Back Pain Treatment: Top 10 Tips for Breaking Free from Back Pain
Millions and millions of people suffer from back pain. Yet, so few know what to do about it. To break free from back pain, check out these top ten back pain treatment tips.
There’s nothing like coming home after a long day to curl up in bed or kick your feet up on the couch. This is especially true if you suffer from back pain.
Back pain has a way of holding you back in many parts of life. It can cause irritation and lack of productivity at work, put a strain on you while you’re working out, and even make you turn down fun opportunities to spend time with loved ones.
If you’ve been dealing with this issue for a while, you know the consequences of back pain all too well. But, have you considered getting back pain treatment?
This could be the answer to all of your problems, if only you take the time to research what’s really going on with your back and how to overcome this pain.
Here are ten things you can do to help you accomplish that.
1. Identify What Is Hurting Your Back
Back pain is a physical condition that wears many masks. For some people, pain is concentrated in the lower back while others feel a constant tension in their shoulders and upper back. Some get back pain all over every single day, while others only deal with this issue from time to time.
Whatever your symptoms feel like, you have to find the cause of your pain if you want to find the best solutions. This may mean getting an x-ray done or trying different things in your everyday life until you start feeling a difference. Leading Brisbane physiotherapists always recommends opting for medical insight from a local doctor or physio to start treating your backpain as soon as possible, instead of personal trial and error.
2. Go to a Chiropractor
Speaking of getting medical attention for your back, why not go to a chiropractor? Chiropractors aren’t just for those who have serious back injuries. They love helping all of their patients experience what their back should feel like, and you can be one of those people.
Check with your insurance to find a local chiropractor in your network and make an appointment as soon as possible. This specialist can give you a diagnosis for something like scoliosis or spondylosis, then help you treat it. If you’re not sure what these are, click to read more.
3. Get a Massage
Most chiropractic offices begin treating patients with a little bit of mild exercise and physical therapy. This allows the body to warm up for when the chiropractor comes in to make adjustments on the spine.
Part of the warm-up process often includes a massage, but there’s no reason you can’t go to a spa and get a deep tissue massage on your own! This may be just what your back needs to loosen up.
You can talk to your massage therapist about whether you have more left side back pain or right side back pain, or if it’s all over. They will apply the necessary pressure all over while you sit back, relax, and start to feel the tension in your back releasing.
4. Fix Your Posture
A lot of the times, the pain that adds up on a person’s back is due to bad posture.
This goes for those who have spinal conditions as well as those who don’t. If you sit at a desk all day, are on your feet for long hours at a time, or you’re that person who sits awkwardly when lounging around, you’re not doing your back any favors.
Your shoulders should be back every time you sit down and as you’re walking around, too. This keeps you from hunching over and helps the neck be steady as well.
More so, don’t cross your legs when you sit but rather cross your ankles. Such a position maintains a neutral spine instead of twisting it in one direction or the other all day long.
5. Minimize How Long You Spend Sitting Down
Having back pain isn’t exactly a reason to quit your desk job, especially if you love what you do.
But, there’s no reason you have to conform to “traditional” work conditions.
Look around: more and more people are changing their work environment to better suit ergonomic standards. In other words, they’re making work more comfortable to do which increases productivity and minimizes back pain among other consequences of sitting all day.
It might be time to get a standing desk or at least start taking more laps around the office. If anything, a few minutes standing from throughout the day are better than sitting from 9-5 all the way through.
6. Stretch
Another way to keep back pain at a minimum while you’re at work is to stretch at your desk.
There are plenty of stretches you can do in a span of 5-10 minutes that can have a profound impact on your whole day.
The key is to find what works best for you. If you have upper back pain, shoulder stretches and neck exercises may be ideal. If your pain is more concentrated in the back, stand up and stretch your legs and your hips as well as your back.
This may sound odd, but remember, your whole body is connected. When you stretch the lower body, the upper body can feel much better.
7. Do Yoga
Aren’t stretching and doing yoga the same thing? Not exactly. Stretching can help you focus on the back and alleviate pain as it comes.
Yoga, on the other hand, makes you more aware of your body as a whole. It can help you pinpoint where your pain is coming from and how the choices you make increase or decrease this pain.
This goes for everything from how long you spend sitting down to where you hold tightness in your body to what you need to mentally let go of. It all has an effect on the body, which often concentrates in the back.
Yoga will give you the postures and the mental tools to open up. The more consistent of a practice you have, the better your back will feel and the more prepared you will be to handle pain when it kicks in.
8. Build Your Core Strength
This additional benefit of yoga deserves it’s own point when it comes to treating back pain: core strength. A lot of how you hold yourself up depends on your core.
An engaged core supports the back even if you have a tendency to shrug the shoulders a bit or cross your legs. Of course, the ideal state to be in is one where you have good posture and a strong core, but it takes baby steps to break bad habits.
Plus, an activated core supports the back all day long. It doesn’t matter if you’re sitting at your desk, standing up, walking around, or even driving – the more you use your core, the better shape your back will be in.
9. Buy a Heating Pad
Sometimes, you still need a bit of back pain relief even with all the tools mentioned above.
Unfortunately, you can’t get a massage every single day or see your chiropractor all the time, but you can at least buy a heating pad.
Heating pads do wonders for backs in bad condition. The warmth soothes the muscles and helps them relax no matter what is causing them to tense up.
Not to mention, it’s an amazing way to unwind after a mentally and physically exhausting day.
Let the heating pad do its thing and ease your back pain.
If you can, take things up a notch and hop into a hot bath for even more pain relief. Baths take the benefits of heating pads and provide them to your whole body in a much more luxurious way.
10. Reduce Your Stress
The final way to treat your back pain may come as a surprise, but it makes perfect sense. If you’re stressed out all the time, you’re putting more strain on your back than you might think.
It doesn’t matter what you’re stressed about – school, work, relationships, finances – if you’re constantly in a state of anxiety, your body will start to show signs of this. The back is especially prone to it because of how sensitive the neck and shoulders are.
Take one minute to do a round of deep breathing – can you feel how it relaxes the jaw, the neck, and the shoulders? If so, you’re more stressed out than you need to be. Focus on relaxing the mind and watch how the tension in the rest of your body follows.
Get Back Pain Treatment and Change Your Life
When you walk around with back pain all the time, you become a different person. You’re more irritable, less likely to engage in physical activity, and prone to not to as much of the things you love, too.
But, when you figure out what kind of back pain treatment works for you, you become an even happier person than before! Feel what your back should work like and take your life back into your own hands. No matter what age you are or what has happened to cause your pain, relief is available if only you start trying to find it.
For more lifestyle tips and tricks to help you get the most of this life, click here.
