These are just 8 suggestions on how to lessen back pain occurring. Follow these and you will be helping your back.
Weight management
Maintain a good weight. Check out your BMI and look to address weight issues. The more ‘ideal’ your weight, the less loading there will be on your joints and discs. Loosing even a few pounds can make a big difference to joint pains.
Keep active
Movement is vital and key to strength and flexibility aswell as nutrient movement to the spine and vital organs. Keep as active as possible. Combine stretching, strengthening and cardiovascular exercise too. Ask your manual therapist, gym or personal trainer for advice or check out many of the free apps online to help guide you.
Carry less loads and carry them evenly
Think about how much you need to carry. Carry as little loads as possible. Do more lifts of less weight than all in one go. Distribute the loads evenly rather than to one side. Bend your knees to lift. Use your core muscles to assist bending, lifting and posture.
Break up chores
Instead of doing all of one chore at a time, break them up. Repetitive movements in the same direction and rate are likely to aggravate your back and joints. Break up routine chores. Variety is key to tasks.
Fuel well Drink well
Your body needs to be well fuelled and watered too. Put in the right balance of vitamins, minerals and nutrients and it is likely to perform better. Our body needs a good balance of nutrients to work well, so ensure lots of fresh foods, vegetables and fruits are in your diet, along with water too. Cut out refined sugar, alcohol and caffeine as much as possible.
Reduce stress
The more relaxed we are mentally the more relaxed our body will be too. The mind and body are intimately connected. Look to address stress and your ability to deal with pain will also improve.
Posture
There are ideal postures, but the key is movement. The best posture is your next posture. Keep moving, engage your core and exercise more.
Quit Smoking
Ideally quit smoking, but certainly look towards cutting down at least. Your whole body will benefit from this change.
Manual therapy to prevent back pain
Look to try manual therapy to assist you staying mobile and relaxed and also to seek advice on posture and exercise too. An osteopath, chiropractor or physiotherapist will be able to guide you.
Back pain prevention in Worthing
At Broadwater Osteopaths we help patients with back pain. Firstly this may be through a course of treatment to ease their symptoms and then a management plan to help them stay pain free. All of the above play a part in management and our team are here to guide the process and ensure patients stay on top form and enjoying a pain free life.
