How To Better Manage Severe Back Pain
Chronic back pain plagues many people. However, there are factual ways to minimize it or even eliminate it from your life entirely.
This involves simple self-care and healthy practices. These practices can improve the pain and make you experience a noticeable difference soon.
- Don’t twist your spine while laying down
Lay down and place your hips and legs at a 90-degree angle as laying in this position will improve comfort, which will decrease back pain more than most positions.
However, the position that feels most comfortable to you is best. Just ensure you do not twist the spine.
Do you have nasty back pain? Always remember to pay attention to how you move. Also, try to avoid twisting your body excessively.
Even when doing housecleaning or picking up heavy items, twisting your back frequently can result in injury and pain.
Pay attention to the way you’re moving your spine when playing and during sports. If you feel tightness or pain at any time, slow down.
- Stop slouching
Do not slouch for any amount of time for any reason. For instance, during vacuum cleaning, if you are continually bending forward while pushing the vacuum, you’re going to experience back pain.
Instead, stand nice and tall and keep good posture, push the vacuum using your legs. Do not slouch to avoid a backache later in the day.
Avoid back pain during breastfeeding by making sure you sit properly on the chair or couch. If you slouch or sink into the seat you are on, you’ll find that your back will start to ache.
Notable, a comfortable pad or pillow should be used to support your back when you breastfeed.
Slouching is a bad posture and one of the most common causes of low back pain. Whenever you slouch, the strain on the back can cause excessive pressure on the discs, back muscles and joints leading to pain.
- Take adequate fluid
The average person needs 62 ounces of water per day to ensure healthy living. A nutritious and healthy diet can heal many ills and prevent many health problems.
Not only does an adequate water intake help you maintain healthy body weight, it minimizes pressure on back muscles.
Contrary, dehydration can cause real problems with muscle cramping and other issues. So, it’s important to drink enough fluids each day.
Does dehydration cause lower back pain?
Sure, it does! The spine is made up of bones called vertebrae, in between the bones are small fluid-filled discs otherwise known as bone discs.
When the body lacks water, the amount of fluid in the discs will reduce causing them to get smaller. The result thereafter becomes insufficient spine support leading to swelling.
This causes discomfort in your back, and can also lead to a herniated disc.
- Stay close and lift items correctly
Avoid lifting items that are out of your reach, instead, shortcuts are taken to do this property. People try to do this daily and often without discovering its’ negative effects.
You have to stand closer to things that are positioned too far away from you, and spend the time to lift correctly.
Bending forward in an awkward position or lifting heavy objects which are far from you can cause back pain if done frequently.
Stretching out your back too far is a common activity that causes the pain, the muscle strain produces around your lower back, so avoid it.
- Avoid excess weight in the abdominal area
If you’re 10 pounds more than your desired weight, you need to get on a diet to get rid of the extra pounds.
Extra weight, particularly in the abdominal area, shifts your center of gravity. This weight can strain your lower back, and even lead to chronic back pain.
Excessive weight in the stomach pulls the pelvis forward. And, when the back is trying to support the extra weight in front and strains the lower back, back pain may occur.
American Obesity Association postulates that women with large waist sizes are particularly prone to lower back pain.
- Surgery for extreme cases
If paralysis occurs, there are some cases that can be repaired with some type of surgery depending on the situation and how extreme the case is.
There are also other back problems that can only be fixed with surgery. Most of the time, these situations involve degenerative diseases or some other situations that don’t have cause and effect.
The occurrence of back pain is a common problem, very common, to the extent that four out of six people experience it.
Most people logically blame the event closest in time to their injury, but little do they know that back pain can be a problem of accumulated stress over many weeks or even months. In many cases, back pain is attributable to a combination of factors and events.
When the case of back pain becomes extreme, the option is surgical treatment. A discectomy or laminectomy might be the recommendation to relive an area where there is pressure on the spinal cord or nerves.
Surgical operation is said to be the last resort option to stabilize the spine when spinal fusion occurs.
- Exercises can ease back pain
It is actually crucial for people to exercise often when they suffer from back pain, contrary to what a large number of people believe.
Back pain sufferers think that exercise will worsen their back pain when the fact is that it actually helps. Exercising stretches the back muscles, which eases the pain in many cases.
Back pain is a common affliction that many people suffer from, and just one heavy lift done incorrectly can make the pain much worse.
It’s important to remember basic safety functions that you many seem to forget, such as watching where you walk when attempting to move a heavy object.
So, when you exercise, do that right and engage in the ones that can ease your pain instead of worsening it. You can get more helpful tips from a professional gym instructor.
- Muscle stretching
When muscles are warm is the greatest time for stretching to avoid back pain. After completing and exercise session, be sure to stretch during your cool-down time.
If you are having trouble moving due to back pain, try stretching your back muscles and hamstrings to increase your mobility.
The muscles in your back are large and are spread out over your entire torso. Back pain can hurt your whole body, so make sure all the muscles in that area get stretched.
- Good sleep position
Sleeping on your back or stomach are both unhealthy as they can cause too much strain. Sleep on your side; it helps to evenly distribute your weight.
Back pain can cause difficulty in sleeping well which can worsen the situation if you don’t sleep better.
If you choose to sleep on your side use a pillow between your knees in order to keep the spine in a neutral position and ease the strain on your back.
Similarly, in a case whereby you need to lay flat on your back, slide a pillow under your knees. Place a pillow under your abdomen if you are sleeping on your stomach.
On a general note, ensure to sleep on a firm comfortable mattress; medium-firm memory mattresses are great for people who are suffering from back pain to enable them to sleep better.
- Red wine and back pain
Even though over-consumption of alcohol should be avoided, but the health of your back, some red wine actually has some therapeutic properties for relief.
Wine helps your muscles to relax, and therefore, it can serve an excellent method of relieving your pains as long as you use it in moderation.
Red wine could be an excellent treatment for an aching back. Ensure to drink wine moderately so as to help you get relaxed and ward-off stress as well as manage your back pain.
The effect depends on how much you drink especially when you have spine condition that could worsen with alcohol consumption.
- Maintain good sitting posture
When sitting in your office chair, ensure that you’re provided with enough support for your lower back. If the lumbar region of your back (where it curves) isn’t supported, you are almost guaranteed to have back pain.
Use a pillow that could be placed between your chair and your lower back to give you the extra support you need.
If you stay in the same position for too long, you will get back pains. Therefore, purchase back cushions that are made with pillows to help support your back.
Look at a local pharmacy, large department store, or on the internet to find a good back cushion. You may need to try several kinds of support pillows to find a pillow that suits your body.
Improve your posture! Good posture reduces pains and strain in your body, strengthening the core muscles of your abdomen and back will help you improve your posture.
Many back problems are caused by improper posture, so watching yourself to make sure you have good posture can reduce the amount of back pain you experience.
If you can break bad habits and keep good posture then you ought to reward yourself.
Conclusion
You have just read many different ways to minimize the back pain that you experience so that you can live a much more comfortable life.
Utilize these tips to help you break away from your pain as you deserve to have a life free of backaches but the decision is up to you.
