Many people every day are afflicted with back pain, or sustain injuries to their back. There are many different ways this can happen, from lifting heavy objects. to simply sitting at a desk for extended periods of time. Below are tips you can use to assist you in avoiding and dealing with back pain.
Apply topical pain relievers to help relieve back pain. Various creams, oils, gels and medicated patches are available that can be applied to the area of the back that hurts in order to offer pain relief. Many can be found over the counter, but some can only be obtained from a medical practitioner or by prescription.
After you're finished exercising, make sure you stretch. This will help keep your muscles loose and limber and prevent them from tightening up. Having muscles that are overly tight is a very common source of back pain so you want to avoid that. By stretching as a cool down, you'll be able to keep those muscles loose.
Take breaks between long periods of sitting to keep your back in tip top shape. Taking regular walks or just getting up and doing some stretching exercises will go along way towards preventing back pain. Sitting for long periods of time will bunch up your muscles and cause strain and tension.
If you suffer from problems with back pain, heat and ice your back. In the first two to three days of back pain, you want to put ice on it to reduce the inflammation. Aafter the first three days of icing your back you want to apply heat to loosen and relax your muscles.
Many people do not think about back pain until it is too late. Most everyone is not active enough in their daily life. It is imperative that one stays active and physically fit. Also, when one gets a cold or a fever, it is often thought that rest is the key. Well, true to an extent, but getting active plays a vital role to optimized health including in your back.
To prevent hurting your back while working out, always warm up before and cool down after your workout. Many people only schedule enough time to do their actual workout. Nevertheless, asking your back to lift and strain without first stretching it out is a sure way to injure it. A couple of minutes for back stretching exercises are all it takes to transition safely in and out of your workout.
If you are suffering from chronic back pain, do not hesitate to schedule a consultation with a medical professional. Your doctor might want to run some tests (including blood tests) and check out your medical history to look at any other factors that might be causing this pain.
To avoid back pain when reading documents, hold the documents in a fashion whereby you can click here read with your eyes parallel with the document. Looking and reading documents sideways or up and downward will place a lot of strain on the upper back muscles causing you to have back pain.
Be sure that you do not wear a heavy backpack and watch how you have it positioned on your back. Having too much in your backpack can cause strain in your back, which can cause pain. Also, if you have it too high or too low, you risk straining your back.
Proper stretching is probably one of the best ways you can work to eliminate frequent back pain. When you stretch, whether you're doing toe touches, sit-ups or side bends, you are loosening the muscles and relieving some of the tension there. A failure to stretch properly could lead to a pulled muscle or spasms.
Some methods are better to try than others when fighting against back pain, and one of the best you can try is to simply elevate your legs. By lying flat on your back and elevating your legs, you are taking a whole heap of tension off of your back muscles. This will allow for the muscles to relax.
A solid 20% of all back pain-related tips you read suggest you check your mattress, but you should also check what's under your mattress. Sometimes your mattress isn't enough to support your back. You need a solid box spring under there. Don't go with only the support of the mattress top.
One of the best ways to ease your back pain is to flip. Flip your mattress. The springs and inner build up of your mattress can settle over time. Turn your mattress clockwise. Next time, flip it completely over. By doing this it will help your mattress wear evenly which will ease your pain.
A relatively newer type of treatment for back problems, low level laser therapy (3LT) may be a great way to help you get rid of back pain. These cold lasers are noninvasive and can help assist the problems at a cellular level. As little as one treatment can relieve the symptoms of back pain.
Back pain is serious and must not be taken lightly. Now that you know what you need to do, you have no excuse to avoid dealing with your back pains.
Opal Physiotherapy and Health Clinic
20226 Fraser Hwy #102,
Langley, BC V3A 4E6