3 Uncanny Ways to Get Rid of Your Back Pain for Good

Back Pain

About 36 million American’s suffer from back pain year after year. Whether you get it from working out, playing with your kids or by slouching at your desk while you sit at work back pain has become so common that it has become a sort of rite of passage for getting older.

 

The pain it causes is certainly no joke and the limited range of movement can really get in the way of your daily activities. If you are like the rest of us, you’ve had nearly enough of chronic back pain. But how do you get rid of it? Below are some unusual tips to saying goodbye to the back pain forever…or until your 90 years old anyways.

 

Stick To an Anti-Inflammatory Diet

 

A majority of the types of pain we feel everyday are inflammatory. Certainly the back pain you are feeling right now is. Did you know that you could be creating a state of permanent inflammation in your body by eating certain kinds of food? Food high in sugar like sweets, junk food and even some fruits and vegetables can cause inflammation. Other culprits are dairy products, fatty meats and margarine.

 

You may not know it but your diet could be making you more susceptible to back pain. To ease the pain for good, stick to an anti-inflammatory diet. Avoid excess sugar at all cost and go easy on the salt.

 

Work Out

 

If your back pain is caused by injury, chances are you either over exerted yourself or you have weak back and core muscles. Did you know that as we grow older, having weak bones and muscles makes us more prone to injury?

 

Look into low impact but weight bearing exercises like yoga and Pilates to strengthen your muscles. You could also try swimming which is also great for scoliosis and joint pain.

 

Keep Your Body Warm

 

A majority of your body heat, about 80%, comes from muscle contraction. So when it’s a little chilly when you sleep your muscles have to contract twice as hard to keep you warm through the night. Help your muscles out a little bit by making sure that most of your body stays warm, or just turn up the thermostat already!

Myth or not: Can back pain be caused by stress?

There have been multiple medical studies over the past 100 years that have identified that back pain may be related to stress, in addition to that there have been several news articles and tv specials that have also backed this claim. So how much of this is true?

The first factor to consider in back pain related to stress is that pain related to stress should be a primary factor. This means that the type of stress related to back pain has to be serious and in the chronic category. The stress related back pain diagnosis is medically called “psychosomatic” or a “psycho-physiological” one. A psycho-physiological is defined as an illness which is any illness in which physical symptoms are thought to be the direct result of psychological or emotional factors.

When we look back in time, the foundation of stress related back pain actually goes all the way back to the early 1820’s and was popularized by Dr. John Sarno who is a physician at the New York University. In most theories of stress related back pain, the pain cycle continues and is exacerbated as the pain leads to the patient becoming timid and anxious about daily activities. The pain cycle is characterized by:

  • The patient becomes unnecessarily limited in many functions of daily life, as well as leisure activities
  • This decrease in activities is due to the patient’s fear of the pain and injury
  • This fear may be made worse by admonitions from doctors (and/or family and friends) to “take it easy” due to some structural diagnosis (which may actually have nothing to do with the back pain)
  • The limitations in movement and activity lead to physical de-conditioning and muscle weakening, which in turn leads to more back pain

Dr. Sarno’s research is a proven medical theory that stress does indeed cause back pain and can be classified as a primary cause. So the next time your chiropractor or physician tells you that these symptoms are not real you can tell them to refer to Dr. Sarno’s research and many other articles online that outline it as being a primary back pain factor in cases. In conclusion it’s always good to remember that back pain is a multi-factor health issue and there can always be multiple primary causes for it, it’s never a good idea to rule out one cause over the other without carrying out prior research on your overall symptoms.

4 Foods that you never knew, fight pain naturally

It’s very clear that at some part of life we may suffer from some sort of muscle or join pain. Whether that pain is back, neck or knee pain it’s important to understand that eating the right foods can go a long way in mitigating the risks. While in most cases our diets may secretly contain some of the foods we are about to mention, some of you may also be surprised how eating these can actually decrease the risk of different chronic body pains.

 

Cherries:

 

Cherries are great for reducing the risk of Arthritis and muscle pain. There are compounds in cherries called anthocyanins which are also responsible of giving cherries their luscious color. These anthocyanins are very powerful antioxidants that work in two ways to cut down pain. One is that they block inflammation and they inhibit pain enzymes the same way drugs like asprin do. A study has also shown that having cherries for breakfast reduced a major maker of inflammation by 25%. So make sure you add some cherries to your first meal every morning.

 

Salmon and Sardines:

 

There’s usually no bar to eating fish but eating the right fish can have even more benefits to your health. Therefore Salmon and Sardines which are very low in mercury help in relieving pain in achy backs, necks and joints. These two fish species are the all-purpose cure to most of the common chronic pains. The omega 3 fatty acids help improve blood flow through vessels and nerves. Taking 1,200 mg or more of omega 3 is known to reduce both back and neck pain, these can almost always taken as supplements if not naturally due to the high amount required.

 

Edamame

 

Don’t be fooled by their tiny size. Edamame beans are a great pain reliever for those who suffer from Arthritis. The soy protein contained in Edamame help counter the wear and tear of cartilage tears and bones grinding against each other. Another alternative to Edamame is also soy based food such as tofu which can easily be substituted for meat in a lot of meals. Soy protein is not only healthy for the whole body but also knee pain and arthritis prevention.

 

Red hot peppers

 

This may be your worst enemy, the same red hot pepper that drive people to tears and send them running to the water fountain are a great preventer of Arthritis. An ingredient in hot peppers called capsaicin does the trick by stimulating nerve endings and depletes the chemical that relays pain signals. While you don’t necessary have to eat the pepper raw, there are creams that can be found at pharmacies which contain capsaicin which will save you the trouble of burning your tongue.

 

The other alternative is to add some crushed pepper to your daily meal intake, just enough so that you can bear, it’s never good to overdo chili peppers.

 

Eating healthy plays a major role in decreasing risk of chronic back, neck and knee pains. These 4 foods that we mentioned above can be easily substituted for unhealthy choices that we make every day. Making sure we eat right is the first step towards prevention of the most common body pains found in adults all over the world. So the next time you’re grabbing a meal from a restaurant, give it a think and consider cooking or purchasing something that is truly beneficial to your health.

Four exercises to relieve your back pain

As we know that back pain is now a growing concern for those under the age of 40 due to the extensive use of technology, it’s essential to get some exercise to relieve that back pain before it reaches its chronic stages. Exercising daily with these 4 simple exercises can really help ease a lot of the pain that your body goes through by constantly sitting in one place or avoiding any movement at all from your chair at your workplace.

 

Not only will these exercises promote a healthy lifestyle but also lead to you becoming more active daily. The reason these exercises play a core role in helping you get more active and relieve that annoying back pain is that when you sit all day at a desk your hip flexors become tight as they remain in a shortened position. It only gets worse over time where the tightness of the hips cause further weakness and leads to chronic pain over time.

 

Simple hip exercises that are not only easy to do at home, can help prevent the muscles from tightening and decrease the risk of further injury. These 4 exercises in the below video should be done 2-3 times per week for best results.

 

  1. Standing hip abduction with or without band: Standing tall, raise your leg away from your body with a smooth and controlled motion and return to starting position.  Repeat for 12-15 repetitions
  2. Lying down double Leg Bridge or single leg bridge:  Lying down onto your back, knees bent, and feet flat lift your hips up while squeezing the glutes. Hold for 2-3 seconds, then lower the hips down to the floor.  Repeat for 12-15 repetitions.
  3. Lying down Hip abduction with band: Lying down onto your back while placing both legs into a circular band at the knee level, bend knees with feet flat onto the ground, begin to move the knees away from each other working against the tension provided by the band and then resist tension as you bring the knees back together while holding the band in place.  Repeat for 12-15 repetitions.
  4. Standing hip abduction with or without band: Standing tall, raise your leg away from your body with a smooth and controlled motion and return to starting position.  Repeat for 12-15 repetitions

 

Making sure that you spend at least 30 minutes every other day doing these exercises can insure that you have a healthy back and no movement issues throughout the week. Bundle all this with the TIMEZ5 prayer mat and we can certainly say that you would have a blissful week and steer clear from any chronic back pain in the long run.

 

WDRB 41 Louisville News

Are children backpacks the leading cause of back pain in youth?

Our kids have to carry a large load on their backs everyday for almost 14 years, even though text books are getting smaller over time they aren’t getting any less lighter for your 5 year old to bear. If your child complains about how heavy his/her backpack is when they go to school, the reason might be very legitimate and not because they just want you to carry it for them all the way up to the doorsteps.

 

In 2013 alone, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission cited 5,415 backpack-related injuries treated at emergency rooms. That’s an alarming number of young children that are being treated for injuries relating to something that most of us overlook. The injuries relating to backpacks range from acute back pain to chronic back pain to other types of damage.

 

Dr. Karen Jacobs a clinical professor of occupational therapy at Boston University and an expert on school ergonomics says “Wearing a backpack incorrectly or wearing one that’s too heavy can be a contributing risk factor for discomfort, fatigue, muscle soreness, and pain, especially in the lower back.”

 

While backpacks are an essential part of a child’s school regime it is always recommended to make sure that the weight of the backpack is not so much that it causes the child to hunch down to support it. Most parents overlook the fact that backpacks are on your child for a large period of time and over the course of a year can result in bad posture and further injuries, which are never a good sign at such a young age.

 

Dr. Jacobs also added “Injury can occur when a child is trying to adapt to the heavy load by using improper postures, such as leaning forward, arching the back, and leaning to one side.” Therefore it is also the parent’s responsibility to check if your child is struggling with their backpack weights. Taking your child’s health and posture is a priority, so the next time your child complains how heavy their backpack is make sure to observe their posture and maybe try to lift it to check if it causes you any discomfort holding it with your hands. If that is the case, your child may need to cut down on the books they’re carrying and consider getting a locker in school.

 

Finally another piece of advice to add on to the findings of Dr. Jacobs is that parents should consider purchasing ergonomic bags with padded straps that take of weight load from the shoulder significantly. While back pain in children is still not as common as that in adults, it is a serious issue that has to be addressed by both parents and educational institutions alike.

A guide to understanding stress and back pain

With over 3 out of 10 people above the age of 50 suffering from back pain, it is become a common problem that’s only increasing in adults. A lot of times back pain is much easier to address than other type of chronic pains. Over time it has also been seen that back pain may actually be all in our head.

 

When it comes to back pain, our soft tissues that are in our backs begin to heal after we’ve suffered from an accident or just wear and tear, this happens even when you’re above the age of 50. That natural repair takes place over time, whether it’s a week or few months but during that period even when our backs have recovered the brain may continue to send pain impulses that form neurological pathways over time and once those pathways are in place they remain there for good.

 

According to Dr. David Hanscom who is a spinal surgeon, that stress plays a large role in creating those pathways that increase back pain over time. Stress sends our body into fight or flight mode which in turn release adrenaline and puts the body into a heightened state. This in turn causes muscle tension which only alleviates back pain.

 

Dr Hanscom states that the best way to decrease back pain and stop the pathways from getting etched into your neural system is to first address your sleeping patterns. The best way to keep stress at bay and keep your mind at peace is really a good nights sleep. He states that most people with chronic back pain tend to sleep poorly and that results is a poor quality of life.

 

Sleep is so critical to reducing stress and rerouting the brain’s circuitry that Hanscom recommends the use of medication for people who are kept awake by pain or anxiety. Once patients are sufficiently rested, Hanscom prescribes a writing regimen to further distance them from their pain. The object is to write down negative thoughts and then immediately destroy the paper. To keep a journal is to hold on to those thoughts, so journaling is counterproductive, he says.

 

Carrying out some of these basic tasks related to sleep and mental well being play a much larger role in addressing chronic back pain. While some back pain may solely be related to a physical source such as an accident, in most cases stress and mental wellness also play a part in us relieving that back pain which gets worse over time if not tended to.

5 Types of back pain you shouldn’t ignore

Almost 80% of people will face some type of spinal problem in their lifetime. It’s a perfectly natural thing to go through back pain but in some cases the signals of back pain might be more serious than just something that disappears in a few days. Even though 92% of the times back pain is resolved without conventional medicine, sometimes not being able to treat it correctly can only make it worse.

 

Most of the time doctors will prescribe bed rest for a short period and some anti-inflammatory medicines. These work most of the time but for those who continue to get persistent pain even after taking these, might be looking at much more serious symptoms such as the ones we posted below:

 

  1. Back pain that does not resolve or gets worse.

 

  1. Feeling more pain at night than during the day.

 

  1. Spinal pain associated with numbness, weakness or problems in the function of an extremity.

 

  1. The presence of bowel or bladder problems.

 

  1. Difficulty in walking or in fine motor movements of the hands.

 

According to doctors the most common spinal problem is degenerative arthritis of the spine, which leads to neck or back issues over longer periods of time. Other spinal issues can come from sources much more innocuous than inflammation. In fact, those working at a desk job could be setting themselves up for back problems later in life through poor posture.

 

It is important for patients to convey the right signals to the doctors for them to understand the severity of the problems. If any type of back pain is not resolved in 6 weeks, its possible that you have a more serious problem to deal with. In a lot of cases not treating back pain on time can lead no neck pain and knee pain as well. Making sure that we’re able to identify some of the symptoms stated above can help doctors treat you better.