Back pain is a significant problem worldwide. It’s the fifth most common reason for all physician visits in the United States. The lifetime prevalence of lower back pain is reported at 70% in industrialized countries and has a worldwide prevalence of 84%.
For many, back pain is chronic, debilitating, and emotionally draining. It’s tricky to manage, and some practitioners still recommend outdated and ineffective treatments.
Many people suffering from back pain choose not to consult their practitioner, perhaps for the reason above, but we urge you not to suffer in silence. There are things you can do to manage back pain.
We’re sharing science-backed management techniques that anyone can implement to get moving again. You may not have encountered all of these before, so read on.
Effective Strategies for Managing Persistent Back Pain
If back pain is prevalent in your life, there’s no doubt that you’ve had enough. You may visit your general practitioner for advice that doesn’t help; it has been suggested that GPs are still giving inaccurate information regarding back pain.
While we still advocate for getting in front of a good doctor, here are some things you can do to take back control and move from discomfort to you again: active, happy, and pain-free.
Gentle Exercise
Exercise might seem like the last thing you want to do when you’re in discomfort, but if you can manage gentle exercise or return to your normal activity levels, it can help your back.
If you’re familiar with traditional recommendations for lower back discomfort or have seen a GP, you may have been advised that bed rest is what you need. However, new research shows that bed rest can actually delay recovery of lower back pain, and movement is the better treatment.
It may be that you’ve tried bed rest, but it hasn’t worked, and now it’s time to try something else so you can get back to your normal levels of activity and back to you again.
Gentle exercise doesn’t need to be strenuous; walking with your family in the local park may be enough for the day. If you can manage more, try adding a gentle back exercise routine.
In the video above, Cliff Bardelli, an exercise specialist at the Sewall Healthy Living Center at Sharp Coronado Hospital, demonstrates exercises to help prevent back pain.
Photobiomodulation (aka. Red Light therapy)
For those who are already exercising but want to bolster the impact of exercise and recover faster, red light therapy (RLT) can do that. Red light therapy is well known for its impact on inflammation (more on inflammation later), which is very common among those suffering from back pain, but RLT can do more than that.
If exercise is the antidote to lower back pain, but managing it is difficult, red light therapy can help you recover from exercise faster. It’s proven to reduce exercise-induced stress and improve the post-exercise recovery period.
If gentle exercise feels like the last thing you want to do, and all you can do is rest, then rest with red light therapy.
You can use a targeted red light device from the comfort of your own home. Red light therapy wavelengths penetrate deep into your muscles and reach the mitochondria, the powerhouse of your cells. This promotes the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the fuel your muscles need to repair and regenerate.
With increased ATP levels, your cellular activity accelerates. You can see faster healing and reduced inflammation, which is the perfect environment for decreasing back discomfort.
Yes, you can do all that while relaxing at home!
Good Posture
While improving and then maintaining a good posture has long been the go-to advice when facing back pain, being relaxed and active could actually be most effective.
Professor Peter O’Sullivan, who teaches at Curtin University and led a team of researchers to dig deeper into the influence of posture on back pain, told The Guardian that they found no correlation.
The researcher told the publication that “there is just no good evidence” that posture is a problem and is actually a “distractor from the big game.
“Our spinal health is linked to our general health. Keeping fit and strong. Moving. Eating well. Sleeping well. They’re the things we should be targeting, rather than this idea of targeting body posture. The interventions that have targeted posture haven’t worked. We have to look beyond that.”
On the other hand, there is also no research that suggests sitting up straight is bad for you. Experts suggest being comfortable is key, but stress that posture does make a difference in movement. If you’re lifting heavy objects or working out in the gym, it’s imperative that you have the right posture needed to carry out the movements without putting excessive strain and pressure on your body.
So while posture has long been a topic of contention, the idea is that our bodies do best when they’re moving regularly between different postures.
Nutrition And Diet That May Help Alleviate Back Pain
What we eat directly impacts our bodies, and when it comes to managing lower back pain, we want to achieve high levels of hydration and low levels of inflammation (red light therapy can help with this, too!)
Hydration is key for health, generally, so don’t neglect it. The amount of water you need depends on your body and levels of activity and sweating, but according to the Mayo Clinic, there is a guideline.
- 3.7 liters of fluids/day for men
- 2.7 liters of fluids/day for women
Look out for signs of dehydration, such as headaches. Follow your body's natural cues for how much water you should drink.
Managing inflammation is one of the best things you can do for your body. Studies show a link between pro-inflammatory foods and lower back pain and that those with inflammatory diets had an increased chance of suffering from lower back pain.
Consider your diet at every meal and the inclusion of inflammatory foods.
Stress Management
Psychological stress can increase your chances of experiencing discomfort in your back. While the two may seem unrelated, stress impacts our bodies. Between muscle tension and stress hormones, our physical bodies are impacted by what’s happening in our minds.
Where possible, manage stress in your life. You can find stress management solutions by managing your environment and taking time for yourself, or we can go full circle and return to the importance of gentle exercise as an outlet for stress.
Support
Whatever your levels of back discomfort, find yourself a support network. Having support from a loved one, online clinical support, or even an online community can help you manage stress, feel understood, and find new solutions you haven’t considered before.
For those struggling to get out of the house, online support has been found to be as effective as in-person support, so all is not lost!
From Back Pain To Possible
Recovering from back pain is unlikely to happen overnight, but implementing management techniques will certainly help. As you can see from this article, management techniques are possible for anyone, even if they can only be managed in small doses.
If necessary, start with passive techniques like stress management, support groups, and red light therapy, then integrate active approaches like exercise and posture.
For more articles on back pain read:
- Back Pain and Red Light Therapy
- Back Pain Be Gone: 7 Non-Surgical Strategies for Fast Relief
- 10 Exercises for Lower Back Pain
- What Is The Fastest Way To Recover From Back Surgery?
- Home Remedies and Treatment for Sciatica
