During his or her life, the average American is highly likely to experience back pain in one form or another at some point, this is true of 80 percent of all men and women. Fortunately, there are many options for preventing, treating, and eliminating the discomfort and aches associated with chronic back pain. Here are some tips for dealing with back pain.
Don’t ignore the pain. If you know a particular activity is going to exacerbate your pain, then don’t do that activity. Ignoring it will not make it go away faster. In fact, pushing through the pain will probably result in further injury, making the pain last even longer.
Consider switching your most commonly used chair into an ergonomic chair. There are several ergonomically designed chairs these days that are made just for those that are sitting at a desk or sitting up all day. These chairs promote better positioning within the chair, thus offering a greater amount of comfort and less stress on your back.
Make sure you drink enough water. The human body is primarily water, including our muscles and the discs in our spines. Getting enough water helps increase the size of the intervertebral discs, which will keep your spine flexible and reduce your back pain. You really can’t drink too much water.
You should be diligent about lifting things correctly, even when you are lifting or nursing your children. Many parents injure their backs when rough housing with their children. Likewise, many new mothers strain their backs while nursing. Pain from these injuries is easily avoided by lifting your children from your knees and by holding them closer to your body.
If you suffer from issues with the cartilage in your spine, you can avoid pain by avoiding sitting for long periods of time. Sitting compresses the disks in your spine, because it causes your abdomen to press backwards. Try reclining, or using a lumbar cushion if you must sit, and take frequent breaks to stand up.
To prevent getting back pain, you need to make sure that you exercise on a regular basis. This will help increase and strengthen the muscles in your back. You just need to be careful that you are not lifting weights that are too heavy and that you are not doing anything else that could actually cause an injury.
While anesthetic and steroid shots are common for back pain, this is not effective for everyone. In addition, prolonged episodes of this can actually sometimes cause more back pain to the person. However, these methods are popular and necessary for treatment of back pain in some scenarios. Again, it is your physician that will determine the treatment.
Whether you are experiencing back pain as a result of an injury or from a lifelong condition, the advice from this article was selected especially for anyone who has suffered from the same condition. Find out what has worked for others in your situation, then decide on your next best move to eliminate back pain.