It is a great stretch and strengthener for the shoulders and upper back muscles.

Squeeze the shoulder blades together for a great isometric exercise.

Osteoporosis Exercise – Skeletal Fitness by Mirabai Holland

The resistance of isometric exercise is what makes this of possible benefit for osteoporosis.

This exercise can be performed in less than 1 minute.

I am more than happy to have it at my house. It is well worth the space it takes up in my house. Now he just comes over once a week to get a good spine stretch.

As soon as I started doing the inversions on  a regular basis, my back felt better quickly. Check out this inversion therapy video >>>

When the inversion table first showed up at my house, I was doing it maybe once or twice a week. That didn’t make much difference  When I increased the frequency to almost everyday, improvement happened rapidly.  I also was able to increase the amount of time I hung upside down, once I got used to it. At first it was a little awkward and scary, but I got over that after the first few attempts.

The negative pull of gravity on the spine is what makes the difference. This type of spinal decompression therapy has been in existence for a couple thousand years now. In the old days, they would strap someone to a ladder, and a couple of strong men would turn it upside down.

Even a tiny amount of increased separation between the vertebral discs can make a difference.

As always, you would want to check with your doctor, chiropractor or physical therapist before trying this. Inversion therapy is not right for everybody.

Caffeine and Pain

Stiff Neck and Sore Back

Caffeine certainly contributes to pain in my body. I can feel it, oftentimes while drinking a cup of coffee. My neck starts to tighten up, my jaw gets cranky, and the lower back starts to get sore.
Switching to white tea, made a noticeable difference within days. white tea contains less

caffeine than green tea, which has less than black tea, which has much less than coffee. – Especially if it came from Starbucks or some other high end coffee shop.

Inflammation and Muscle Tension

Coffee has been linked to inflammation, which is a factor in pain.
Too much caffeine can lead to muscle tension, which can add to aches and pains.

Not to mention the fact that caffeine clearly contributes to stress. We have all heard about the negative effects of stress. The adrenal glands take a beating, when the caffeine load gets too high.

So the bottom line: Is coffee or tea right for you? These drinks actually do have some health benefits, like antioxidants. And they do come from plants, so coffee could be considered a vegetable.  – It’s a stretch I know…

In another video, I’ll be sharing a simple technique, that will help you determine if caffeiene is right for you, how much and in what form. It’s a dead easy technique, anyone can do at home.

My own neck has been sore lately, so I checked out Youtube for some videos that might be helpful.

This video gives some great simple stretches for the neck. I’ve done this little routine for a couple days now and it’s making a difference.

As always, I would highly recommend checking with your doctor before trying any of these exercises. That’s my disclaimer.

Just a couple minutes of this stretching can definitely loosen up some tight neck muscles.

The very first movement is great for the shoulders. Shoulder stiffness is often tied into neck pain.

The next movement is just moving the head from left to right while focusing on the breathing.

Never move past the point of pain, the idea is to relax and loosen, not create more pain.

Infrex Plus - Pain Relief Machine

I was talking to my friend just the other day and he recommended I try some neck stretches.

Here is what he said:

“If it’s hard for you to do the stretches, try hooking up an Interferential unit, with the electrodes on your neck. The interferential treatment will help to loosen up the muscles and make it easier to stretch, with less discomfort.”

So I tried it out and guess what, it works great. If you want to try this for yourself, you’ll need a doctor’s prescription. The good folks at Medfaxx can help you with that. They will even give you a free trial of the unit. Definitely worth a try, if you are suffering with pain of any type. To get started on your free trial, just fill out the from on the right hand side of this site.

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