The human body is blessed with the intrinsic ability to adjust with the changing climate, but within its capacity. There are chances that you may get some health-related issues or back problems, especially you had been affected by a spine or bone health problems earlier in the past.
Back Problems Observed in Winter
The winter season may affect the back in the following 7 ways:
1) Hypothermia
Every person is prone to be affected with hypothermia (low body temperature) in the winter season, especially older persons, because they become more sensitive with the changing temperature.
Reduced body temperature causes vasoconstriction and decreased blood supply to back muscles, tendons and ligaments, as well as to internal organs, adversely affecting their function.
2) Back pain
It is a common problem faced in the winter by a large number of people. The reason behind this is that tendons, muscles and ligaments in the back become tightened due to the reduced blood supply, inflammation can affect them, and this can make you feel a severe stabbing pain in your back. It may not merely be a problem of the spine, but the pathology may lie in the musculature, ligaments or tendons of the back.
3) Sciatica
Sciatica is also a common problem encountered in the winter season. It is severe stabbing pain in the lower back, radiating in the buttocks and one or both legs.
The sciatic nerve has 5 nerve roots that lie in the spinal intervertebral discs at different levels. If any of the nerve roots gets compressed, sciatica is triggered.
In winter, there are more chances for the sciatic nerve roots to be pressed or injured because intervertebral discs may be swollen and exert pressure on the head of the sciatic nerve.
4) Neuropathy
This is also an adverse effect of the winter season, and it specifically occurs in patients who already having some nerve problems.
The disorder manifests as tingling sensations in different body parts also in the back if you have some back related issues. The reason being is that nerves also become swollen or injured in winter causing numbness, tingling and aches in all over the body especially in the back.
5) Neck Rigidity
You may also feel stiffness or pain in your neck and the adjacent lower area (in the area of the cervical spine) if you do not pay attention to maintain your correct spinal posture during other routines tasks. Good posture is important for spinal mobility.
6) Arthritis
Research conducted by a study suggest that cold temperatures enhance pain in the knee, hips, and other body joints because barometric changes cause the thickness of the joint fluid, changing in normal morphology of joints.
7) Depression that Aggravates Existing Back Pain
Shorter daytime in winter may interfere with mental wellbeing, and can trigger a specific type of depression, called seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which in turn can make back pain worse.
Prevention and Treatment
The following tips can help you avoid back pain in winter:
- Keep yourself warm. Wear many layers of clothing instead of one single thick layer. Use a thick blanket while sleeping. Use electric heaters to warm your house.
- Always use good footwear in winter which prevents your feet from cold. Your shoes should have sufficient grip to lower your chances of having a fall, and ultimately a back injury as much as possible.
- Keep yourself active so that your metabolism remains boosted an adequate amount of energy remains to produce in your body.
- Perform back exercises such as stretching exercises and strengthening exercises to ease back pain. Stretching can be especially beneficial for low back pain.
- Invest in a good sleeping setting, such as a good pillow and mattress that support your back efficiently while you sleep.
- Use the Backrack to target the source of the pain and improve your posture, so that you can live pain-free and keep your back straight again.
Backrack Spinal Decompression Device
If you want to treat your backache without pain medication or pain relievers, we suggest you the Backrack™. It’s a spinal decompression device designed to follows the natural curvature of the spine to fix postural and other spine related problems, i.e. lower back pain, neck pain, sciatica, muscle pain, muscular spasms and others. It can be beneficial even for cases of chronic back pain.
To treat spine problems, the patient must lie on it in relaxed central position keeping knees bent. The first time you may feel stiffness in the spine in this posture because your back is not accustomed to it, but gradually you will feel relax and pain-free as you advance with exercises.
It is the best method for treating back problems while avoiding the adverse effects of medicines. The mechanism of action of the Backrack can be explained as it decompresses the forces from the spine, back muscles and ligaments maintaining the natural curvatures of the spine and makes you feel relaxed.
Author: Spinal Backrack
