Thursday, April 23, 2009

How To Prevent Back Pain

By Denise Winfrey

Is your back bothering you to the point that it hinders your daily routine or worse, your job? Back pain is becoming more and more common nowadays, mainly because of two reasons: the alarming rise of obesity, and wrong sleeping positions.

Still, treating back pain is relatively easy:

The market offers a vast array of choices when it comes to our sleeping materials; soft mattresses are very much in demand, yet many people fail to realize that their sleeping positions are being affected when they lie down on these, as soft mattresses do not help maintain the normal curve of a spine.

This makes the veins in between the spinal bones pinched, thus causing back pain. Though many do not choose firm mattresses as they feel it is uncomfortable to sleep in, it actually helps support your back more as you sleep.

Avoiding obesity can help treat back pain. It is not the fat that causes back pain; it is the weight, which puts a strain on your back that actually causes it. And not only does your spine or back suffer; extra weight also strains your knees and ankles, for instance. Losing weight plays an important role in treating back pain.

Doing these will help you avoid and treat back pain, but aside from these, heat therapy can help immediately.

Doing it daily for half an hour will do wonders, as the heat increases blood flow to the inflamed tissues, taking away things which inflame bones and muscles, such as pain medications.

Muscle rubbing and stretching will also help a lot, though the latter should be done gently. Massaging, stretching and rubbing will help the muscles to relax, thus avoiding pain.

If all these do not help, pain medications prescribed by a doctor may also be taken. These are usually Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Meloxicam, and others. Keep in mind that these medicines must be taken only after you consult with a physician.

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