Image via: Sasun Bughdaryan for Unsplash
If you suffer from persistent lower back pain, you know how much it can interfere with everyday life.
From muscle spasms to aches and niggling pain that only gets worse when lying down, lower back pain is quite literally a pain to deal with.
There are many causes of lower back pain, ranging from stress to injury. And despite a wealth of information on how to treat back pain, many patients receive unnecessary or excessive treatment that can actually make the pain worse.
When you want to treat lower back pain fast, you want easy-to-access relief.
Here are some of the best natural ways to relieve lower back pain from the comfort of your own home.
Maintain correct posture
When it comes to pain management, prevention is always better than cure. Correcting your posture is a surefire way in reducing your risk of back pain or injury.
Posture plays a crucial part in musculoskeletal health. Having poor posture puts a lot of stress on the kinetic chain, resulting in increased joint load or unhealthy movement patterns.
To improve your posture, it’s important to avoid slouching or hunching. When sitting, ensure that your feet are planted on the ground, hips square, and spine straight and tall.
Maintaining proper posture when standing or lifting heavy objects will also help to protect your lower back from injury.
When standing, draw your shoulders down and back and make sure that you bend your knees and maintain a straight spine whenever you’re lifting something off the ground.
Strengthen your core
The muscles in your abs/trunk area help to support your back and lower spine. When these muscles are weak, you are more at risk of developing a back injury or pain.
To strengthen your core and protect your back, aim to engage your core muscles and target them with simple exercises including:
Cat and cow poseBird dog pose Glute bridgesForearm plankAim to do at least 20-30 minutes of core strengthening exercises a day to help improve your mobility and strengthen your back muscles to prevent injury.
Get a massage
Massage for lower back pain provides both physical and mental relief from pain and stress.
Back pain is usually the result of tight, tense muscles. When tense, these muscles shorten; restricting the range of motion and straining the ligament.
This causes pain that can be described as either shooting or stabbing, numbness, tingling and aching in the lower back.
Massage helps to relax and loosen these tight muscles, encouraging proper blood flow and muscle elasticity. When muscles are loose and relaxed, they are able to function properly and painlessly.
Hot/cold therapy
If you’ve sustained a lower back injury, apply an ice pack to the area within the first 24-72 hours. This will help relieve pain and reduce swelling.
If you are experiencing lower back pain due to tightness or chronic pain not related to injury, try applying a heat pack. Heat applied to the pain site will help encourage the back muscles to soften and relax, giving you instant relief.
You may also find relief with some gentle swimming in a warm pool or relaxing in a warm bath.
Wear proper footwear
If you are prone to lower back pain, consider swapping your current footwear for something more supportive.
High heels, flip flops, sandals and fashion sneakers can push the feet, hips and lower back out of alignment, resulting in pain and injury.
Try to find orthopedic shoes to give you more support when at work or exercising. You can also try orthopedic inserts if you’re not willing to part with your favourite shoes.
Get moving
While it feels counterintuitive, getting more exercise when you’re suffering lower back pain can aid symptoms and improve your mobility.
Doctor’s generally advise not to rest an achy back for more than a day or two. Doing so will prolong muscle tightness and pain.
By getting up and moving, you’re encouraging healthy blood flow to the muscles helping them to release tension.
Some of the best exercises for lower back pain include yoga, swimming and walking.
Practice meditation
Prolonged stress or anxiety can induce lower back pain, leading to a vicious cycle of stress and stress-induced pain.
Daily meditation can help decrease anxiety and stress and improve your overall health.
Through mindful meditation, you can change the way your body perceives pain. When focusing on lower back pain, it only tends to feel worse.
With meditation, you can direct your attention away from the pain and at the same time, reduce the stress that may be the source of the pain.
Sleep on a better mattress
The mattress that you’re sleeping on could be the reason why you’re constantly getting lower back pain.
If you find yourself waking up with sore muscles or are constantly tossing and turning in your sleep, then you may benefit from a new mattress.
There are mattresses for back pain that are specifically designed to support the back and improve spinal alignment. A lumbar supportive mattress and a memory foam or contour pillow can make all the difference to your sleep and your back health.
Anti-inflammatory diet
When you consume anti-inflammatory foods over a period of time, your body will build up antioxidants that can reduce and even eliminate inflammatory reactions from occurring.
Some of the best foods to help reduce lower back pain include:
TurmericCherriesGingerGreen teaOily fishNutsCarrotsSweet potatoesTry to incorporate these ingredients into your daily meals for added protection from pain and inflammation in the lower back.
When it comes to treating lower back pain naturally, there are many methods that work. Depending on the cause of the pain, you may find symptoms disappearing with one or a combination of the above tips.
Of course, it’s always important to visit your doctor for medical advice if you’ve been experiencing chronic lower back pain or have suffered an injury to the lower back.
For the majority of back pain sufferers, making simple adjustments to their lifestyle is enough to keep the pain at bay and reduce the risk of injury over the long term.
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