4 Ways to Deal with Back Pain

Back pain is never fun. Whether it’s chronic pain or simply the occasional sore back, it is not an enjoyable experience. Any type can affect your home and work life. It’s important to correct back pain when you experience it.

Good Posture

Good posture can help prevent and relieve pain in your back. Keeping your spine aligned and your core strong keeps the unnecessary strain off your spine. It’s easy to slip into a habit of having bad posture. At work, it might be tempting to lean over your desk. At home, it’s easy to bend your neck as you scroll through Instagram on your phone. 

Try to mentally remember to check your posture throughout the day. If you know that you’ll forget to think about your posture, set up reminders. Put a sticky note on your computer screen to remind you to sit up tall, put a note on your steering wheel to remind you to straighten your back as you drive, or set a reminder on your phone to remind you to readjust your posture throughout the day. Constantly thinking about your posture may seem tedious, but it could help relieve a lot of pain in the end.

Core Strength

A lot of pain in the back is related to having a weak core. Take extra time in your workouts to exercise your core. Exercise the abdominal and oblique muscles.  These muscles are part of what helps keep the spine aligned, and as mentioned, proper spine alignment is key to relieving pain. There are several different exercises that are good for core and back strengthening, some include planks, side planks, scissors, crunches, wall sits, and bird dog.

Sleep Correctly

It makes sense that how you sleep can affect your spine. While you sleep, your back is in the same position for hours. If you find yourself waking up with your back hurting it’s likely because of how you are sleeping. Sleep positions and mattresses can greatly impact pain in the back. Super soft mattresses offer little support and are not good for back pain.

A medium-firm to firm mattress is best for those with back pain. You can try using a pillow to relieve stress on your spine while you sleep. If you sleep on your stomach, try putting a pillow underneath your lower abdomen. If you sleep on your side, try putting a pillow between your knees. If you sleep on your back, try putting a pillow underneath your knees.

Seek Professional Help

Some back pain might not be correctable by having better posture, a stronger core, and sleeping correctly. If you experience chronic back pain it is wise to go to a physical therapist who can help you treat your back pain. Physical therapy can help adjust your spinal alignment, come up with a personalized exercise plan, and help explain the source of your back pain. You might need to meet with a physical therapist multiple times before your pain goes away.

Whether you suffer from an occasional bad back or chronic pain, it can begin to interfere with your everyday life. There is no reason why you should suffer from pain in your back when there are things that you can try to alleviate the pain. Using the techniques listed above with the help of your orthopedic doctor and a trained physical therapist can do wonders when it comes to improving your overall pain.

Do you suffer from back pain? What helps improve your back pain?