In my San Antonio, Texas based Massage Therapy and Bodywork practice I'm often asked by clients how it is that I assess clients and approach my work. There are a number of methods I use but when it comes to musculoskeletal pain, including back pain, one set of guidelines are "The 7 Perpetuating Factors of Pain". These factors were originally presented to me during my training in Neuromuscular Therapy and Medical Massage and are based on the work of Drs. Janet Travell and David Simons (and others). By recognizing these factors during assessments and treatment a Massage Therapist's potential to help the client achieve pain relief increases tremendously. The factors are:

Do you ever suffer from back or neck pains? Insomnia? Do you often have migraines or headaches? Your pillow might be the one to blame. A wrong spinal position during sleep can lead to various health problems and generally a bad health condition or even mood. Learn how to use pillows correctly to support your back and neck under most circumstances and get rid of those annoying pains once and for all.

Question: I don't have back pain, but when I look at my self my Back and Shoulders look Rounded, is that just Bad Posture?

From working with back pain sufferers my entire adult life, I've learned that when people are suffering, they will go to great lengths to find relief. Unfortunately, too many people are given very useful but incomplete information about what to do in order to get relief and regain control of their lives.

If your back pain is chronic then chances are good you've tried all manner of conservative back pain remedies, stuff like resting, medication, heat or cold therapy, physical therapy, visits to the chiropractor and even cortiscosteroid injections. If the back pain persists it may be time to consider a more invasive approach.

How Do Foot Orthotics Work?

Whether you have flat abs or a beer belly, you can experience pain due to excess abdominal gas and excess fecal matter in your intestines. It has been said that if you have only one bowel movement a day, you have up to eight meals left in your intestines. Gas can develop in a matter of hours after eating and stay around for a long time so listen up.

How does posture have anything to do with neck pain?--Neck pain comes from pressure on the nerves. How does this happen?--Usually pressure from a misaligned neck spine. When your spine is misaligned (some call that subluxated) it does not move like it should and in turn creates inflammation in that area. Either out-of-alignment spinal vertebrae (spinal bones) put direst pressure on nerves or the inflammation, or built up degeneration causes the pressure.

For some guys, it may be difficult to see a downside to women with large breasts. But for 1 million women who are—let us say "generously endowed"—it can be a source of considerable pain. Some women, in fact, suffer with severe pain, deteriorating posture, and are at risk for spinal deformity and other repetitive stress injuries to the shoulders and upper extremities due to their proportionately large breasts.

Does this scenario sound familiar?