love, watching a baby learn to walk, playing with a puppy, watching a funny movie, and lots of other reasons. Marci says the goal is to be happy for no reason at all. Just to stop for a second, look inside, and know that you are happy.

Happiness increases the hormones in your body that are beneficial to circulation, your lungs, digestion, sleep patterns, and many other vital functions. In fact, you’ll just live longer because you’ll be lowering the stress levels of your body, simply by smiling. It’s amazing when you listen/read Happy For No Reason just how important it is for you to be happy. And it just feels so good!!

I’m so happy to be able to share this with you :-)

Have a great day,
Julie

Attract Wealth and Abundance

Hi,

This morning I was roaming around YouTube and I found a relaxation meditation that is fantastic. Since the title of this blog is Pain-Free Living, I think this meditation fits right in to a topic that causes so much pain to many of my readers. The stress of worrying about how to pay the bills, put food on the table, educate our children, and afford to do things that we enjoy, causes emotional pain that can ultimately lead to real illness. Financial abundance opens up our lives so we can not only easily cover the basics of life, but reach out to enjoy all the exciting and beautiful things our world offers. Plus, it allows us to give to others, nourishing our altruistic nature.

So, as I said, this morning I found a 30 minute relaxation titled Attract Wealth and Abundance. The title intrigued me, and since it was only 5:00AM I decided to take the 30 minutes and check it out. I’m so glad I did!

The meditation has ethereal type music with bells, relaxing by itself, and it has many voices all speaking gently at the same time. Every now and then I could pick out a word or two….”you deserve..,” “…joy and happy situations…,”…imagine yourself in six-months…,” “…financially abundant…,” “see yourself….”

I felt myself expanding…relaxing…and even as thoughts would drift through my mind (as happens whenever I try to meditate), it was okay. Personally I believe that our thoughts create our reality so this meditation can only be beneficial, but even at the very minimum, the meditation is a relaxing way to start…or end…the day.

I’m even listening to it in the background as I write this blog. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I am enjoying it.

Have a great day!
Julie