6 min read
You demand a lot from your back in your lifetime-- lifting, and bending, turning, and lifting some more. So the back is prone to injury and overuse. But often, the injury healed long ago, leaving you with pain you can't explain and just won't go away. When that pain lasts for three to six months after a known--or unknown--injury has healed, we call that chronic back pain.
The cause for this lingering, frustrating, and emotionally-draining pain may seem unexplainable on the surface. But there's always a cause. And when you discover it, you can often reduce or eliminate even the most brutal chronic back pain. That's definitely better than just masking the symptoms... or worse, go through an invasive surgical procedure you don't have to.
And if you're wondering if there is a natural, whole-body back pain treatment that actually works, there are some clear winners. Here are 6 well worth a try.
- Improving Your Diet
- Exercising to Get Muscles Moving
- Doing Regular Yoga... Or Stretching
- Massage Therapy
- Chiropractic Care
- Managing Tough Emotions
1. Improving Your Diet
There are certain foods in the average Texan's diet that are known to be highly inflammatory. These include processed foods, added sugar, refined grains, fried foods, and too much meat and dairy. On top of that, you may be getting a few anti-inflammatory foods like fatty fish, vegetables, fruit, and whole grains. And you could be missing out on nutrients that impact your mood, pain levels, and overall health.
So eating fewer of the inflammatory foods and more nutrient-rich and fiber-rich ones can provide some chronic back pain relief.
Diet is also so, so, so important for your immune system. When your immune system is healthy, your body can heal itself more effectively. If we just give our bodies what they need, they really know what to do to be healthy.
2. Exercising to Get Muscles Moving
When you stand or sit for long periods for work or watching your favorite show, your muscles completely relax. That sounds like a good thing, right? But the thing is that if your core, abs, back, and shoulder muscles aren't getting any regular physical activity when they relax, you'll slouch. Slouching leads to poor alignment and extra wear and tear on the body when you do move.
Starting and sticking to a whole-body exercise routine can work wonders as a back pain treatment. But if you're new to exercise, it's best to speak with a doctor first to reduce the risk of injury.
And don't believe the mantra, "no pain, no gain". Exercise shouldn't hurt. If it does, you may need to work your way up to that activity.
If you do sit or stand for long periods, take walk-around breaks, start a sit-stand habit if you can, or do some desk exercises to reactivate your muscles every once in a while.
3. Doing Regular Yoga... Or Stretching
Yoga is an excellent low impact exercise for those who need back pain relief. It gently stretches and decompresses naturally. And, at the same time, it activates and strengthens muscles.
Yoga comes in several varieties, from beginner to advanced. If you're new to yoga and have significant back pain, restorative yoga is a great option. It involves a lot of lying down positions and slow movements. As you experience more back pain relief, we encourage you to try more advanced positions to get the most relief from yoga.
A review of randomized, controlled studies2 on yoga and lower back pain found that those who did yoga during the study experienced a significantly greater ability to function and had reduced pain in the short-term. Longer-term effects remained significant but were less than the short-term benefits. That suggests that regular yoga is best.
It's not a one and done kind of fix!
Those reviewing the studies point out that the research does not compare yoga to regular stretching, offering the same benefits. So just because you're not ready to hit the yoga studio doesn't mean you can't stretch it out to reduce chronic back pain.
4. Massage Therapy
Therapeutic Massage therapy is a pain relief method that will help relieve lower back pain. It targets painful areas, reducing muscle tightness, and increasing joint flexibility to improve how you perform daily activities.
But keep in mind, it took time for your muscles to get all knotted up like this. And it will take time to get them working with other connected tissues more effectively. So one massage session is rarely enough. Massage should become a part of your regular healthcare maintenance.
A review of studies published in the Pain Medicine Journal1 found that massage therapy can improve quality of life, sleep quality, and pain levels in those with chronic pain. They also point out that there is enough evidence that massage therapy should be, but is not, being regularly recommended by pain specialists to reduce pain levels.
5. Chiropractic Care
Poor posture, unsafe heavy lifting, repetitive activities, and more can lead to misalignments and compression in your spine as well as the muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments connected around it. Misalignment causes overcompensation in other parts of the body. That leads to extra wear and tear on everything, along with the pain. A chiropractor can use touch, scans, and visual signs of misalignment to identify and diagnose this common cause of chronic back pain.
They may then recommend non-surgical back pain treatments that decompress, relieve pressure, and realign the body. A chiropractic treatment plan may include but is not limited to:
- Spinal adjustment: Adjustment of individual vertebrae using the hands to relieve pressure between each one, reduce inflammation, realign, and promote healing
- Spinal decompression: A slow and targeted stretching of the spine performed by a chiropractor using a specialized device in the office
- Electrical muscle stimulation: Also called e-stim, this technique uses safe and targeted electrical currents to activate sore muscles and promote healing
- At-home stretching program: A personalized home stretching program designed to help you strengthen your back and neck to reduce slouching and poor form during lifting and activities
6. Managing Tough Emotions
First of all, let's be super clear! This isn't the same thing as saying, "it's all in your head."
The pain is real!
But mental health challenges like depression and anxiety and difficulty managing tough emotions like anger, regret, or sadness can lead to increased headaches, neck pain, and even back pain.
Some of it may be because when you're in emotional pain. You may not be taking care of yourself as well as you should. You may stop exercising and start slouching. But additionally, everything just feels worse mentally and physically when you're in emotional pain.
Finding back pain relief can also help with the emotional pain, which may be made worse because of the physical, breaking a vicious cycle that could be controlling your life.
There are several strategies you can use to manage emotions and reduce the drain they may have on you like:
- Speaking with a professional
- Joining a support group
- Opening up to a trusted person
- Mindfulness
- Prayer / Meditation
- Anger management classes
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy
There are many schools of thought on managing painful emotions. But most agree that dwelling on the negative ones can impact health and happiness. The above can help you understand what painful emotions may be trying to tell you. Let them guide you to make healthier/happier choices.
Chronic Back Pain Relief
Remember, if you have chronic back pain, then it's critical that you treat the cause, not just mask the symptoms with medication or surgery. Either one of those may be recommended in some cases. But there are certainly several non-invasive pain relief methods you can try first. The sooner you begin addressing the cause of your pain, the better chance you have to experience full recovery so you can get back to living your best life.
at Village Chiropractic in the Woodlands for a back pain assessment by one of our chiropractors.
