Low back pain is something most of us will experience at some point during our lifetimes. We are very dependent on our spines for our mobility. We have to be ever vigilant to protect the health of our spine. We present some preventative techniques to help reduce the occurrence of low back pain. There are a number of preventative measures you can take such as diet, lifting techniques, posture, exercise and massage chair therapy to help prevent low back pain.
Diet is essential to maintaining the health of the soft tissues and bones of the spine. Many people with low back pain have very poor diets. Their diets may contain many processed foods and sugars and fast food high in fats. This can cause obesity which increases the load on the spine. Maintain a diet using fresh foods over processed foods.
Although your spine is an amazing engineering feat, it can become overloaded or misused. It is important to use proper lifting techniques and to maintain your posture. Learn to protect your back. When you lift use your legs. Your posture should be upright and not in a slouched position.
Simple things like sitting and standing can help reduce the occurrence of low back pain. Many people sit with their shoulders slouched or too far back in the chair. You should sit more upright and support your spine. When you sit in a slouched position with your shoulders forward, it puts more pressure on your upper back. This is easy to correct by holding your shoulders back and sitting straight in the chair.
Lifting techniques are very important as you are adding additional weight to your body weight. You can hurt your back lifting all sorts of objects. Most people just pick up items by bending over using their back to pick them up. The strongest muscles of the body are the leg muscles. Use your legs do the lifting even of lighter items. To use your legs you must bend your knees. Then just stand up with the object keeping your back straight.
Prevent low back pain by performing periodic exercise. A proper regimen of exercises helps improve the core muscles, strengthens the back and improves flexibility. All of these benefits will help to decrease the risk of developing low back pain. Strong and flexible muscles protect the spinal column, decrease the risk of a herniated disc and improve your overall appearance.
Massage chairs help to increase the flexibility of the lower back muscles. Massage chairs use a finger press technique to adjust each vertebra. This will elongate the muscles and tendons surrounding the spinal column. This helps increase their elasticity which helps them become more flexible. Massage chairs also apply kneading, tapping and vibration to stimulate these key muscles which helps to reduce pain and speed up the healing process.
One often overlooked area is your sleeping position. We spend between 5 and 8 hours sleeping. This is most likely more time than we spend doing almost anything else. Avoid sleeping on your stomach which will increase the stress on your lower back. Instead sleep on your side with a pillow between your knees. Another position is on your back with a pillow under your knees. Another relieving position is sleeping with a small towel rolled up under their lower back is comfortable.
While most people will suffer from low back pain at some point in their lives there are specific treatment protocols and methods of prevention that can help to speed the recovery process and reduce the risk of the problem happening again. Diet, exercise, lifting techniques, sleeping and massage therapy can all help to minimize potential problems and low back pain. Massage chairs can be an excellent asset in the prevention and healing of low back problems. Check with your doctor for more information and what might be right for your situation.
