Articles > Health Tip > Muscular Pain

This time of year seems to encourage us to work to hard in the garden, or play to hard on the sports field, and of course the sunshine also encourages all us do-it-yourself-ers. Inevitably this leads us to pull or strain or just bruise our muscles.

Before I look at some of the traditional and alternative forms of relief for these conditions, let me remind you of a few basic rules that, if you follow them, should keep you from hurting yourself:-

• When you lift heavy things, always bend your knees and take the weight in your thighs - not your back.

• Beware of twisting when you are carrying something, especially something heavy. It’s much better to take a few moments to clear your path before moving heavy objects than to force yourself to lift and twist at the same time - or to set something down with a twist in your spine. Please don’t do this!

• Take breaks. Just like we should rest our eyes from the computer every 20 minutes, so we should rest from our labours and sports. One excuse that I hear frequently is that in the garden there are so many different types of task that gardeners can go from one to the other and not abuse specific muscles.

• BUT gardeners are no more super people than the rest of us, so they too need to sit in the shade and contemplate their work regularly.

• Drink lots of water. Water helps to flush toxins out of our systems and this includes our muscles. So, when you are working drink water - fizzy drinks, tea and beer do NOT count as alternatives. Have water as well as these.

Okay, so you forgot to do these things or you managed to get aches and pains anyway. What do you do?

If you have continued pain, and you feel that you might have “put your back out” or trapped a nerve, then please take yourself to someone who can help, like an osteopath or complementary therapist, or I have had great success releasing trapped nerves with both reflexology and massage - so if you need outside help, there are plenty of qualified people around.

But most of the time do it yourself massage is your best choice - of course you will need to find a friend or partner to do it. I recommend that you use a carrier oil (you can get these anywhere that sells essential oils) - if you haven’t one to hand, then baby oil or olive oil will do at a pinch.

Add a FEW drops of Chamomile, Lavender, Marjoram or Rosemary essential oils to ease pain in your muscles. The secret with massage is to start gentle and then work into the painful area carefully as you feel the tension release. I do run Massage for Couples courses if you feel you need some instruction before doing this yourselves.

Other great remedies are Calendula or Witchhazel for bruising.

There are plenty of products on the market - but do read the label, because we do absorb many toxins through the skin.