As you reach middle age, you might experience pain in your back. Research shows that back pain is the sixth most expensive condition in America, affecting 4 out of 5 people once in a lifetime.
This article will discuss everything you need to know about back pain, from its causes to its cure.
What Causes Back Pain?
You can experience back pain as a result of an injury or some medical conditions. This means that back pain can affect anyone for different reasons, irrespective of their age.
Research shows that 75 to 85 percent of people will undergo pain in their back at least one point in their life. Out of these, 50 percent will experience it more than once.
If you are not aware of what causes back pain, below are some common conditions that may lead to the pain you feel in your back.
Ligament or Muscle Strain
You can experience back pain after repeatedly lifting heavy weight or having an awkward or sudden movement. The reason behind this pain is that due to these movements, you strain your spinal ligaments and back muscles.
Ruptured or Bulging Disks
The purpose of having a disk between your spine and bones is to act as a cushion.
However, due to several reasons, the material present inside your disks can rupture or bulge. This results in the disk pressing on a nerve, leading to you feeling a sharp pain all over your back.
Arthritis
If you are suffering from swollen and stiff joints, chances are you have arthritis. You can have arthritis in your spine, resulting in you experiencing painful aches in your back, especially the lower region.
Osteoporosis
As you age, your body starts losing many tissues of your bones, yet it does not make the same amount back. Consequently, your bones become extremely weak, breaking merely because of a sneeze or a cough.
Because your bones are brittle, your spine can have painful fractures, causing you to feel extremely agonizing pain.
4 Surprising Cures for Back Pain
If you are wondering How to cure back pain, you can easily find several treatments for it. However, there are some cures for back pain that people aren’t aware of.
Here are a few expert-suggested remedies that actually work
Yoga
If you experience tightness in your back, take your mat out and start doing yoga to alleviate the pain.
Yoga is one of the most effective remedies for back pain because it aids in strengthening and stretching your muscles that essentially support your spine and back.
Consequently, by relaxing your muscles, you help stabilize your spine as your muscles help in bending it.
According to the Archives of Internal Medicine study, yoga was a comparatively better cure for the pain you feel in your back than doing comprehensive workouts such as aerobics and strength training.
This success could be because yoga is a therapy for both body and mind, helping you destress and relax as you stretch yourself. While on the other hand, other exercises can lead to stress, which results in more muscle strain leading to more back pain.
Are you wondering how to start?
Well, before doing anything, consult your doctor regarding this matter and see if they allow you to practice yoga.
If you get your doctor’s permission, all you need to do is join a yoga program or do a few poses at home. If you opt for the former, don’t forget to tell them about your back pain beforehand so that they can guide you accordingly.
However, if you opt for the latter, below are some of the yoga poses you can try as cures for back pain
- Bird Dog
- Boat
- Cow face pose
- Forearm plank
- Camel Pose
Massage
If you are looking for how to cure back pain, at least for a short period, massage would be the right solution.
According to the Pain Medicine study, massage might provide a lasting cure for back pain, especially for chronic back pain. The researcher observed 104 individuals who have frequent back pain visit a massage therapist for four months.
Once the four months were over, they asked the individuals to fill a questionnaire. The result showed more than 60% reported improvement after getting the massage.
This could be your story too, all you need to do is book a licensed professional or give yourself one to ease the back pain.
Acupuncture
If you aren’t afraid of needles and want to try something ancient, give acupuncture a shot.
Acupuncture is an Old Chinese physical treatment that recently has become a viral and intensively researched cure for back pain.
In this treatment, the professional with a needle will target your qi or energy points. By creating pressure around these points, regions of your nervous system get stimulated to alleviate pain.
Below are some of the points for back pain
- Head
- Neck
- Shoulders
- Hands
- Upper and lower back
- Knee’s back
- Hip
Talk Therapy
This might shock you, but it is one of the best remedies for back pain.
According to the study published in the BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders journal, patients who received talk therapy showed twice the amount of improvement in their back pain than those who didn’t receive it.
Talk therapy is a type of cognitive behavior therapy that makes you focus on practical solutions and helps you break your harmful actions and thinking.
Besides teaching you strategies to manage your back pain, CBT helps to reassure you of your ability to cope during this pain. All of these techniques help in changing your brain patterns, resulting in improvement in your back pain.
Conclusion
Back pain is one of the most common problems people suffer from. However, there are numerous remedies for back pain that are easy and effective.
Thus, if you are experiencing pain in your back, you can now ease your ache efficiently with cures for back pain discussed in this article.
