In this article we introduce to you the top 15 advice for back pain relief. We tell you what you can do to avoid such problems and we give you useful hints that help you in case you suffer from back pains. 75 percent of the Germans occasionally complain of back pain and 8 million people even of chronic pain. One reason for this may be that these people have no knowledge of our advice. Long sitting, a bad posture as well as one-side or incorrect loading are just some facts that can cause an aching backside. Another pain reason lies in weak back muscles or in an unbalanced proportion of the different muscles (dysbalance). And from this imbalance suffer not only the muscles, but also the tendons and ligaments. So back pains are just a logical consequence.
1. advice for back pain relief: strong muscles
As weak muscles are often the cause of back and neck pain, a systematic strength training guarantees the best prevention. Pull Ups and other exercises build up a strong muscular corset that supports and protects your spinal column. The musculus erector spinae have a superordinate function here. If they are too weak, this leads to an unbalanced encumbrance of the vertebral body and of the intervertebral discs with back pains as a result.
Perform exercises regularly to strengthen your back and your spinal column as well as to optimize your posture and to relieve the strain on your intervertebral discs. And doing this you need not be afraid to belong to the formerly mentioned 8 million people.
Tip: After the training you may hang yourself on the pull-up bar to relieve your intervertebral discs.
And very quickly you will realize how good this is for your back.
2. How to avoid poor posture by stretching
Besides strengthening you should also stretch your muscles. Hereby you avoid the shortening of your muscles related to a poor posture that can be the cause of back pain.
3. tip for back pain relief: back to school
For some people it may sound strange, but another good way to back pain relief is to join a school for back exercises. Never heard about? In these courses you learn from physiotherapists, sport teachers and other experts how to deal with your back adequately. They are specially skilled and so they know exactly what to do.
The contents of a back school are such as the specific strengthening of the back muscles as well as the correct training of these and the intentional awareness of the posture. And to make the effects of all the exercises transparent and understandable for you, you receive a lead-in into the functionality of the human muscle-, the skeleton- and the nervous system. The principle is clear: only those who understand their back know, what is good for it, and those are motivated to do the learned exercises regularly.
The superior aim lies in a sufficient movement of the back, in a permanent correct posture and the learning of how to lift and carry things in a back-friendly way. These facts are as important for everyday life as for the job, no matter, if you work in an office, maybe a doctor's office, or on a construction site.
4. advice for back pain relief: relax, no stress!
Another often underrated hint for back pain relief is the reduction of stress. Many people are unaware of the close relations between our mental and physical health and fight with medicine against pains for years, although the stress reduction would show better and faster effects. So, stress means a burden that affects not only our mind, but also our body with tensions in our muscles.
The magic word is "relax actively". You should not sit on the sofa and switch on the TV, but for example take a hot bath, take a walk etc.
Note: Yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic training and other relaxation techniques seem like miracle cures against tenseness, and they are some kind of a secret tip for back pain relief.
5. When sitting, sit correctly!
The average citizen in Germany sits seven and a half hours - daily! Whether in the car, in the TV-armchair or in an office chair - back-friendly sitting is enormously important to prevent back pain. And this fact is comprehensible if you know that the strain on the intervertebral discs is forty percent higher when sitting than in a standing position. But what is the correct back-friendly sitting position like?
- The upper body is upright, the pelvis is tilted forward while the thighs fall slightly outward.
- The feet stand on the ground and the angle between the lower legs and the thighs is 90 degrees.
- The sternum is lifted upright to the front.
- The head is straight, so that the cervical spine is stretched (avoid the infamous "question mark position").
Besides that, you should take care not to remain in one position too long. Keep your back moving by squirming back and forth. And once an hour you should stand up for some minutes, stretch yourself and walk around.
6. tip for back pain relief: support your intervertebral discs
The intervertebral discs lose their liquid increasingly during the day, so that the core dwindles and the vertebral bodies approach to each other. Normally, that is no problem because the structures regenerate while lying at night by absorbing liquid from the elastic tissue. You can support this regeneration and prevent back pain when drinking the adequate amount of water. So, the "shock absorbers" between the vertebral bodies remain elastic and can keep off any kind of friction, that can be the reason for pain.
Further advice for back pain relief: Drink at least two liters of water per day. It is advisable for example to keep a drinking bottle in your sight (over two liters filling capacity) that supports you with water during the day and lets you control your water consumption.
7. Your body is one unit
Most people are not aware of the correlation between the feet and the back. Each wrong positioning of the feet affects the back in a negative way. So, there is another advice for back pain relief: choose the right shoes and use gel-insoles if needed, which cushion your soles and absorb shocks. By the way, your knees will benefit from this, too.
8. When standing, stand correctly!
Long standing can also cause pain. The longer you are standing every day, the more important is a correct posture: your feet should be in a hip width distance from each other, and your body weight should be equally distributed on both of them. Your knees should never be completely stretched, but there must always be a little kink in the ankle. Additionally, the hips should not cant to the front, so that you don't have a hollow back. The shoulders are relaxed, the thorax is upright and the chin is pulled back slightly while the head is straight.
Tip: Just like when sitting, you should often change your position.
9. hint to avoid back pain: correct lifting
When lifting and dropping boxes etc. you should crouch down and spread your legs slightly to the outside. Here, your back is kept straight and especially heavy loads must be held close to the body. If you realize that a load is too heavy, don't be over-ambitioned, but ask anybody for help. Your back will be glad about this!
10. A healthy lifestyle
Two more significant tips against back pains that are closely combined with each other, are the avoidance of overweight and a well-balanced nutrition. Each overweight pound on your belly means an additional burden for your spinal column, because it abets a hollow back. Do much sport and eat a sufficient amount of fruit, vegetables etc. to provide your body with the required nutrients (vitamins, minerals, ...).
11. And if it tweaks despite all efforts...
If your back hurts, because you did not follow the given advice for prevention, have a look at the following tips for back pain relief.
First of all, you should know that the body interprets pain as a kind of alarm signal. And that is why we get into a spare posture automatically in case of pains. But in the long run this has negative effects and can even lead to worse aches. This "unnatural" posture follows an excessive stress of muscles that may cause painful tenseness - a vicious circle emerges. Instead of a spare posture the motto must be "into the action"!
12. tip for back pain relief: relieve your back
Besides slow activating your affected muscles, a so-called "relieve position" can stop the pain. Especially against problems in the lower back part we suggest to lie down flatly and to put your lower legs high in a 90-degree-angle. Through this, the sciatic nerve and the spinal column muscles untighten and the intervertebral discs get the liquid for their buffer function back.
13. Pain ointment and -gels can bring back pain relief
Your treatment should be without chemical-synthetic substances. As they can bring on different side effects, you should only use them if all the other efforts are ineffective.
14. Another tip for back pain relief: well-doing massages
If you have had strong pain and therefore enjoyed a massage, you know how soothing this is. Stroking and clapping with the hands eases tenseness and supports the blood circulation of the muscles. Ask your masseur to use eucalyptus or rosemary oil, because they support the massage effects.
Tip: To test the digestibility you should put some of the vegetable substances on a little part of your skin and wait a short time to see if there is any allergic reaction.
15. See an osteopath
The osteopathy can almost cause miracles, too, for back pain relief. The pressure and backpressure in the therapy loosen blocked ankles and ease tenseness, so that this smooth method is another good therapy.
The top 15 advice for back pain relief - pay the adequate attention to your spinal column
Our spinal column with its many ankles is a sensitive construct, that deserves protection. After all it keeps us upright and it is encumbered the whole day, whether we sit or stand. We put a strain on our back (long sitting, overweight, excessive sport, ...) and we should give it timeouts, so that it can remain functional and painless. Our 15 advice are precisely right for this purpose! They are easily practicable and nevertheless they are very effective!
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KT Tsai
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