Lower back pain is
often unmanageable and can affect every aspect of your life, from your
productivity to your mood to your ability to enjoy your favorite activities.
When your chronic back pain strikes,
it can feel like nothing else matters, making it difficult to concentrate or
relax. Luckily, there are techniques you can use to start feeling better fast,
without relying on painkillers. These three pain relief techniques
from Yahoo's Wanda Leibowitz will
help you soothe a flare-up of severe lower back pain so that you can
forget about the pain and get back to the important things in life.
1. Take A Load Off, The
Smart Way
Most people's first instinct when they feel searing severe lower back pain
is to lay down. This is a pain relief technique right on the money, and is a
great way to ease a flare-up, especially if you follow these easy tips. A
primary cause of chronic back
pain is muscle
strain, and lying down makes you feel better because it takes the weight off
the damaged muscles. To maximize the benefits, lie flat on your back with your
knees raised up and the soles of your feet flat on the floor, couch or bed. By
using your feet to support some of your weight, you are giving your back a
serious treat. Just don't stay in bed for too long. To repair the muscle
strain causing
your lower
back pain, your body needs to send blood to the affected area, and to do that
in enough quantity you're going to need to move around so that your heart can
pump harder, so get up and about as soon as you can. If you have a major back
pain flare-up,
you may wish to stay in bed for two to three days in order to soothe the
strain, but resting horizontally for any longer will actually prolong your
chronic back pain.
2. Heat It Up
A warm
compress does triple-duty, providing pain relief for your severe lower back pain in
three separate ways. Heat relaxes your body, which means that tension
contributing to your lower
back pain melts
away in a matter of minutes, easing the strain on your tight muscles and
causing almost immediate pain relief. Heat also increases blood flow,
which means that the muscle
strain at
the root of your suffering will heal more quickly. Last but not least, heat
makes it more difficult for you to feel pain caused by this muscle
strain; scientific research suggests that the body can only process one tactile
sensation in an area at once. This means that if your brain is busy noticing
the feeling of warmth, it may be distracted from the task of processing the
feelings of pain. To get these three forms of relief from one simple source,
wrap a hot water bottle in a towel and rest it on your back. Or, for a treat
that combines the benefits of warmth with the benefits of lying down, slip into
a hot bath.
3. Think Differently
If you can manage to feel happy about the fact that your back pain is
only temporary, your brain will flood with feel-good chemicals. Smiling,
laughing or feeling positive instantly helps minimize your discomfort by making
your system's natural painkillers, like dopamine, kick in. There may even be a
substantial, long-term link between attitude and lower
back pain. Recent scientific evidence suggests that
it is actually possible to lessen your chronic back pain by changing the
way you
think about its
effect on you and your life. If you let your severe lower back pain stop
you from getting on with the things you like to do, you are less likely to stay
active. Taking on gentle tasks like stretching or walking slowly help your back
to heal and reduce the chance of future lower back pain flare-ups,
but chronic back
pain sufferers
are not likely to stay active because of the psychological effects of pain.
Pain can make you feel helpless, but the truth is that if you take good care of
yourself, you can drastically reduce the frequency and intensity of lower
back pain episodes.
In the long term,
pursue an exercise regimen that will keep your back strong. In the short term,
when your severe lower back pain strikes, trigger a rush of natural
painkillers with a smile or a chuckle.
There are many causes of chronic back pain, but you don't need to rely on painkillers to alleviate it. Try these techniques to help reduce it. For more muscle strain and back pain relief techniques, stop by We've Got Your Back today.
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