Every day I get messages from people all over the world who are suffering from some ache or pain, and many times the pain is preventing the person from living a full life. This is the case of the message below, but this one was so broad in the causes that I wanted to share it with you in case you (or someone you know) may have one or more of the problems experienced by this man.

I will try and keep this short, but basically I have suffered with a dull ache for 15 years now. The areas worse affected are the base of my skull moving down into my neck down into my left shoulder, across into my left hip and then down the calf, so basically my whole triple warmer meridian, I get muscle spasms in my left chest too. I am a golf pro but just cannot play any more due to the pain. I have weak rhomboids, poor posture and am aware that while the back side of the body is weak, the front side muscles are tight. I can manage the pain but sometimes it just gets too much, I have suffered from severe anxiety as a result. What could you recommend as a solution please. I am willing to give anything a try.

The answer is long, but there are so many things happening that it would be a lot longer if I went into detail about each point, so please bear with me.

Answer:I think it will help you a lot if you do an internet search for each of the muscles I’m mentioning here. Also, it will help if you understand that when a tight muscle is pulling on a bone it will hurt at the insertion point, just like pulling your hair at the end will cause your scalp to hurt. I think you have several repetitive strain injuries happening all at the same time. It will also help if you read about repetitive strain injuries so you’ll have a better idea of why they cause muscle/joint pain. I suggest you also read the sections titled “Muscles and Pain” and “What’s Happening Exactly.”

You have several different things going on, first I’d look at the trapezius, levator scapulae, splenius capitis, and splenius cervicis muscles because they each either originate or insert at the base of your skull and cervical vertebrae. When the muscles are tight they will be pulling hard on the bones and causing pain in the area. Also, it is common for the trapezius and levator scapulae to also refer pain out to the shoulder.

I totally agree with you that the muscles in the front of your body are tight and causing the weakness in the back of your body. You have spasms in your chest and your rhomboids are weak, plus you have poor posture – which I suspect means your shoulders curl forward giving you a rounded-back posture. This is very likely caused by a muscle called pectoralis minor. The pecs minor originates on your ribs and inserts into a tiny bone of your shoulder blade called the coracoid process. When the pecs minor contracts you pull your shoulders forward (round-back) and your rhomboids are being stretched, which will cause them to lose power and appear weak. Also, as the coracoid process is being pulled down it is putting pressure on the nerves that go to your chest, upper back (rhomboids), across your shoulder and down your arm into your hand.

Your hip all the way to your foot is most likely caused by several muscles, but primarily the psoas, iliacus, and quadratus lumborum muscles because each of these muscles will cause your pelvis to rotate forward and down, therefore causing the posterior pelvis to press up into your sciatic nerve. When your sciatic nerve is being impinged it will cause pain from your hip all the way to your foot, including tingling and numbness.

I know this all sounds so confusing, but the more I think about it, the more logical it becomes, which again makes me wish you were somewhere near here so I could confirm my thoughts and treat each of the muscles. I’ve worked with many thousands of people and I’ve seen it over and over…when you release the tension in the muscles the pain in the joint/bone disappears. If you already have my book, “Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living” I suggest you begin with the Julstro Protocol and then do all of the treatments for the neck and shoulder. You’ll get an even better explanation of how the muscles in your pelvic area and your quadriceps (front of your thigh) are causing so many problems.

It is my belief that you’ll be able to treat each of these muscles and get back out on the golf course again!

Wishing you well,
Julie

As you are aware, I teach people how to self-treat for muscle aches and pains. In fact, even though I have an active therapy practice in Chapel Hill and Cary, NC, I really prefer to teach people how to eliminate their own repetitive strain injury pains so they can continue to do their sports or other activities without pain.

Having said that, I’ve made arrangements to teach a short one-hour Julstro self-treatment clinic focusing on the lower leg and foot pain at Fleet Feet Carrboro on January 18th at 7:00 PM, and a full three-hour clinic at Women’s Only Workout gym in Chapel Hill, NC on January 21st at 1:00 PM.

If you would like to register for one of the clinics either go to the links above or send me a message and I’ll get back to you.

Wishing you well,
Julie

It’s always so exciting to start a New Year! A brand-new opportunity to continue and improve on the good things from the past year and to create wonderful things this year.

For me, I’m looking forward to traveling around the USA, teaching people how to eliminate aches and pains. Perhaps we’ll get a chance to meet along the way.

I hope you have goals to motivate you, and that you’ll have a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.

Wishing you well,
Julie

Isn’t it wonderful that so many people are celebrating something right now, Hanukkah, Kwanzza, Christmas, and of course, New Years. Whatever you are celebrating, I wish you a joyful season, and the very best for the New Year.

Wishing you well,
Julie

Often the forums I moderate will give me ideas for what to post here on the blog, and today is one of those times. A person wrote to me that he is having chronic pain in the area underneath his Achilles tendon and that all the experts are telling him to stretch, but it only makes him feel worse. He’s at a loss because he can’t exercise and his frustration increases because nothing is working to get him better.

It always amazes me how experts that should know better still recommend stretching without giving any thought to spasms tying the muscle fibers in knots. It’s so logical that if you tied a length a line into knots and then tried to stretch it back to the original length that you would make the knots tighter and overstretch the fibers outside of the knots. Plus, as you stretch this shortened “rope” it would cause an even additional strain on the insertion points at the two ends, just as a muscle does to the two insertion points on the bone.

Have you been to my website? There is so much information about repetitive strain injuries and information about the logic of the body. If you haven’t done so already, I suggest you also read the sections titled “Muscles and Pain” and “What’s Happening Exactly.”

Here’s my response to this “virtual client:”

The muscles that are most likely causing your situation are the flexor digitorum longus and flexor hallicus longus (you can do an internet search and look at graphics of the two muscles) because they are underneath your Achilles tendon and since they pull your toes down toward the floor (or curl them if you aren’t standing on your foot), if the muscles are shortened by spasms and you bend your toes up (for example, pushing off from a step or standing on your toes)you will be stretching these muscles.

I suggest you use your fingertips and apply direct pressure to the muscles, searching for the “hot spot” which will be the spasm/s causing the muscles to shorten. Of course, as you realize, you also have spasms in your calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus) and those are also simple to self-treat and release by simply applying direct pressure to the knots in the muscles. Releasing those muscles will take the pressure off your Achilles tendon.

I’m happy to say that I’ve teamed up with some wonderful people within the past few weeks and with their help I’ll finally be getting out to teach some self-treatment clinics. Right now they are only planned for North Carolina, but we’re putting together one for Ft. Worth, TX, and Naples, FL. If I can find someone to help me locate space and spread the word, I’d like to do one in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas in February. In you can help in any way, or if you’d like a clinic in your area, please let me know.

Wishing you well,
Julie

It’s been a super-busy time these past two months and I’m afraid I’ve been neglect at writing in my blog. To begin with, I’m happy to say that I’m just putting the finishing proof-reading touches to a new book I’ve written: Pain Free Skiing. Pain Free Skiing is geared toward everyone who loves to ski but ends up with aches and pains that follow them all week and could even prevent them from skiing the next weekend. Most of the models in the book are amazing athletes who are preparing for the Olympic trials and I’m so honored to be their muscular therapist (as opposed to doing massage, I concentrate on specific muscles and how they prevent joints from moving easily and without pain).

I’ve also decided to re-join Shaklee because their sports nutrition is above any that is out on the market, more about that in another blog post, but it’s taking up my time as I learn about each product – time well-spent! I’m fortunate that the man who is my Director in Shaklee has his Ph.D in biochemistry and is the professor of nutrition and biochemistry at the UNC Medical School. Steve Chaney is amazing and a real storehouse of information. He sends out a newsletter and it’s always interesting, this issue of the newsletter is about losing weight (it’s NOT a sales pitch for Shaklee Cinch) that is basic information that is useful for anyone with a goal of losing weight in 2012, as a result I’m sharing it, the following is from Dr. Chaney’s newsletter Tips from the Professor:

Most Americans – close to 70% of us – are overweight.

Many of you are considering whether or not to make weight loss one of your New Year’s resolutions.

The problem, of course, is that you have done this before. Full of enthusiasm, you have resolved to make major changes in your eating habits and lifestyle – changes that would melt away that unwanted flab.

But, alas, those major changes proved to be unsustainable and within a few weeks you were back to your old routine and were packing on those extra pounds once more.

So maybe this year you should consider the “Stealth Diet”.

Ok, there is no “Stealth Diet” – at least not one that I know about. But, an article in the December issue of Environmental Nutrition called “Top 9 Stealth Health Diet Strategies” caught my eye, and I thought its message would be worth sharing with you.

The article starts with an ancient Chinese proverb that makes great sense when you are considering a task as monumental as resculpting your body. The proverb says:
“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones”.

So what are the “small stones” that will launch you on the path towards a healthier weight in 2012?

#1) Practice portion control: It’s no secret that portion sizes are getting bigger. Even simple items like bagels and muffins are twice the size (and twice the calories) as they were 30 or 40 years ago. And restaurants compete for their customers by seeing who can provide the largest meals.

The tips are simple: Prepare smaller portions at home, split your meals or ask for doggie bags when you eat out, and never snack from an open bag or box.

#2) Slip more fresh fruits and vegetables into your
diet: It’s no secret that fruit and vegetable consumption reduces the risk of heart disease, some cancers and other degenerative diseases. But, more importantly, those fresh fruits and vegetables have fewer calories than the foods they will be displacing.

#3) Be mindful as you eat: Although it may sound counter-intuitive you will actually eat less if you take the time to savor the foods that eat. Enjoy your food. Enjoy the conversation. Meals shouldn’t be a race.

Multitasking (watching television or surfing the net while eating) may save time, but it also packs on the extra calories because you aren’t paying any attention to how much you are eating.

#4) Use caution with snacks: EN says that you don’t really need to snack in order to lose weight successfully. I’m not so sure.

Some people (myself included) are genetically “hard- wired” to enjoy excellent blood sugar control. People like us don’t really need to snack.

But I have found that many other people are “hard- wired” to experience low blood sugar between meals no matter what they eat – and if you are overweight you may suffer from blood sugar swings no matter what your genetic make-up is.

When your blood sugar tanks, you will feel hungry, tired, cranky and deprived – none of which are helpful for the long-term success of your diet. For people like you sensible snacking is absolutely essential if you want to lose weight successfully.

I do agree with EN that snacks should be healthful, They recommend no more than 100-200 calories (I’d shoot for closer to 100 calories if you want to lose weight) and should provide healthy sources of both protein and carbohydrate.

#5) Leave 10% of each meal on your plate: That’s not good news for the “clean plate club”, but that one simple change will save you about 84,000 calories – which is equivalent to 10 pounds of weight loss- per year.

#6) Use an oil pump mister for cooking and salads. When we pour oils from the bottle we usually end up with much more oil – and many more calories – than we actually need.

#7) Swap some of your meat for mushrooms: I strongly disagree with EN on this recommendation.

I understand where EN is coming from. Mushrooms have far fewer calories and much less fat & cholesterol than the meat that they replace. EN is also correct in pointing out that mushrooms are the only plant-based source of vitamin D.

However, mushrooms only provide about 10% as much protein as meats, and keeping your protein intake high is essential for successful long term weight loss. I would recommend substituting vegetable protein sources such as beans and soy for the meat in your diet. That will lower you fat and calorie intake without compromising on your protein intake.

#8) Eat only when sitting: In today’s world we often “graze” while moving around and doing other things – and we lose track of how much we are eating. This really comes back to recommendation #3. The simple act of sitting down and focusing on the food that we are eating will reduce our food intake – and our weight.

#9) Use ripe avocado in place of butter: You’ll save about 75 calories per serving and you will be getting a much healthier profile of fat and micronutrients.

I also recommend almond butter in place of butter for toast. You aren’t saving any calories there, but you are getting a healthier profile of fats and significantly more protein.

There you have it – Environmental Nutrition’s recommendations (with my modification) for 9 “stealth”
changes that you can make in your diet for the coming year.

These are small, simple changes. They are do-able. Any one of these changes could lead to 5 or 10 pounds weight loss per year. If you made all of these changes you could lose up to 90 pounds over the next year – and you’ll never have noticed that you were on a “diet”.

Wishing you well,
Julie

On one of the other forums I moderate a man wrote about weakness he’s experiencing in both his biceps and triceps, plus a lot of other symptoms, but this is the primary problem. So, I decided that this would be a good topic to cover today since weakness definitely doesn’t mean you need to lift more weights or exercise more strenuously.

In order for a muscle to function properly it needs to have a lot of different aspects impacting it, but the two that we’ll be discussing is the length of the muscle fibers and nerve innervation. In order for a muscle to be strong you need to be able to have it at its longest length, which will then enable it to have full pulling power. If the muscle is already shortened by muscle spasms you have taken some of the fibers out of the pull (the ones that are tied up in the spasm) and if the nerve(s) is impinged by either the tight muscle fibers or by pressure of a bone pressing on the nerve, then you aren’t getting a clear signal sent from the nerve to the muscle. This is the case that is happening when you have weakened biceps and triceps muscles.

Let’s start all the way at the base of the front and side of your neck, with muscles called lateral and anterior scalenes. It will help you if you do an internet search so you can look at these muscles. They will press into a bundle of nerves called the brachial plexus, which ultimately become the three nerves to your upper body, arm and hand, your median/ulnar/radial nerves. Usually when the scalenes are pressing into the brachial plexus you will feel burning, numbness, and tingling anywhere from your neck to your fingers.

There is a tiny bone that is part of your shoulder blade, called the coracoid process, which passes over all three nerves and also over your axillary artery. Two muscles; the pectoralis minor and the short head of your biceps, insert into the coracoid process, and when either or both of these muscles are shortened by spasms/contractions they are pulling down on the bone and putting pressure on one or all of the nerves and possibly even the artery. This will cause the nerves to send an incomplete message to the muscles, and if the artery is being impinged you will have a circulation problem to your entire arm and hand.
Another muscle that causes problems is the infraspinatus which is located along the entire flat bone of your scapula. This muscle is one of the rotator cuff muscles and when it contracts it pulls your arm back (like throwing a ball), however if it is shortened by spasms it is pulling your shoulder blade backwards even though you are trying to bring your arm forward. This not only causes severe shoulder pain, but because of the coracoid process portion of the bone, it can also be putting pressure on the nerves and artery to your arm and hand.

There are other muscles: serratus anterior, teres minor, teres major, subscapularis, levator scapulae, rhomboids, and others that will cause shoulder pain and weakness in your arm/hand, but that would make this blog turn into a book and I already have written all about it in Treat Yourself to Pain Free Living. If you’re interested, or if you already are suffering from pain and dysfunction of your shoulder, arm or hand, then I suggest you get that book and work on all the muscles of your upper body and arm.

I don’t think you need to stop working out at the gym, and I really don’t believe that just rest will solve the problem of weakness in your biceps or triceps, but I do think that treating all of the muscles mentioned will work. It’s easy, it just takes time and focused attention to each of the muscles.

Wishing you well,
Julie

In fact it’s been my experience that instead of releasing the tension that is holding the bone tightly tied up in knots, most practitioners will either give you medications to stop pain or inflammation (without eliminating the source of the pain and inflammation), or some type of orthotics to bring the floor up closer to your foot (instead of lengthening your calf muscles to bring your foot down to the floor), or suggest surgery.

The clinics are fun. Everyone wears comfortable clothes without tight waistbands, and we work on every muscle that is repetitively strained while they are doing their work. Today’s group are electrolygists so they strain their shoulders, forearms, hands, low back, and even knees and lower leg (from stepping on a foot pedal repeatedly).

The best part is that there is always at least one person who was going to lose his/her career and after the clinic they are back on track to continue for years to come. It’s so rewarding.

Hope to see you at a clinic someday. If you ever want to set up a clinic in your area, please feel free to contact me.

Have a great day,
Julie

Through the years I’ve worked with many people who have been told they had arthritis when all it turned out to be was tight muscles preventing the joint from moving. It’s really logical when you think of how the muscle moves the joint in the first place.

The analogy I like to use when explain joint movement is to think of playing a game of tug-of-war. For our analogy, think that there is a knot in the middle of the rope and each side is trying to pull the knot toward them. If both sides are pulling equally hard the knot doesn’t move, but if one side is pulling harder than the other the knot will begin to move toward that side.

This is what happens to your spine, if the muscles on one side are pulling harder than the other side, the bone will move in that direction and the misalignment will put pressure on your spinal cord, causing pain and possibly even causing a bulging disk or nerve impingement.

When it is your joints, you have one muscle pulling you in one direction (in this case the muscles of your underside of your forearm are closing the fingers into a fist) and the opposing muscle needs to lengthen to allow the movement. Then, when you want to open your hand the muscles on the top of your forearm need to contract while the muscles on the underside of your forearm need to lengthen.

If either of these muscles, or in this woman’s case it was both sets of muscles, are tight, you can’t bend or open your hand easily. The both sets of muscles are in spasm and the knots have shortened the fibers so they can’t lengthen.

Since the tendons of the muscles on the underside of your forearm, called flexors, pass through your carpal tunnel, the tension can put pressure on your median nerve and you’ll be told you have carpal tunnel syndrome. However, all you actually have is tight muscles putting pressure on the nerve.

If you release the tension in the muscles your fingers will move smoothly, the pressure will be removed from your median nerve, and any symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome or arthritis will disappear.

Wishing you well,
Julie

Fortunately she had just received my DVD The Julstro Guide to Treating the Lower Body so it was easy to explain to her how to treat her calf muscles.

Your calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus) both merge into your Achilles tendon and then insert into the back of your heel. When the muscles contract normally you lift your heel up off the ground (ie: when you stand on your toes). However, if the muscles are shortened by spasms they are pulling up on your heel bone, but you are still keeping your foot flat on the ground. This causes pressure at the insertion point of the tendon, and the tendon may even be pulling hard enough to begin to separate from the bone and to cause an inflammation at the area.

The body, in it’s wisdom, sends bone cells to the area to hold on to the tendon, so it makes logical sense that this could easily be the cause of a bone spur — the build-up of bone cells holding on to the tendon of a tight muscle. You can’t bring your heel down without causing pain. Orthotics will bring the floor up to your heel and will therefore make it feel less painful, but it isn’t solving the problem. The answer to this problem is also logical… release the tension in the calf muscles so they stop pulling on the tendon and your foot can come down to the floor.

We spoke about her calf muscles and why they are causing this bone spur, and the tight Achilles tendon she was feeling. The treatment is so simple, just release the tension, and with the DVD she was able to watch the treatment and then do it herself.

She was doing it as we spoke on the phone, and it worked perfectly. By the time we were ready to hang-up, the bone spur was still there, but it didn’t hurt to step down normally. The spur may or may not eventually disappear, but as long as she wasn’t feeling pain she didn’t really care.

BTW, it is my theory that since the body sent the spur there for a reason (hold on to the tendon) that you shouldn’t try to remove the spur until the muscles are fully released and the tension on the tendon has been eliminated.

Wishing you well,
Julie