Back pain is one of the most common ailments that people go through. However, it is not a deadly issue, and you will most probably recover from it with rest and the right treatment.
So, how exactly do you treat back pain? For many years, bed rest was thought to be the best way to manage back pain. Even though bed rest is advised at first, too much bed rest can worsen the pain.
Best practices for bed rest to relieve pain
If you suffer from back pain or you just started noticing that it is difficult to keep your back straight, it is best that you give your back some rest. It is quite likely that the pain is due to sudden movements or fatigue from work. If that’s the case, it will go away until the next morning. If it does not go away, this does not mean that you should stay in bed the whole day.
The right thing to do is to get out of bed and do some physical activity such as mild exercises or a walk in your front yard. You should limit the time that you stay in bed or stay lying down.
There is no strict regulation on where you should lie down. You can even rest on a sofa if it is comfortable for your back. Just make sure that you are not lying there for the whole day. To ease the pain, put some soft pillows or cushions behind your back and under your hips to ensure your back is fully supported. If the back pain has extended to your legs, you can keep a pillow under your knees too.
Is prolonged bed rest good for you?
No. Not at all. A common thought that might come to your mind that is that if you do physical activity, it will strain your muscles more. However, this is not really the case. Your muscles need physical activity to develop their tone again. If you stay in bed for prolonged periods of time, you might end up developing other problems.
For example, your lower back is most likely to suffer if you spend too much time laying in bed and can lead to or aggravate existing lower back pain.
Additionally, with every day that you stay in bed, your muscles and ligaments can be affected. For example, you can lose up to 1 percent of muscle strength, and this can affect all back regions.
The longer you stay in bed, the more muscle strength you will end up losing. Thus, it is important that you go back to doing physical activity after the first day or two of bed rest. If you stay in bed and get weaker, back pain recovery will become more difficult.
How to make bed rest work faster
As we have already mentioned, you should only stay in bed for a maximum of two days. But there are some things that you can do in order to relieve pain and get better much quicker, even when you combine that with bed rest. Some options include:
- Take a heat pack to bed with you and keep it in the affected area.
- You can also use a cold pack and apply it locally to the painful site, but make sure you do not apply it directly onto your skin. Cold packs can be especially beneficial when there is inflammation.
- Try sleeping on different surfaces. Maybe, the texture of your bed mattress is making the pain worse.
At the end of the day, it is important to realize that bed rest is meant to give your body an initial break. It is not intended for complete alleviation of pain. Start with regular movements and go up to mild exercising. If you want to recover quickly, though, you should start doing Backrack exercises.
Backrack is a unique back pain relief device designed to use at home!
It helps you treat your back pain naturally without using any medicine. It is 100% safe, CE marked product endorsed by world top spinal specialists. It is easy to use, as all Backrack exercises are performed while laying down on the device.
With the help of the Backrack technology, you can treat almost 98% of all back pains in the comfort of your own home.
To get started with any Backrack exercises, all you have to do is lay down on the rack, with your knees bent, and perform a series of exercises that target your specific back problem.
Such exercises can help with a wide range of back problems, such as sciatica, low back pain, hip pain, neck pain, disc problems, as well as posture problems. They can be beneficial even for cases of chronic or severe pain.
If your pain does not improve with the aforementioned methods, seek professional help from a qualified medical professional, that preferably specialises in orthopedics. You may have to undergo a series of medical examinations to obtain a diagnosis and a tailored treatment plan, that may or may not include the necessity to get chiropractic care or physical therapy.