What's Good for Back Pain at Home?
If you’re experiencing back pain, know that you’re certainly not alone. In fact, statistics show that almost 80% of all adults will experience back pain at some point in their life. Back pain could start from the smallest of things like straining it during physical activity or it could be symptoms of a more chronic issue such as arthritis.
The most important pressing part of back pain is learning how to treat it quickly and effectively to get you back up and feeling good again! Today we’re taking a look at what’s good for back pain at home and giving you a few simple activities or adjustments to try.
So What’s Good For Back Pain Relief?
No one wants to be miserable and in pain. Whether you’re experiencing temporary back pain from lifting something the wrong way or looking for chronic back pain relief, odds are you want comfort and you want it now! Identifying common causes of back pain and ways to treat them may be helpful in taking back your life and living without pain. It’s important that you consult with your primary care physician before beginning any back pain treatment at home, however, to ensure it’s safe to do so.
What’s good for back pain, then? Let’s take a look at a few back pain relief treatments you can try at home:
- Strengthen your core muscles to support spinal health
- Stay active, even when you don’t want to (but don’t overdo it!)
- Try using a zero gravity chair for back pain relief
- Use cold and heat therapy for back pain treatment at home
- Help the body heal itself by getting enough sleep
Strengthen Core Muscles for Back Pain
The importance of spinal care can’t be overstated when it comes to what’s good for back pain relief. Having strong muscles in your core helps support your spine and keep you from injury. It can also help alleviate pain you are already experiencing.
There are lots of easy core building exercises you can incorporate into your daily fitness routine to help with back pain relief. It’s important to remember to have a proper post workout recovery routine, however, to keep your muscles from tensing up and becoming sore after physical activity, as that will do the opposite of what you want to achieve.
Is It Better for Back Pain to Rest or Keep Moving?
Keep moving! That is, keep moving within your limitations. Coming in at the second spot on our list of what’s good for back pain at home is keeping moving and staying active even when you may not want to.
The key to staying active to alleviate back pain is to make sure you’re not accidentally doing more harm than good. For example, if you’re experiencing back pain then instead of your normal workout routine, maybe you go for a brisk walk for 30 minutes to elevate your heart rate and improve blood circulation. Staying active helps your blood flow more effectively throughout your body and is critical in helping your spine heal from injury or pain.
By staying active, you’re also working to increase mobility and flexibility, which helps your core muscles support your spine better and allows you to move more easily. Flexibility of muscles lets them stretch further without tearing. This can be especially helpful for how to treat muscle tension or prevent it.
Using a Zero Gravity Chair for Back Pain Treatment at Home
We can’t talk about what’s good for back pain at home without bringing up the potential benefits of zero gravity chairs. Maybe you’ve heard about zero gravity chairs but think they’re just another recliner (learn the answer to “should I get a zero gravity chair or recliner?” after this article!) but they’re so much more than that. Choosing the best zero gravity chair for back pain and using it for back pain treatment at home is a complete game changer.
The health benefits of zero gravity chairs stem from the zero gravity position. In zero gravity position, the legs are elevated above the heart level and weight is distributed evenly along the body. How does this help, you wonder? First, using a zero gravity chair for back pain may work because of the stress the zero gravity position removes from your lower back and pelvic area. This makes zero gravity chairs for sciatica popular, as well.
Let’s look a bit more closely at how the zero gravity position helps as a back pain treatment for home, though. As we’ve mentioned, blood circulation is critical to back pain relief. In the zero gravity position, blood is able to flow more efficiently throughout the body, helping rehydrate discs, heal spinal tissue, and could even be a faster method for how to heal a hernia naturally.
Zero gravity chairs may also help with back pain by improving your posture. There are many easy activities to combine with the zero gravity recliner to improve posture such as full body workout exercises, zero gravity meditation, even physical self-awareness activities.
Other bonus features of zero gravity luxury recliners may include massage and heat therapy functions, as well. These work together to keep muscles loose and allow them to heal more quickly. As you can clearly see, when it comes to what’s good for back pain treatment at home, zero gravity chairs take your back pain relief to the next level!
Using Cold and Heat Therapy for Back Pain Treatment at Home
When you’re looking at what’s good for back pain you’ve probably come across conflicting suggestions of cold therapy and heat therapy. The thing is, you can (and should) use both! Neither of these back pain treatments at home should be overlooked.
Cold therapy could help reduce pain and inflammation and may be where you want to start. When you’re applying cold packs, be sure not to apply them directly to your skin. While you want the benefits of cold therapy, direct skin contact could actually cause damage to your tissue. This could be potentially serious and even lead to permanent skin damage. Keep your cold compresses on for 15 to 20 minutes at a time with at least two hours between applications.
Heat therapy is also good for back pain treatment at home because it helps improve blood flow (and work as a home remedy for swelling), helps with relaxation, and provides pain relief. If you’re using a zero gravity chair with heat therapy features, you’ll be getting the best of both back pain relief methods! Just like with cold therapy, try using heat therapy back pain treatments for 15 to 20 minutes at a time with two hour breaks in between.
Note: While heat therapy may help with back pain relief, it should be used sparingly (if at all) by pregnant women as increases in body temperature could be potentially dangerous during pregnancy.
Back Pain Relief While Sleeping
Last up in our exploration of what’s good for back pain at home is making sure you’re getting enough sleep! Not all sleep is equal, however. It’s important that you get restful, restorative sleep.
For many, this means making sure you get the nightly 7 to 9 hours of sleep adults need as recommended by the CDC. Sleep is essential to process for how the body heals itself. When you’re sleeping, your brain is able to release hormones encouraging tissue growth and repairing blood vessels. This is why sleep is so important to healing faster and proving back pain relief at home.
If you’re using a zero gravity chair, once again you’ll find that they are potentially capable of helping enhance the benefits of sleep for back pain treatment at home. In fact, reclining in the zero gravity position for 20 minutes each day is equivalent to the level of back pair that happens with 8 to 10 hours of sleep!
We hope you’re learned more about what’s good for back pain at home with these simple activities and lifestyle adjustments you can try. Before you begin any form of back treatment at home, remember to consult your primary healthcare physician to ensure it’s safe for you to do so. Strengthen those core muscles, stay active, get enough sleep, and choose a zero gravity chair to potentially boost your back pain relief. You’ll find out just how big a difference these simple changes can make!
Want to learn more about zero gravity chairs to see how they might benefit your lifestyle? Check out these resources:
