Love

Last year I wrote some posts on how to help relieve muscle pains, and here is an example: http://finewaves.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-human-head-is-weight-of-bowling-ball.html. Recently I was talking to a colleague who was also facing the same issue of neck and shoulder pain, and needed some advices. Just when I was going to refer her to my blog post, I realized there were some additional points which could be added to make it a little more complete.

First of all, severe muscle pains don't develop overnight, but it is likely to be built up over a long period of time with poor postures, lack of stretching and strengthening, or intense physical demands. Though intense pain could be aggregated by certain sudden events.

It is our body, so it is our job to love it, cherish it and take care of it. Therefore the first thing to do is, love your achy physical body, for it is the only one you have for this life, so pledge to take care of it from this point on, and do not neglect its well-being ever again. Just remember, no matter how bad you may feel right now, it will only get worse as you grow older, if you don't start to take care of it now.

Secondly, if the muscle pain is quite severe, it is hard to work out the tightness by stretching, so I would recommend to get a good massage. You can also try using devices such as foam roller or ma roller to do self massage, but you must know how to use them properly, and trust that they work even though it may take time.

Thirdly, apply heat therapy on achy muscles periodically will help relieve the pain. Do up to 15 minutes for twice a week. More if you want to pamper yourself.

Finally, develop a routine to stretch your muscles and stick with it. Find useful stretching postures, and use them for different kind of muscle pain. For neck and shoulder pain, you can start with stretches I showed in the link above, and you are always welcome to develop your own.

Well, I often say: nobody said life was easy. That's why I said the first thing to do is love your own body, once we established that, you will be able to start the journey of healing yourself by using the tips I provided above.