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Having Trouble Sleeping? Easy Remedies for Chronic Back Pain

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low back painHaving Trouble Sleeping? Easy Remedies for Chronic Back Pain

Is back pain ruining your sleep? While back pain at night is one of the leading causes of insomnia, there are things you can do during the day that will help you at bedtime. By treating your chronic back pain naturally with the following home remedies, you may be able to fall into a deeper sleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

1.  Meditate
Your body is equipped with natural pain relievers called “endorphins.” When you meditate, your mind and body become relaxed. This triggers the release of endorphins, which help relieve pain. In one study, pain sufferers who engaged in meditation for 20 minutes three times a week began to notice a reduction in their pain symptoms.

2. Exercise Your Abs and Back
Exercise is a natural remedy for many ailments, including chronic back pain. However, before you start any type of exercise regimen, it’s important that you consult your doctor first. Focusing on your back muscles may be an easy way to strengthen your back, but don’t neglect the abdominals—your abs. Your abs and back muscles work together to support your lower back, so your exercise regimen should target both.

To make exercise easier, you can use an exercise ball that was designed to strengthen the muscles on your front and back. If you need help, consider a couple of sessions with a personal trainer. He or she can help you put an exercise plan together that is designed to strengthen your back and help relieve your pain.

3. Apply Heat—and Cold

Cold and heat are easy remedies to apply at home.

 

  • Cold will benefit you if your back tends to become inflamed. It can also reduce muscle spasms that can cause pain.
  • Heat helps alleviate back pain by increasing the blood flow, thereby stimulating your sensory receptors and taking the tension off your muscles.

 

For cold, all you need is an ice pack. For heat, you can soak in a hot bath, or you may place a heating pad on the painful area.
4. Stretch Your Hamstrings
Tight hamstrings can cause discomfort because the tightness places stress on your lower back and prevents your pelvis from moving freely. A very simple remedy is to stretch your hamstrings twice a day. One of the easiest — and most effective — exercises is the standing hamstring stretch. Simply bend over and try to touch your toes. Make sure that you are not forcing the stretch, which can worsen your injury.

These suggestions are home remedies that you can take advantage of even if you are being treated by a physician. With these tips in mind, a better night’s sleep may be a blink away.

Author Bio

Doug Johnson, PA

North American Spine
Doug Johnson helped create North American Spine in 2009, and is certified with the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants. In addition to managing all medical staff, Doug also facilitates all new location launches by training physicians in proper AccuraScope procedure techniques and instructing office staff in North American Spine expectations of quality patient service.

 

 

Back Pain and Spinal Motion

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back pain

Back Pain and Spinal Motion

Your spine is an intricate system of muscles, bones, tendons, and ligaments that allow you to move in a very complicated manner by working together. It is therefore remarkable. However, when something is not right, you can experience pain even when there is minimal micro-motion at a certain spinal segment. If you experience pain when you move, it is important for you to understand the things that are happening in your spine because this helps you to explain to your physician in a better manner. Hopefully, you can quickly find an effective treatment when you communicate better to your physician. The following are the most common ways in which motion causes low back pain.

• Twisting motions easily strain large spinal muscles:

The main reason motion causes low back pain is not because of your spinal structure. The ligaments or muscles that surround the spine in your back can tear or overstretch. Inflammation and pain occurs because of this while your body makes an effort to heal by limiting motion.

• Cartilage breakdown can occur because of motion:

Spinal arthritis is very common and people who are more than fifty years old are more likely to suffer from it. The mechanical breakdown of your cartilage that is between your aligning facet joints in your spinal back portion is known as spinal osteoarthritis. Inflammation occurs in the facet joints and more frictional pain occurs when the joints degenerate progressively. There is a decrease in the flexibility and motion of your spine when the back pain progresses.

• Compensation for excessive motion can occur because of the formation of bone spurs:

With osteoarthritis, there is a typical formation of osteophytes, which are also known as small irregular growths on your bone (bone spurs) on your facet joints that occurs in response to the instability of your joints that the degeneration causes.

Bone spurs are not responsible for directly causing pain because they can occur when you age. They may entrap or irritate your nerves that pass through your spinal structures by becoming large enough. Consequently, this may diminish the room for your nerves to pass.

Pain (and perhaps tingling and numbness) into your legs can occur when you walk because of most cases and you can relieve the pain with sitting.

• Pain from micro-motion occurs because of disc degeneration:

Degenerative disc disease is a syndrome in which chronic pain in the lower back occurs because of a painful disc, typically in people who are 30-40 years old. Excessive vertebral level micro-motion occurs because of the aforementioned symptomatic disease and it causes pain.

• Pain can occur because of motion in your lower spine:

There is a lot of motion in your lower back (lumbar spine) as compared to the four major regions that your spine has. This region carries all the torso weight and in effect, it makes it the spinal area that is injured most frequently.
There is a division of the motion in your lower back between five of your vertebral motion segments (all of which have facet joints that are covered by 2 cartilages and a disc). However, the lower segments (L5-S-1, L4-L5, and L3-L4) have a disproportionate amount of this motion.

You can help your doctors in the accurate identification of the specific cause of your pain by giving a better description of your symptoms when you understand better the pain that you experience owing to motion segment disorders. You should therefore use your EHIC to access appropriate and affordable treatment from them.

Author Bio:

Melody Cleo is a passionate blogger from Manchester, UK. In her free time, she writes articles on various topics such as technology, gadgets, travel…etc. As of now she is focusing on European Health Insurance Card, which provides health insurance services for the European people.

Low Back Pain Prevention and Maintenance

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lower back painMany of my patients ask me the same question over and over again: “How often and how long do I have to see a chiropractor for low back pain problems?” I always provide the same answer: “How often do you change oil in your car, do tune up, replace brake pads and tires and many other things that a vehicle requires in order to run properly?” Our body is a bio mechanical machine that requires as much care and maintenance is the vehicle you drive every day. Every day stress such as work, commute, household activities will eventually lead to low back pain problems. Sacrum and Lumbar spine are the center of the gravity for our bodies. If that area is deconditioned mechanical problems are inevitable – misaligned vertebrae in a lumbar spine or misaligned Sacroilliac joint. This misalignment (subluxation) will cause the irritation to the nerve root and will result in a muscle spasm which will cause more pain and discomfort. The longer one waits for this pain and discomfort to go away the greater the possibility that this problem will get worse.

Back in 2010 I have written a blog post – “Healthy Hints for a healthy Back” which describes how to properly stand and walk, sit, lift, sleep, drive and work. Following these simple advices will guarantee that your low back vertebraes will maintain proper alignment and injury to a soft tissue of the para-spinal musculature of the lumbar spine will be avoided or minimized.

Another blog post that was written the same year – “Lower Back Exercises.” talks about a conditioned para-spinal musculature of the lumbar spine and how it helps to prevent a low back pain. A series of exercise samples with pictures have been provided for your overview. Only ten to fifteen minutes a day will keep your low back young and strong.

Nothing can really replace a visit to your local chiropractor. A great full spine adjustment will make you feel really good. It will stimulate your peripheral and central nervous. Add electrical stimulation and moist heat for fifteen minutes and follow up with fifteen minutes deep tissue massage by a certified massage therapist and you will feel like a car that just had a complete tune up done, brans new tires installed and brake pads replaced. I get adjusted and get all of the therapies mentioned at least once a week some times more than once a week. My low back would fail me long time ago if I would not exercise on regular bases and did not get chiropractic care.

if you are not doing any of the three advices mentioned above, make a change in your life now. The sooner you start the better the chances that your low back pain will never bother you in a future.

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Chiropractic Questions and Chiropractor Answers

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CHIROPRACTIC QUESTIONS ANSWERSChiropractic Questions and Chiropractor Answers

Question #25 

Lower back pains !!!? 

I work an eight hour shift almost every day and stand on my feet constantly. My work duties require me lifting heavy objects. I always try to lift with my legs and not my back. However, lately the lower right side of my back has been killing me. It is very painful to sit, so I stand more or lay down when I get the chance. What can I do to lessen the pain?

Answer: 

From my professional standpoint it appears that you might have an overuse or repetitive soft tissue injury. That might involve sprained tendons and strained musculature around the lumbar spine. Also herniated disc and subluxated lumbar vertebral level can also be contributing factors for the pain. I would suggest that you take some time off of work and see your local chiropractor who has physical therapy equipment and massage therapist in the office. The time off of work will allow your body to avoid farther soft tissue damage and proper rehabilitation will expedite the healing process. Hope it answered your question

 

Question #26 

What’s wrong with my ankle(s)? 

Last year during volleyball practice, I dove and twisted my ankle. Ever since it has been weird. I’ve had really flat feet since I was a little kid, and my ankles always hurt because of that. i don’t wear very supportive shoes, but even when I do it doesn’t help. I went to a podiatrist a few months ago, and he diagnosed me with an excessively flexible flat foot. Strange. I use an ace bandage on my ankle, but to no avail. Nothing has made it feel better. It hurts off and on, though, and when it hurts it hurts a lot. I think I sprained it that day, and since I have bad feet, it just never healed. Do you think that’d what happened? Also, do you recommend for me to get those sport supports you put on your ankles with your shoes while playing? Thanks in advance. Also, I’m kind of an injury magnet 😀 never broken anything, but I always seem to be hurting myself

Answer: 

You are correct about sprain injury to your ankle. When this happens the soft tissue needs a proper rehabilitation in order to prevent scar tissue formation. Most likely you did not have any rehabilitation at all thus is the reason for the pain. At this point it is in chronic stage and will require some time to fix it. Deep tissue massage and active/passive ROM will help. As to your second question about ankle support – you can use it if it does not interfere with your game and running pattern. The most important thing is keeping your gate normal.

 

Question #27

Tingling in my left leg, please help?

 

It started with lower back problem where i could sit down for a period of time, couldnt bend over or put on my socks. This happened overnight. This lasted for 5 months then I woke up with tingling and pain on my left butt cheek all the way down my leg. All of this has lasted for 8 months now and wont go away. Have been through 3 X-rays, and 3 Physical Therapist and nothing. They refuse to give me an MRI. They keep saying it’s a weak core but I know it’s not because I can do advanced core exercises with not problem. I believe my muscle is pinching my sciatic nerve. Can someone please shed some light on this for me?

Answer:

X-Rays will not show soft tissue problem. What you need is an MRI, but it looks like your ignorant doctors refuse to authorize it. Sounds like a Kaiser type of therapy. Physical therapy will not help either at this point and time as strengthening injured musculature and soft tissue is only going to make things worse. Get a second opinion about your problem. I am afraid if you are attached to a particular treatment facility your only option would be paying out of your own pocket and figure out what is going on. I think finding a local neurologist or a chiropractor would be my first step. It all depends on what kind of treatment you would prefer for this kind of problem. It could be Sciatica but it could also be Sacroilliac Joint misalignment.

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