Saturday, October 25, 2008

How to Relieve Upper Back Pain

The old-fashioned way to exercise to relieve pain and muscle tension just doesn't work. When our upper back muscles hurt, we How to Relieve Upper Back Pain
The old-fashioned way to exercise to relieve pain and muscle tension just doesn't work. When often try stretching to loosen up. But the pain returns, doesn't it?
Work, everyday activities, and lifestyles are harder than ever on back muscles. Our activity levels are diminished. Our jobs require sitting for long periods of time, adding to our inactivity. These habits restrict movement, circulation, and metabolism.
Because of the extremely inactive nature of our lifestyles, typical old-fashioned stretches are not effective enough to loosen tight muscles.
Understanding posture, pain and muscle balance.
To know how to use exercise effectively for pain relief, you must understand posture, and how pain arises from muscles out of balance.
Posture is compromised by sedentary jobs, or jobs that put our bodies in awkward positions. Some muscles get overworked, while others get underworked. This creates muscle imbalance and poor posture.
Pain will arise when a muscle imbalance develops. In order to address the imbalance and relieve pain, treatments (like exercise) need to focus both on the overworked muscles and the underworked muscles.
When you feel pain or tension in upper back muscles, you need to also treat the muscles on the front-side of the body. Most commonly, the muscles on the front are tight from being overworked, and the upper back muscles are being overstretched and underworked. When the chest and arms are working hard, the upper back muscles are strained and pulled taut.
Relieving upper back muscles with new exercise rules.
In order to prevent and relieve muscle pain due to postural imbalance, you'll need to apply some new exercise principles.
1) Don't stretch the pain away- The old-fashioned way to relieve tension is to stretch the pain away. This is partly why yoga has become so popular in recent years.
For stretching to be effective, we must stretch the overworked muscles. When posture is compromised, causing tension to be felt in the upper back, then we need to be especially conscious to stretch the muscles of the front-side of the body.
2) Getting stronger- Back muscles often feel painful because they are overstretched, or weak. Therefore, exercises to strengthen the upper back muscles often provide instant relief.
3) Move along- Cardio exercise brings fresh blood and oxygen to restricted areas. Cardio exercise increases movement, decreases pain, and naturally stimulates your body's own painkillers. It benefits both the underworked and overworked muscles, and every cell in the body.
Apply these three fresh principles. Abandon outdated ideas that aren't helping you.
You can prevent aches and pains, and relieve tension, with a simple shift in your exercise program.

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