A Good Night’s Sleep

Developing back pain is the perfect way to ruin a good night’s sleep.  But we live in a world that believes in having choices.  There’s plenty of products on the market that can help you sleep better even with back pain.  Some of them are expensive such as the specially designed mattresses, but others are well within reach of most budgets.

Even if you can’t afford one of the specialty mattresses, you can make sure you buy a sturdy mattress that doesn’t collapse with use.  Also, you should use pillows that maintain their support.  The pillow should keep your neck and head in line with your spine.  When your pillows get old and flat it’s time to buy new pillows.  They often advertise adjustable bed frames on television.  These frames let you raise your legs or head to relieve pressure on the spine.  If you’re having trouble sleeping due to back pain, check your bed and see if you need to replace what you’re sleeping on.

I’ll Try Anything – Even Exercise

A lot of back pain can be reduced by exercising.  It seems like such a contradiction, but it’s true.  The caveat is you don’t want to suddenly try to do a lot of exercises you’re not used to doing.  You need to ease into the exercise program and give your back time to adjust to the higher level of activity and motion.  Actually, the best thing to do is to exercise regularly to prevent back pain, but that’s another topic all together.

There are some tips you can follow for starting an exercise plan to reduce back pain.  First, you should start slowly as mentioned.  You should exercise according to your pain tolerance. You don’t want to quit at the first twinge, because there will be some pain at first. But I promise the pain will get better in most cases if you stick with the exercise program.  You want to begin with short 10 minute exercise session 2 or 3 times a day and then add on to the time as your back gets stronger.

Ditch the High Heels

I have a theory that high heels were invented to keep women subjugated.  You can’t run in them and sometimes it seems you can barely walk in them.  But worse of all they can actually throw your spine out of alignment.  They cause an unnatural curve of the spine and can put pressure on the back muscles.  Eventually, back pain will begin and it often starts in the neck.  I’ve known women who found freedom from back pain within a couple of weeks after ditching the high heels.

Your shoes can make a big difference to the health of your back.  Your body is a system and everything is connected.  Your shoes should provide good support for the arches and the toe area should not squeeze your toes.  Your shoes should be stable too.  High heels can be very unstable and cause the muscles in your lower back to work hard to keep you balanced.  If you wear high heels and experience back pain, I suggest you consider wearing a lower heel for a while to find out if your neck or back pain disappears.

I Need a Good Chair

I hear people say all the time they really need to get a good chair for their desk at work.  What happens is they put it off and put it off until one day their back does exactly what they expected it to do – start hurting.  Having back pain while trying to work at a desk is miserable.  The constant ache can make it impossible to concentrate.  It feels better when you get up and walk around, but you can’t do that all the time.

It’s important to sit in a sturdy spine-supporting chair.  The chair you need should help you maintain your spine in its natural shape.  When you try to sit in a chair that forces your spine to curve unnaturally or to bend at the waist, it won’t take long for back pain to develop.  Chairs that force your upper body to bend forward are causing pressure on your thighs.  It’s also important to have a chair that fits your height and leg length.   There are lots of really expensive chairs on the market that are ergonomically designed, but you don’t have to spend a lot of money on a chair to get one that has good spine support.

A Lesson in Sitting

It seems like we should just know how to sit properly, but unfortunately we don’t.  How you sit and how long you sit can have a direct impact on your spine health.  There are lots of people who sit all day at work and then sit in front of the television at night.  Sitting too long using the wrong posture can play real havoc with the back –especially the lower back.

When you slump in your chair, it changes the whole alignment of your hips and spine.  The lower back muscles have to work even harder to keep you upright.  The neck bones are compressed too which can cause pain over a period of time.  When you sit for a long time, it doesn’t take long for the back muscles to begin aching.  If you have to sit a lot at your job, you should make a point of using the right posture but also of moving around for five minutes at least every hour.   This way you can stretch your muscles and spine, and also remind yourself you need to watch how you are sitting.

My Mother Told Me to Stand Up Straight

It turns out my mother was right when she kept telling me to stand up straight.   Maintaining good posture as you go through life is important for preventing back problems.  When you look at people around you it’s easy to find lots of them who round their shoulders and curve their spines.  We slump in chairs, lean at angles, walk slightly bent and generally treat our spine very poorly.  Then we wonder why it hurts!

There are 2 kinds of postures.   Static posture is the posture you have when you’re sitting or standing.  Dynamic posture is how you hold your body when moving.  An example of dynamic posture is the angle of your spine when you squat to lift a box off the floor.  When you maintain the right posture, you are actually giving your body a fair chance to work the way it was meant to work.  You don’t put undue strain on it that can cause injury and then pain.  So remember what your mom told you and keep your spine aligned.

Twist Me Like a Pretzel

Doing yoga is a great way to stretch your muscles and get relaxed while actually exercising too.  Though aerobics is a great way to work out, you can’t call it soothing and peaceful.  Yoga provides so many benefits all in one program. You can improve your posture, tone your muscles and find peace of mind.  Many doctors today believe there’s a direct connection between your state of mind and the amount of back pain you feel.  When you learn to mentally relax, your back also relaxes because the muscles aren’t so tense.

Yoga also offers another advantage to the person with back pain.  Yoga moves are specifically designed to improve muscle flexibility.  Too many people with back pain stop doing many of their daily activities because it hurts.  Yet the more they favor the back, the stiffer the muscles are going to get.  Not moving is self defeating.  Doing yoga forces the muscles to do moves they should be able to handle during normal routines.  By the way, yoga won’t turn you into a pretzel.

I’m Trying a Chiropractor

If you’re looking for some back pain relief, a chiropractor may be able to help.  Chiropractors use to have a bad reputation, but that’s not true anymore.  Now they are respected professionals in their field, and they can offer a lot of back pain relief to people who have suffered a long time.  In fact, chiropractors are often visited by people who aren’t happy with the results they are getting following their physician’s advice.    When you have chronic pain, and nothing seems to work, it’s worth a visit to the chiropractor to see if he or she has any treatments you can try.

Most chiropractors use a technique called spinal manipulative therapy for back pain treatment.  This treatment involves manipulation of the spine joints to bring the spine back into alignment.  If nothing else, it feels really good.  The techniques chiropractors use to relieve back pain often incorporate massage and stretching to give muscles flexibility.   Most people with back pain do feel some improvement in pain levels very quickly after visits to the chiropractor.

Using Pilates for Back Pain Relief

Pilates is a great exercise form that combines the best of both Eastern and Western techniques.  Pilates uses exercises, breathing and stretching to keep the muscles strong and limber.  If you’re battling back pain of any kind, a program of pilates may be exactly what you need to follow in order to build your muscle strength and flexibility while finding mental relief from anxiety.  The big advantage of pilates as an exercise program is everyone can do it.

Pilates uses many moves that stretch the muscles.  It includes a lot of exercises for the lower back and the abdomen muscles.  Those are the exact muscles you want to strengthen in order to lessen or even eliminate back pain.  There are plenty of floor exercises such as the plank, leg lifts and pelvic lifts.  A common form of pilates found in gyms today use many yoga moves which promote emotional calm.  You can do all these exercises at home to which is ideal for most people with back pain.

How Come That Needle Doesn’t Hurt?

I like to try alternative forms of back pain treatment whenever possible.  Sometimes, the familiar stand-bys like analgesics or ice packs just don’t do the job of relieving the back pain.  Before I’d even consider having surgery, I’d look into all forms of treatment including acupuncture.

Acupuncture has been around for over 5,000 years.  It’s a Chinese treatment that believes we all have qi in our bodies.  This qi is a life force and it roams our body.  Acupuncture operates on the principle that certain points on our bodies give access to qi.  If you can access the life force, then you control the back pain.  Acupuncture actually uses a combination of physical and mental factors to give relief.  Needles are painlessly inserted at the qi points to stimulate healing.  Some people absolutely refuse to consider such a treatment, but in my opinion, it’s worth a try.  When you have chronic back pain even temporary relief can be a blessing.