Get Enough Restorative Sleep
Pain is a leading cause of insomniadifficulty with falling asleep and/or staying asleep. Inadequate sleep can also make your back pain worse. This vicious cycle makes it more difficult for you to get restorative sleep.
See Restorative Sleep Brings Back Pain Relief
Getting enough restorative sleep is needed for the bodys tissues to heal and recharge energy levels. If you have trouble sleeping, it is important to address pain or other factors that are causing it. Your doctor might recommend lifestyle changes, medications, or other treatments depending on what is disrupting your sleep.
Lower Back Pain Symptoms
Lower back pain ranges from mild to severe. Chronic back pain creates a dull ache that is more annoying rather than debilitating. Severe back pain can prevent you from performing daily tasks.
Acute back pain suddenly appears and disappears. It can last as long as three months. Chronic lower back pain gradually develops and causes long-term health problems.
The most common lower back pain symptoms include:
- Dull and aching pain located in your lower back
- Stinging or burning pain ranging from your lower back to your thighs
- Increased discomfort after prolonged sitting or standing
- Trouble standing up straight
- Difficulty walking or lifting
- Muscle spasms along your lower back, hips, and pelvis
If you experience high fevers, sudden weight loss, or numbness in your groin area, seek urgent care.
Stretching And Foam Rollers May Improve Back Pain
If the primary issue causing back pain was limited motion and stiffness, its likely that I would prescribe some stretching exercises, says Stephens. These could be done with a therapist or independently at home, he says.
Foam rollers can sometimes be helpful in relaxing a tight muscle, but it can be difficult to access the right spot with lower back pain if youre trying to do it on your own, he says.
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Yoga: Stretching For Back Pain
If back pain doesn’t go away in three months, there’s evidence that yoga can help. In one recent study, people who took 12 weeks of yoga classes had fewer symptoms of low back pain than people who were given a book about care for back pain. The benefits lasted several months after the classes were finished. The study suggests conventional stretching also works just as well. Make sure your instructor is experienced at teaching people with back pain and will modify postures for you as needed.
Extra Strength Pain Cream
If youre tired of pain-relief balms that only mask the pain, switch to our Hemp Extract Pain Relief Cream.
Made with Broad Spectrum Hemp Oil Extract it gets rid of all kinds of aches, inflammation, soreness, and pains instantly. Infused with Arnica flower extract, this smooth, cream heals bruises and reduces swelling.
The rich, lightweight formula absorbs easily into your skin without leaving it oily and sticky. The black pepper oil gives you instant warming relief, while the gentle aloe vera and coconut oil nourish and protect your skin, making it perfect for sensitive skin as well.
Fast-acting formula Penetrates deep within to give long-lasting relief and comfort Made with natural ingredients and botanical extracts 1000mg Hemp extract in every jar
Directions: Use a small amount directly on the affected areas and massage as you normally would.
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What Are The Symptoms Of Lower Back Pain
Symptoms of lower back pain can come on suddenly or appear gradually. Sometimes, pain occurs after a specific event, such as bending to pick something up. Other times, you may not know what caused the pain.
Pain may be sharp or dull and achy, and it may radiate to your bottom or down the back of your legs . If you strain your back during an activity, you may hear a pop when it happened. Pain is often worse in certain positions and gets better when you lie down.
Other symptoms of lower back pain include:
- Stiffness: It may be tough to move or straighten your back. Getting up from a seated position may take a while, and you might feel like you need to walk or stretch to loosen up. You may notice decreased range of motion.
- Posture problems: Many people with back pain find it hard to stand up straight. You may stand crooked or bent, with your torso off to the side rather than aligned with your spine. Your lower back may look flat instead of curved.
- Muscle spasms: After a strain, muscles in the lower back can spasm or contract uncontrollably. Muscle spasms can cause extreme pain and make it difficult or impossible to stand, walk or move.
Finding Lower Back Pain Relief
Nearly everyone will experience some form of back pain in his or her lifetime. The low back is the area behind the belly from the rib cage to the pelvis and is also called the lumbar region. Back pain is a major cause of missed work. Low back pain usually resolves on its own and is commonly the result of a strain injury. There are many treatments for low back pain.
At Risk for Lower Back Pain?
Low back pain can start in a person’s early twenties and continue on throughout adulthood. Studies have shown that up to 80% of the general population are affected by low back pain at some time during their lives. Learn to prevent lower back pain by knowing what activities could be putting you at risk.
Common Causes of Low Back Pain
- Manual materials handling
- Twisting of the trunk
- Bending the trunk to the side
- Excessive reaching
- Extreme tallness
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Prevention: The Best Treatment For Back Pain
An estimated 65 million Americans suffer from chronic back pain, and it is one of the top reasons for doctor visits. Back pain has many causes, including bad posture, excessive weight, poor workstation setup, lack of exercise and limited flexibility. Fortunately, many of them are preventable and treatable.
Stretching, using good body mechanics at work and strengthening core muscles can help prevent back pain.
Depending on the cause, the pain can occur in different areas of the back and inflict different types and degrees of pain. Some patients experience an occasional dull pain, while others suffer constant agonizing pain that makes even the simplest movements difficult, says Natalie Nevins, DO, an osteopathic physician from Hollywood, California. Either way, back pain can prohibit people from completing their normal daily activities.
To reduce the risk of back pain, its important to identify its cause. Once the cause is determined, lifestyle or environmental changes can be made to prevent or eliminate back pain.
When Should I See A Doctor If I Have Lower Back Pain
In many cases lower back pain stops on its own. But if it doesnt, here are some guidelines on when you may want to start seeking professional help:
- If the pain lasts four weeks or longer
- If the pain keeps getting worse as time goes by
- If you are experiencing other symptoms, such as fever, major weight loss or weight gain, loss of function or weakness in extremities, bladder problems, etc.
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What Are The Most Common Lower Back Surgery Procedures
Spine surgery is not necessary for most people who have lower back pain. If you do need it, your doctor will recommend an appropriate procedure to address your specific symptoms and medical situation. Common spine surgeries include:
Spinal Fusion. Two or more vertebrae are permanently fused together to limit excess spinal motion. Your surgeon will use a combination of bone, bonelike material, screws, plates and rods to hold the vertebrae together so they can heal into a single unit. Spinal fusion may be done to correct spinal deformities or to increase the spines stability in severe cases of spinal osteoarthritis or herniated discs.
Laminectomy and laminotomy. Laminectomy is a surgery in which your surgeon removes the back portion of one or more vertebrae to create more space for the spinal cord or other nerves. In people with severe arthritis, bone spurs within the spinal canal can grow large enough to press on the spinal cord, causing pain and limiting mobility. In a similar surgery known as laminotomy, your surgeon will remove a small piece of bone called the lamina from the back of the vertebra.
Medical Marijuana For Back Pain Treatment
grows wild in all but the coldest climates all around the world. It has been used medicinally for thousands of years. Marijuana was part of the US Pharmacopeia until 1941, when anti-drug zealots had it banned. The marijuana plant contains more than 100 substances known as cannabinoids, which are unique to the plant.
The most well-known cannabinoids are THC and CBD. The brains of mammals also produce substances known as endocannabinoids, which have been referred to as the brains own marijuana.
Whether they are produced by the body or derived from plants or synthetic formulations , cannabinoids bind with receptors on cells throughout the body to create their effects. These cannabinoid receptors are involved in metabolic regulation, craving, pain, anxiety, bone growth, and immune function.
A survey of 100 consecutive medical marijuana patients who were returning for their annual recertification in Hawaii found that 97% used marijuana primarily for relief of chronic pain. They reported an average 64% decrease in paina decrease on a 10-point pain scale from 7.8 to 2.8. Half also reported relief from stress and anxiety 45% reported insomnia relief and 71% reported no negative side effects. No serious adverse effects were reported. Some of the patients reported they were able to reduce or eliminate their use of opioids.
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Look Into Getting A New Mattress
How old is your bed? You may be surprised to learn that the average life span of a mattress is less than 10 years. Theres no hard-and-fast rule, says Sean Mackey, MD, PhD, chief of the division of pain medicine at Stanford University, but if your mattress is sagging significantly or is more than six to eight years old, Id think about getting a new one.
Something else to consider: A firm mattress may not do your back any favors, says Carmen R. Green, MD, a physician at the University of Michigan Back & Pain Center. A number of studies over the years suggest that people with lower back pain who sleep on medium-firm mattresses do better than those with firm beds, she says.
Massage Therapy For Low Back Pain
Studies have shown that massage treatments can help relieve chronic low back pain. Massage treatment can restore people to their usual activities of daily living and lessen pain. Massage therapy is limited, and would not be the most effective solution for patients with spinal complications, injuries, or disk problems since massage focuses on the release of muscle tension and not on the structure of the spine itself.
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Contact Your Manual Osteopath If You Have Back Pain:
- Its intense and doesnt get better with rest
- It has spread to one or both of your legs, especially if the pain has spread below the knee.
- Causes weakness, numbness or needle sensation in one or both of your legs
- Be inexplicable along with weight loss
Also see your doctor if you haveback painfor the first time after the age of 50, or if you have a history of cancer, osteoporosis, taking steroids, or taking too much drugs or alcohol.
Overlooked Remedies For Lower Back Pain Relief
When lower back pain persists and continues to interfere with your quality of life, multiple treatment options may be needed for adequate relief. Below are some back pain treatments that are commonly overlooked or underused. Try one or more of these remedies to see which one, or combination, works best for you.
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Choosing The Best Topical Pain Relief Creams
Active Ingredients
The active ingredients used in different pain creams differ. Ensure that the cream you choose is suitable for your specific type of pain. It would be best if you also were cautious with salicylate or lidocaine-based creams because it is possible to overdose on them.
Lidocaine or diclofenac contains NSAIDs, which are substances that reduces inflammation can provide relief in your discomfort. In addition to these ingredients, there are others that provide a distraction:
Cooling Sensation: Camphor, Menthol, Methyl salicylate
Warming Sensation: Capsaicin
Depending on the type of pain relief you want, all of these methods can be effective.
The Real Difference Maker For Chronic Pain: Active Physical Therapy
Many people with chronic back pain are under the impression that they have two options: live with pain and try to minimize it, or have surgery. But for most back pain sufferers, theres another option a better option for providing long-term relief: active physical therapy.
Active physical therapy or targeted therapy involves exercises aimed at building up the specific muscles that support your back.
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It’s Time To Take Control Of Your Back Pain
Chronic pain in the hips and lower back is often caused by a biomechanical imbalance. In our day-to-day lives, at least half of our core muscles remain unused, while the other half are stiff from overexertiondue to poor posture, prolonged sitting, or repetitive asymmetrical movements with improper alignment of the hip joints, pelvis, and spine.
Well teach you how to restore muscle balance with the help of the Pelvic Clock®, a portable exercise devicecreated by a former Olympic coach.
Lightweight and durable, the Pelvic Clock® exercise device is manufactured in the USA.
The Pelvic Clock® helps you do the following:
STRETCH to increase flexibility of the lumbar spine and improve hip mobility.
STRENGTHEN dormant core muscles to increase core stability. Stabilize sacroiliac joints and the lumbar spine.
REALIGN uneven hips, a rotated or tilted pelvis, or a curved lumbar spine.
RELEASE tight hip flexors and a tight piriformis muscle.
RELIEVE chronic hip and lower back pain.
How to Stop Chronic Hip and Lower Back Pain
No treatment can guarantee permanent results. Whether you have had spinal surgery, or receive cortisone shots, chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture, or physical therapy, you must follow the treatment with appropriate regular home exercises. This willprolong the effectiveness of the treatment and minimize the risk of a relapse. There is no other way. Nobody is going to rebuild your muscles for you.
How Can Exercise Realign Your Pelvis?
Is Your Pain Chronic or Acute?
Clinical Guidelines That Stimulate A More Active Approach To Management
The accumulated evidence from randomised trials and systematic reviews regarding the value of diagnosticand therapeutic interventions has now been incorporated in clinical guidelines. A few initial surveys have shown that these guidelines are being followed to some extent, but there is still room for improvement, especially in those countries and settings in which a large discrepancy exists between recommendations in guidelines and actual management in clinical practice. Measures should be taken to minimise this gap. Simply developing and publishing evidence based guidelines and subsequently disseminating these guidelines may not be effective enough to change practice. Implementation seems essential in changing clinical practice. Several trials have evaluated implementation of guidelines and its effect on patient and process outcomes.w8 These trials show modest effects at best. More intensive multifaceted interventions might be needed to achieve further progress in this area.
A patient’s perspective
I can’t even remember exactly when my backaches started. It must have been about 20 years ago, when I was teaching kindergarten. That kind of work is hard on your back: everything happens close to the floor. I had a check-up with a specialist who, after taking x ray scans, told me that my back was weak. I understood that I needed to take better care of my back, so I went to a physiotherapist, who taught me some exercises to strengthen my back.
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Acupuncture For Back Pain Treatment
Acupuncture is a treatment system that involves inserting thin needles into specific points on the body in order to positively affect a patients health. The needles affect the flow of energy, known as qi. Acupuncture is a therapy that has been developed and refined over thousands of years and is part of traditional Chinese medicine .
Acupuncture has been the subject of significant research. This research has included studying its underlying mechanisms and its effect on clinical conditions, including pain. Studies have shown that acupuncture affects the supply of neurochemicals, including levels of endorphins, cortisol, serotonin, and dopamine. Furthermore, other studies have shown changes in levels of brain activity with needling of acupuncture points.
A 2007 study of 1,162 patients compared acupuncture, sham acupuncture , and conventional therapy for effectiveness against low-back pain. The study concluded that both acupuncture and sham acupuncture were almost twice as effective as conventional treatment for chronic back pain. The improvements lasted at least six months.
In a 2012 study that included individual patient data from 29 controlled studies with a total of 17,922 patients, researchers concluded that acupuncture is an effective treatment for chronic back and neck pain, osteoarthritis, and chronic headaches.
Is It Muscle Strain Or Sciatica
Back pain that occurs after excessive exercise or heavy lifting is frequently a strain injury. However, occasionally these activities cause disc injury and rupture or herniation. When a herniated disc irritates the sciatic nerve, it can cause back pain and, in some people, leg pain.
What is Sciatica?
Sciatica is a form of nerve pain caused by pressure on the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve is a large nerve that runs down through the buttocks and extends down the back of the leg. Pressing on or pinching of the sciatic nerve causes shock-like or burning low back pain. Sometimes people feel as if the pain radiates down through the buttocks and down one leg, sometimes even reaching the foot.
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