Back pain is awful – and incredibly common, too. What exactly goes wrong? Can we prevent it, and how can we make it better?
Please phone Cairns Acupuncture on 0408 054 538 to discuss your chronic lower back pain.
Preventing and assisting Pain
There is no doubt that, in the long terms, the most crucial ways to prevent back problems are keeping fit and shedding excess weight. One of the most common forms of back pain is a generalised ache that comes from spine misalignment, often caused by carrying around those extra kilograms.
Age is another factor. You can’t prevent the march of time, but you can make sure you’re prepared for it with good exercise and dietary habits.
If you get a sudden back pain, though, there a re a few immediate things to bear in mind. Contrary to popular belief, taking to your bed for a week probably isn’t going to help. For a start, a sagging mattress may have contributed to the problem in the first place and if you also have a very old pillow then this will compound the situation. Second, getting on the move again – however gently – keeps your muscles and joints from becoming weaker and will give you a more positive outlook, too. If the pain is bad, you should of courxe trest in a comfortable position – but don’t forget this might be anything from standing or kneeling to lying on your side.
When you do go to bed, sleep on your side, bending your knees, with a new pillow propped between them to straighten the spinal column while you sleep (and of course a new pillow under your head and supporting your neck).
Temperature changers such as ice pack or hot water bottles can also work. Start with a cold compress for the first couple of days, then switch to a warm one – a lavender-laced one would be even better.
Treatments – what you need to know
Acupuncture may assist your back pain and a course of at least 4-6 treatments will have you back on your feet in no time.
A remedial massage – to remedy a problem such as your back pain will also assist in your return to normal function.
Back pain Glossary
Slipped Disk
Common name for the painful condition which one of the spongy, shock-absorbing pads (intervertebral discs) between the spinal vertebrae protrudes, causing swelling and pressure on one or more nerves of the spine:also called herniated or prolapsed disc.
Sciatica
Pain radiating from the buttock to the lower leg, the pathway of the sciatic nerve, often caused by a disc pressing on the nerve at its spinal origin.
Back Injury Cairns
Inflammatory joint disease
one of a number of conditions in which chronic swelling of joints causes pain and limits movement. Among those that affect the back are osteoarthritis and ankylosing spondilitis.
Osteoarthritis pain and swelling caused by ‘wear and tear’ on the cartilage separating the bones that form a joint: associated with aging and more common in women than men.
Osteoporosis
weakening of bones caused by the loss of density associated with aging, especially in women after menopause: may cause fractures of the vertebrae, which may result in back pain.
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Back Pain and Stress
Even more common than acute back pain is the throbbing, grumbling backaches that affects most of us at one time or another and is mostly caused by stress, tiredness and bad posture. But with a good massage, help is always at hand.
When we ask for a massage, most of us are concerned about relieving the tension in our back. The back is the largest expanse in your body, and bears the brunt of much of your stress, but when it comes to relieving that strain, a massage therapist can really make a difference. Long, sweeping strokes (effluerage) will help iron out knots caused by bad posture or in some cases injuries.
Cairns Acupuncture 0408 054 538 or email tanyagalvin@hotmail.com
Back Injury Cairns
Back Injury Cairns
Back Injury Cairns
Back Injury Cairns
Back Injury Cairns
