How to Alleviate Low Back Pain
Being able to run, dance, jump or just doing daily routine without pain is a powerful thing. When you have sharp pain in your low back, throbbing pain or a dull ache, it can drastically hinder your day. You never realize how much your back plays a role in everything you do, until it hurts. Desert Spine and Sports Physicians, located in Phoenix, is here to help you not only manage your back pain, but also bring relief to it. We believe that life without pain is possible, no matter if it’s a sports injury or a different type of injury. Let’s look at ways to bring your relief.
Helpful Things You Can Do
When it comes to back pain, we all just want it to go away as soon as possible so we can go back to normal life. No one really has time for pain or should make time for it if they don’t have to. Here are some simple ways you can help alleviate the pain in between visits with Desert Spine and Sports Physicians:
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Get Enough Sleep
This is a very overlooked aspect of pain management. Sleep is a time where your body is able to reset and start restoring itself. A lot of times those who back pain issues tend to have sleep issues as well. It may be hard to sleep when in pain, but then the lack of sleep actually can make your pain worse. This can be a vicious cycle, and getting help with your sleep can positively affect you physically.
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Stretch Your Hamstrings
Our body is a complex puzzle of muscles, tendons, and nerves. Everything is connected, and is your hamstrings (the muscles on the back of your thighs) are tight, it can lead to lower back pack. The tightness of the muscles increases stress on your back muscles, and thus back pain. A great way to address this is with simple hamstrings stretches twice a day.
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Hot/Cold Therapy
It may seem like the simplest answer that everyone says, but it still works. Using a cold pack can help to reduce the inflammation in the muscles and soothe the pain. Heat can stimulate the blood flow in the muscles bringing needed nutrients and stopping the pain messages to bring comfort.
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Exercise Your Core
Your abs and back muscles are highly connected. So if your ab muscles are weak, it can lead to the back muscles being stressed to compensate. By engaging your core and building strength, it can help to alleviate back pain.
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Engage Natural Endorphins
The natural pain reliever is actually within each of us. Endorphins, the hormones in our body, are meant to be natural pain medication. When endorphins are released they decrease stress, anxiety, and depression which increase pain while at the same time blocking the pain signals being sent in your body. Ways to release endorphins naturally is aerobic exercise, yoga, meditation or massage therapy.
Whatever the way you use to find relief in between visits with Desert Spine and Sports Physicians, be sure to be kind to yourself. Find activities or things that make you happy to build your encouragement and support through the painful times.
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (7/6/2017) Ryan Weisgerber (Flickr)