Back Pain
How to Avoid Pain in your Back
Back pain is one of the most common physical complaints. Is it because our backs are so fragile that they’re easily injured, or is it because we just don’t know how to take proper care of our backs? Backs do have so many parts that there’s a higher risk of injuring your back than most other parts of your body. But not taking care of your back properly is also a major factor in whether or not you will suffer back pains .
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There are many different types of pain you can feel in your back, from general muscle aches and pains to the more severe ache of a pulled muscle, to problems with your vertebrae and discs. Back muscle pain is often caused from exercising improperly or a simple movement that managed to pull or strain a muscle in your back. This is one of the most common types of back pain.
Lifting is one of the major causes of this type of back pain. Most people lift incorrectly, putting the force of the weight they’re lifting on their back and back muscles instead of where it belongs. When you lift anything you should use your much larger and more stable leg muscles to bear the weight and lift it, not your back. This can pull muscles and even damage your spine, and is one of the more common reasons for lower back pain .
Be sure to bend your knees a little bit every time you lift. Then straighten your legs as you lift so that your let muscles are pushing you upward and you’re not pulling on the weight with your back. Bending your knees this way automatically shifts much of the weight to your legs. Be sure to keep your back straight, rather than leaning over at first and then raising up, so that the pressure is off your back. You don’t want to twist or making any kind of jerky movement as you lift, as this can result in back strain, too.
You can do back pain exercises designed to strengthen your lower back and better support you so that your risk of injuring your back is less. Try lying down on a bed facing down with your upper body hanging off the edge. Put your hands behind your head and lower and raise your upper body for a set or two. This works those weak lower back muscles.
Upper back pain can be a result of using your arms in the wrong way, injuring your back, or even stress. Your stress levels have a lot to do with upper back pain, because most of us tense our neck and shoulders when stressed. Exercise can help with stress and back pain. Also try a meditative exercise like yoga , which focuses on relieving stress as you do it.
If you’ve never done that type of exercise before, just remember that your motivation is relaxing so that you’ll suffer less back pain, and soon you might realize how much you enjoy the relaxing properties of yoga.