Are you one of the millions of people who suffer with lower back pain? Then you may be eager to find prompt relief so you can enjoy life and work comfortably. Check out the five remedies for low back pain that are often overlooked.
1. Stay active
Movement helps your spine stay in shape, so it is no secret that exercising can help. Any kind of light, controlled movement can be helpful for your back. Even activities such as walking around can be beneficial.
In addition to exercising, you should make it a point to stretch throughout the day, but particularly in the morning and at night before bed. Remember, pain is a problem that will only continue getting worse the more stagnant you become.
As counterintuitive as it sounds, while you may feel like lying down and not moving when you’re in pain, doing so will only make the pain escalate by causing the muscles to tense up more.
A few simple stretches can thus work wonders to relax your spine. Don’t forget to also stretch out your thigh and leg muscles, as they can also contribute to pain in the lower back if they are tight.
2. Use Heat Packs and Cold Packs
Both cold and hot therapy can help relieve aches and pains within tired muscles.
Heated pads work by stimulating blood flow to your back while inhibiting pain receptors.
On the other hand, cold packs or ice packs reduce inflammation, while slowing down nerve impulses.
You can alternate between these two types of packs every 20 minutes to get the most pain relief possible. However, you may also choose one of them, if you find that it works better for you than the other.
Regardless of which option you choose, remember not to apply the pack directly on the skin but rather have it wrapped in a skin-friendly fabric such as a towel.
3. Strengthen Your Core Muscles
Core muscles play a vital role in supporting our spine and torso, and when they are weak, they do not perform as well as they should. As a result, the spine ends up compensating and having to support more weight than it was intended for it. This can lead to muscle strain and back pain.
4. Mind Your Posture
Bad posture can strain your lower back, and as such having proper posture is especially important for the lumbar spine as it is responsible for supporting the weight of the upper body.
Maintaining a good posture is important whether you are sitting down, laying down, standing up, or engaging in physical activities.
To ensure you have good posture in all situations consider investing in a comfortable mattress that supports your back while you sleep, getting an ergonomic chair, or accessories that provide ergonomic support for your back while you sit down, practice good lifting techniques while working out, or wearing a lumbar support belt while you’re going about your day.
5. Try Spinal Decompression Therapy
Spinal decompression therapy is a lesser-known treatment modality that addresses lower back pain from its core. While the name might sound complicated, the treatment itself is rather straightforward.
In simple terms, spinal decompression therapy stretches out the bones of your spine, or rather the space between them, to ensure that certain components of your back are not squashed due to accumulated stress that your spine had to endure up to this point in your life.
There is an easy way to decompress your spine, and that is to use the Backrack Spinal Decompression device, a special orthopaedic product that you can use at home, in your own time to get relief from lower back pain in a natural way.
