Have you ever experienced a pull in your back muscles? There are chances that you have! If you drive for long distances to and from your office or your work requires you to drive fairly long, or you work for longer hours while sitting. Be it any reason, you might have experienced back pain that may drive you insane.
Back pain is awfully common among office workers as well as drivers. It can be one of the topmost reasons for your missed workdays. Doesn’t it sound painful and worrying? You should know that your lower back supports the entire weight of your upper body. This is the reason your back can be subjected to extreme strain and stress, particularly when working, twisting, and lifting.
Not only this, the typical causes for back pain can be a sudden injury or the wear and tear of your muscles due to aging, any strenuous physical activity, or chronic disease like arthritis. No matter what, by simply following these important tips, you can help alleviate your back pain.
So if you are tired of experiencing back pain, follow these tips from today!
Get a Physical Therapy
Physical therapists can help you in decreasing muscle pain, increasing its function, and providing education to prevent future recurrences of muscle pain. Improper spine alignment can be the reason causing strain in your back. If this is the case, physical therapists can educate you about the ways of sitting, standing, and moving to keep your spine aligned.
On top of that, physical therapists also teach some specialised exercises to strengthen your core muscles supporting your back. Albeit, physical therapy takes time, but the results can be experienced in the shape of increased muscle strength, enhanced flexibility and not the least reduced back pain.
One more hands-on approach that can help you ease back pain is ‘spinal manipulation’ that is performed by certified experts. Get yourself treated with this therapy to improve structural issues in your spine and restore your lost muscle mobility.
Don’t Rest your Hurting Back
Don’t stress out yourself due to chronic back pain! We all know doctors and physicians usually prescribe the sufferer to take bed rest to ease back pain. But did you know?
‘Lying still can even worsen your back pain while leaving your body stiff to do things’
Bed rest can also lead to further muscle complications due to progressing muscle inflexibility. We suggest you rest for no longer than 2 days. Make sure you get up and move your body slowly to enhance muscle flexibility rather than allowing your back to get rigid due to prolonged bed rest.
You can perform gentle exercises that are no doubt beneficial in relieving your back pain even quicker. Your options for physical exercise may be walking, swimming, yoga and the list goes on.
Maintain your Posture
Slouching can be bad for your back pain. Your poor posture can worsen your pain specifically when your job requires you to sit for longer periods. Chronic back pain makes you vulnerable to lower back injuries.
To avoid this danger, you need to maintain a good posture when involving in physical activities. Try to keep your spine in an erect position. Also, when you are lifting something, bend from knees and not your waist. Make sure you are moving your hips while twisting back and forth.
If you are the one whose job is desk-bound, you need to maintain a correct posture when sitting. Prefer sitting on chairs that support your lower back, try to keep feet on the floor. Be sure that you do not hunch forward to your PC screen and reach far to use a keyboard or mouse. You can put a pillow between your seat and lower back to correct your posture.
Stretch your Muscles
Stretching of muscles can be a great way to ease acute back pain while preventing future back problems. The muscles in your back have to extend in many directions and therefore, you need to do various muscle stretches. You do not always need to rush off to nearby medical stores to get painkillers. These simple muscle stretches can help you ease the pain.
- Knee-to-Chest Stretch-Lie straight on your back and pull your knees to chest
- Spinal twist– Lie flat on your back while outstretching your arms in a ‘T’ position. Now bend your one knee and twist in the direction of the straight leg and try touching bent knee to the floor
- Superman Stretch– Lie on your stomach while keeping your arms stretched above your head and try to lift your chest or legs off the floor.
