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Back pain sends more patients to doc­tors than any con­di­tion other than the com­mon cold.
It’s the fifth most com­mon rea­son for hos­pi­tal­iza­tions and third most com­mon cause of surgery. And 56% of peo­ple with lower-back aches say symp­toms dis­rupt their daily rou­tines, includ­ing sleep and sex. Talk about a pain in the…back.

There are many pos­si­ble causes of back pain, which means there are also many non-invasive solu­tions, accord­ing to Todd Sinett, a chi­ro­prac­tor and coau­thor of The Truth about Back Pain. “Back pain is rarely one cat­a­strophic event,” he says in the book, “but sev­eral sit­u­a­tions com­bin­ing to cre­ate pain.” And it turns out that some seem­ingly insignif­i­cant every­day habits can take a big toll on your back over time. Here, the top 14 mis­takes that may be caus­ing your aches and how to cor­rect them.

1. You’re Chained to Your Desk
Did you know that sit­ting puts 40% more pres­sure on your spine than stand­ing?
Let’s be hon­est: Main­tain­ing proper pos­ture is prob­a­bly the last thing you’re think­ing about when under a major work dead­line. And on a jam-packed day, reg­u­lar stretch­ing breaks may not seem like a wise way to spend your time. But skip­ping these habits may cause your back to suf­fer. That’s because back mus­cles will weaken if you don’t use them; inac­tive joints lose lubri­ca­tion and age more quickly.

Fix It: Sit­ting at a 135-degree angle can reduce com­pres­sion of the discs in the spine, so lean back slightly every now and then. Do it when you take a phone call or a coworker stops by to chat, Sinett rec­om­mends. Make sure your office chair sup­ports the curve of your spine, he says: Your lower back should be sup­ported, and your head should be straight—not lurch­ing forward—when you look at your com­puter screen. Get up and walk around for a cou­ple of min­utes every half hour—take trips to get water, use the bath­room, or grab papers off the printer.

2. You Have a Long Com­mute
Just like at your desk, hunch­ing over a steer­ing wheel can tighten chest mus­cles and cause your shoul­ders to round.
Slump­ing pos­ture can zap energy and make you look heav­ier, not to men­tion cause back and neck prob­lems. Back pain is the num­ber one com­plaint of the patients of Dar­ran W. Mar­low, DC, direc­tor of the chi­ro­prac­tic divi­sion at the Texas Back Insti­tute, and he advises them to first think about their dri­ving posture.

Fix it: “Be sure you sit at a 90-degree angle, close to the wheel so you don’t have to stretch,” he says. “Extend­ing your leg puts your back in a com­pro­mised posi­tion, but many peo­ple don’t even real­ize they’re doing it.”

3. You’ve Been Ditch­ing the Gym
Get mov­ing to alle­vi­ate aches and pains and fix back pain faster.
New research shows that 40% of peo­ple become less active after back pain strikes—a strat­egy that’s likely to delay heal­ing or even make their con­di­tion worse.

Fix it: In fact, most suf­fer­ers would ben­e­fit from more exercise—particularly fre­quent walks, which ease stiff­ness, says spine sur­geon Raj Rao, MD. For instant relief, he rec­om­mends stretch­ing your ham­strings and hips.

4. You Don’t Do Yoga
By improv­ing cir­cu­la­tion and low­er­ing stress, just about any kind of exer­cise pro­motes back pain recov­ery. But yoga may be best.
Uni­ver­sity of Wash­ing­ton researchers say yoga eases lower-back pain faster than con­ven­tional exer­cises. In a dif­fer­ent study, 101 patients were ran­domly assigned to one of three groups. The first group took weekly yoga classes and prac­ticed at home; the sec­ond group par­tic­i­pated in weekly exer­cise ses­sions devel­oped by a phys­i­cal ther­a­pist, plus prac­ticed at home; and the third group received a self-help back care book. After 3 months, the yoga group had bet­ter back-related func­tion­ing, com­pared with the other two groups. And after 6 months, patients who took yoga reported less back pain and bet­ter back-related func­tion­ing. Because it pro­motes deep breath­ing and relax­ation, as well as stretch­ing and strength, yoga may help with both emo­tional and struc­tural trig­gers of back pain.

Fix it: You can find yoga classes everywhere—at gyms, YMCAs, and local stu­dios. Make sure to tell the instruc­tor about your pain so she can help mod­ify cer­tain moves for you.

5. You’re Addicted to Crunches
Sit-ups and crunches may actu­ally cause more back pain than they pre­vent, accord­ing to Sinett.
We hear all the time how a strong core pro­tects your back, which is true. But crunches don’t work the ab mus­cles that sta­bi­lize your back. In fact, they can con­tribute to pain by caus­ing what Sinett calls core imbal­ance, “a con­di­tion of exces­sive com­pres­sion, which results in the spine curv­ing for­ward in a C-like shape.”

Fix it: You don’t have to ditch crunches entirely, but you should do them slowly and use proper form. Include them as part of a broader core work­out that also strength­ens your trans­verse abdomi­nus. This mus­cle is par­tic­u­larly impor­tant for a strong, steady core that sup­ports your back, and the best way to strengthen it is with (non­crunch!)

6. You’re Not the Health­i­est Eater
Research shows that eat­ing habits that are good for your heart, weight, and blood sugar are also good for your back.
Finnish research found that peo­ple who suf­fered from back pain were more likely to have clogged arter­ies to the spine than healthy con­trol sub­jects. Healthy cir­cu­la­tion brings nutri­ents to the spine and removes waste, says Sinett. If this doesn’t hap­pen, inflam­ma­tion can result, and inflam­ma­tory chem­i­cals in the back can trig­ger nerves to send pain sig­nals to the brain.

Fix it: A back-healthy diet is one that reduces inflam­ma­tion, accord­ing to the The Truth about Back Pain. The book’s plan advises avoid­ing excess caf­feine and processed foods (read ingre­di­ent labels for the fol­low­ing: hydro­genated or par­tially hydro­genated oils, enriched wheat flour, words end­ing in –ose, and addi­tives that end in –ates or –ites), and eat­ing more whole grains, soy, nuts and seeds, pro­tein (chicken, fish, lean meat), veg­eta­bles, and fruit.

7. You Carry Your Entire Life in Your Purse
A stuffed-to-the-gills hand­bag may cause back dam­age that’s com­pa­ra­ble to a sports injury!
When you tote a heavy bag, your shoul­ders become imbal­anced, says Sinett. Your body ele­vates the shoul­der car­ry­ing the bag, which throws your spine off-kilter. Doing this every day can cause back mus­cles to ache over time.

Fix it: First, carry the light­est bag pos­si­ble. (Some of today’s styles—with chains, studs, and other hardware—are heavy even when empty!) The Amer­i­can Chi­ro­prac­tic Asso­ci­a­tion rec­om­mends that your bag—when fully loaded—weighs no more than 10% of your body weight. Alter­nate which shoul­der you carry the bag with from day to day, and con­sider split­ting your stuff between two bags (one for each arm), which will pain-proof your load by dis­trib­ut­ing it more evenly.

8. Your Mat­tress Is from Another Decade
Can’t remem­ber the last time you replaced it? Your back may be in trou­ble.
A good mat­tress lasts 9 to 10 years, accord­ing to the National Sleep Foun­da­tion, but con­sider replac­ing yours every 5 to 7 years if you don’t sleep well or your back throbs. A study at Okla­homa State Uni­ver­sity found that most peo­ple who switched to new bed­ding after 5 years slept sig­nif­i­cantly bet­ter and had less back pain.

Fix it: When you do replace your mat­tress, take a Goldilocks approach: Pick one that’s not too squishy or too hard. Very firm mat­tresses can increase pres­sure on the spine and worsen pain, say Span­ish researchers. A study of 313 peo­ple revealed that those who caught Zzzs on medium-firm mat­tresses were more likely to report pain improve­ment than those on firmer ones. To help ease night­time dis­com­fort even more, tuck a pil­low under your knees if you sleep on your back, between your knees if you’re a side sleeper, or beneath your stom­ach and hips if you snooze on your belly.

9. You Have a Thing for High Heels
Or flip-flops. Both lead to foot insta­bil­ity, which can in turn affect your back.
High heels force you to arch your back, mak­ing your spinal mus­cles work harder. Back­less shoes like san­dals cause your feet to move from side to side, accord­ing to Sinett, which dis­trib­utes your body weight unevenly and can cause pain.

Fix it: You don’t have to forgo trendy footwear—just don’t walk long dis­tances in them. Com­mute in comfy flats or sup­port­ive sneak­ers, and con­sider adding cush­ion­ing inserts to uncomfy shoes. When Lehigh Uni­ver­sity researchers gave back-pain suf­fer­ers light­weight, flex­i­ble shoes with sim­ple cush­ions, 80% reported sig­nif­i­cant relief within a year.

10. You Ignore the Pain
Try­ing to block out pain could make it worse, finds research from the Ros­alind Franklin Uni­ver­sity of Med­i­cine and Sci­ence.
A bet­ter approach: Let your­self con­sciously expe­ri­ence the hurt. In a stan­dard pain test, psy­chol­o­gists had 68 back-pain suf­fer­ers plunge their hands or feet into ice water. When the vol­un­teers were instructed to sup­press the shock of the icy water, a key mus­cle in the back clenched. In con­trast, the mus­cle didn’t tense up when vol­un­teers thought only about the shock. Over time, an increase in mus­cle ten­sion inten­si­fies pain, says lead researcher John W. Burns, PhD.

Fix it: Accept­ing pain may be the best way to men­tally cope. “Try think­ing about the sen­sory details of the expe­ri­ence, not the neg­a­tive emo­tions,” says Burns. “If you have a back spasm, describe the pain to yourself—if it’s burn­ing or throbbing—and remind your­self that it will pass.”

Over­all, if you are look­ing for tem­po­rary nat­ural back pain reliever, there is Nature Cre­ation. Nature Cre­ation is made of 9 essen­tial herbs, which can be used as wrap­per for hot or cold pain relief ther­apy. There are many sizes and designs to fit com­fort­ably to your body and ergonom­i­cally sculp­ture to wrap around the pain area. Please visit the com­pany site at http://www.naturecreation.com or call 1–888-250‑2010 to learn more of this amaz­ing product

Note: Arti­cle was quoted from Pre­ven­tion Magazine

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The over­all qual­i­ties of warmth and heat have long been asso­ci­ated with com­fort and relax­ation, heat ther­apy goes a step fur­ther and can pro­vide both pain relief and heal­ing ben­e­fits for many types of back pain. In addi­tion, heat ther­apy for back pain is both inex­pen­sive and easy to do.

How heat ther­apy works
Many episodes of lower back pain result from strains and over-exertions, cre­at­ing ten­sion in the mus­cles and soft tis­sues around the lower spine. As a result, this restricts proper cir­cu­la­tion and sends pain sig­nals to the brain.

Mus­cle spasm in the lower back can cre­ate sen­sa­tions that may range from mild dis­com­fort to excru­ci­at­ing lower back pain. Heat ther­apy can help relieve pain from the mus­cle spasm and related tight­ness in the lower back.

Heat ther­apy appli­ca­tion can help pro­vide back pain relief through sev­eral mechanisms:

* Heat ther­apy dilates the blood ves­sels of the mus­cles sur­round­ing the lum­bar spine. This process increases the flow of oxy­gen and nutri­ents to the mus­cles, help­ing to heal the dam­aged tis­sue.
* Heat stim­u­lates the sen­sory recep­tors in the skin, which means that apply­ing heat to the lower back will decrease trans­mis­sions of pain sig­nals to the brain and par­tially relieve the dis­com­fort.
* Heat appli­ca­tion facil­i­tates stretch­ing the soft tis­sues around the spine, includ­ing mus­cles, con­nec­tive tis­sue, and adhe­sion. Con­se­quently, with heat ther­apy, there will be a decrease in stiff­ness as well as injury, with an increase in flex­i­bil­ity and over­all feel­ing of com­fort. Flex­i­bil­ity is very impor­tant for a healthy back.

There are sev­eral other sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fits of heat ther­apy that make it so appeal­ing. Com­pared to most ther­a­pies, heat ther­apy is quite inex­pen­sive. Heat ther­apy is also easy to do — it can be done at home while relax­ing, and also make it an option while at work or in the car.

For many peo­ple, heat ther­apy works best when com­bined with other treat­ment modal­i­ties, such as phys­i­cal ther­apy and exer­cise. Rel­a­tive to most med­ical treat­ments avail­able, heat ther­apy is appeal­ing to many peo­ple because it is a non-invasive and non-pharmaceutical form of back pain relief

How to Apply Heat Therapy

The most effec­tive heat ther­apy prod­uct is Nature Cre­ation Herbal Pack. They can main­tain their heat at the proper tem­per­a­ture. “Warm” is the proper tem­per­a­ture. Patients should not have their heat source be hot to the point of burn­ing the skin. The desired effect is for the heat to pen­e­trate down into the mus­cles. Sim­ply increas­ing the tem­per­a­ture of the skin will do lit­tle to decrease discomfort.

In many instances, the longer the heat is applied, the bet­ter. The dura­tion that one needs to apply the heat, though, is based on the type of and/or mag­ni­tude of the injury. For very minor back ten­sion, short amounts of heat ther­apy may be suf­fi­cient (such as 15 to 20 min­utes). For more intense injuries, longer ses­sions of heat may be more ben­e­fi­cial (such as 30 min­utes to 2 hours, or more).

Two options of heat ther­apy include moist heat and dry heat.

* Dry heat, draw out mois­ture from the body and may leave the skin dehy­drated. How­ever, some peo­ple feel that dry heat is the eas­i­est to apply and feels the best.

* Moist heat, steamed or moist heat­ing packs can aid in the heat’s pen­e­tra­tion into the mus­cles, and some peo­ple feel that moist heat pro­vides bet­ter pain relief.

Nature Cre­ation prod­ucts can be used as dry heat and moist heat treatments.

Finally, it is impor­tant to use enough insu­la­tion between the heat source and the skin to avoid over­heat­ing or burn­ing the skin.

Please note that heat should not be used in cer­tain cir­cum­stances. For exam­ple, if the lower back is swollen or bruised, heat should not be used. Patients should con­sult doc­tors if they have heart dis­ease or hyper­ten­sion. Heat appli­ca­tion is also not suit­able in the fol­low­ing cases:

* Der­mati­tis
* Deep vein throm­bo­sis
* Dia­betes
* Periph­eral vas­cu­lar dis­ease
* Open wound
* Severe cog­ni­tive impairment

In gen­eral, if the injured area is swollen or bruised it is bet­ter to apply cold treat­ment to reduce the inflam­ma­tion or swelling.

In sum­mary, heat ther­apy is an easy and inex­pen­sive option to pro­vide relief from many forms of back pain. It may be used alone or in con­junc­tion with other ther­a­pies. Because it is so sim­ple, it is often over­looked and physi­cians may for­get to men­tion it, but heat ther­apy used in the right way can be a valu­able part of many back pain treat­ment programs.

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inflam­ma­tion can be treated two ways, Heat or cold therapy.

Heat Ther­apy: Heat increases blood flow and makes con­nec­tive tis­sue more flex­i­ble. It tem­porar­ily decreases joint stiff­ness, pain, and mus­cle spasms. Heat also helps reduce inflam­ma­tion and the buildup of fluid in tis­sues (edema). Heat ther­apy is used to treat inflam­ma­tion (includ­ing var­i­ous forms of arthri­tis), mus­cle spasm, and injuries such as sprains and strains.

Cold Ther­apy (Cryother­apy) may help numb tis­sues and relieve mus­cle spasms, acute low back pain, and acute inflam­ma­tion. The ther­a­pist lim­its the time and amount of cold expo­sure to avoid dam­ag­ing tis­sues and reduc­ing body tem­per­a­ture (caus­ing hypother­mia). Cold is not applied to tis­sues with a reduced blood sup­ply (for exam­ple, when the arter­ies are nar­rowed by periph­eral arte­r­ial disease).

A sim­ple to use ther­mal pack is usu­ally avail­able in phar­ma­cies or online drug store. Our favorite prod­uct to treat inflam­ma­tion is Nature Cre­ation herbal pack. This prod­uct is made of 9 essen­tial nat­ural herbs which can be used as hot or cold treat­ments. These flex­i­bil­ity allow us to adapt the func­tions to meet our treatments.

In addi­tion, Nature Cre­ation prod­ucts are com­monly used to relief headache/ migraine, back pain, neck pain, men­strual pain, carpal tun­nel syn­drome, and other joints pain. The web­site is very intu­itive and will guide you to pick the right prod­uct for your needs.

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Back­ache is defined as mild to severe pain or dis­com­fort in the area of the lower back. The pain can be acute (sud­den and severe) or chronic if it has lasted more than three months. It often occurs in younger peo­ple whose work involves phys­i­cal effort and in peo­ple of retire­ment age. It is one of the most com­mon ail­ments of mankind. It can also be defined as a degen­er­a­tive dis­or­der in which the ver­te­bral bone or the inter ver­te­bral disc becomes soft and loses shape. As a result the spine loses its flex­i­bil­ity caus­ing acute pain in the back. Women are very vul­ner­a­ble to back pain dur­ing preg­nancy. This is because dur­ing preg­nancy there is stretch­ing of the lig­a­ments around the uterus and pres­sure on the lower back.

Nature Cre­ation is offer­ing many options to min­i­mize your pains with­out side effects. Nature Cre­ation back/ abdomen pack is a per­fect choice for peo­ple who pre­fer sim­ple and con­ve­nience nat­ural ther­apy at home. This pack con­tains 9 essen­tial nat­ural herbs, which are known to have nat­ural heal­ing for­mula built-in the essence. Just heat the pack for approx­i­mately 1 1/2 to 2 min­utes in microwave and apply it to the pain area. The heat may last 15 min­utes or so to pen­e­trate deep into the mus­cles. The users will instantly feel the rem­edy and soak in great relief of pain.

If you like big­ger or wider design, there is Nature Cre­ation Spine/ Back pack. They lay­out of this prod­uct is sim­i­lar to Nature Cre­ation Back/ Abdomen pack. How­ever, it has 5 lay­ers of tub­ing, instead of 3 tub­ing in the back/ abdomen pack. These extra tub­ing extend the cov­er­age up to 4 1/2 inches. It is per­fect for peo­ple who have wide body or like to extend the treat­ments to the spine back area.

There are five dif­fer­ent col­ors to choose from, which include black, blue, green, pur­ple and red. Every Nature Cre­ation prod­uct is cov­ered by 1-year crafts­man­ship war­ranty. If you find any defects or imper­fec­tion on the sewing or mate­ri­als, just con­tact our cus­tomer ser­vice hot-line at 1–888-250‑2010.

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Heat ther­apy, along with its coun­ter­part ice ther­apy, has been one of the most effec­tive meth­ods for treat­ing sore mus­cles. Heat increases blood flow, reduces pain and is relax­ing. Heat patches are one of the more pop­u­lar items on the mar­ket today. They are con­ve­nient, because they allow you to be mobile while they work.

Nature Cre­ation is a lead­ing man­u­fac­turer in USA of nat­ural hot & cold herbal ther­apy packs. Our prod­ucts are unique because they are made of 9 essen­tial nat­ural herbs, blended into con­ve­nience pack-design to fit the con­tour of your body. Unlike com­mon heat patches in the mar­ket, they are made of iron, water, car­bon and salt. They work by the process of iron oxi­da­tion. When iron is exposed to oxy­gen, it gen­er­ates heat momen­tar­ily. Unfor­tu­nately, the heat gen­er­ated from these chem­i­cal reac­tion are uncon­trol­lable and can result to rash, skin irri­ta­tion due to chem­i­cal reac­tion on the skins.

Under­stand­ing the issue of sen­si­tive skins and adapt­abil­ity, Nature Cre­ation is offer­ing flex­i­ble, adapt­able and con­ve­nience ther­apy prod­uct for every­one. It is flex­i­ble because most of Nature Cre­ation prod­ucts can be used as heat or cold ther­apy treat­ments. you decide the heat­ing tem­per­a­ture by select­ing the heat­ing time of the microwave or the freez­ing time of the freezer. The prod­ucts are designed to fit com­fort­able to the con­tour of your body. In most designs, Nature Cre­ation prod­ucts have flex­i­ble Vel­cro straps for secur­ing the pack to the treat­ing area. Also, Nature Cre­ation is super con­ve­nience because you can use it many times for mul­ti­ple users, easy to pre­pare, and very effective.

Please visit the web­site www.naturecreation.com to learn more of the ben­e­fits, appli­ca­tion and avail­able designs of the prod­ucts to fit your needs.

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Back pain or dis­com­fort is com­mon dur­ing preg­nancy and should be expected to some degree by most women. Back pain may be expe­ri­enced dur­ing any point of your preg­nancy; how­ever, it most com­monly occurs later in the preg­nancy as the weight of the baby increases. Back pain can dis­rupt your daily rou­tine or inter­fere with a good night of sleep. The good news is there are steps you can take to man­age the back pain that you expe­ri­ence.
How com­mon is back pain dur­ing pregnancy?

You are not alone if you are expe­ri­enc­ing back pain dur­ing your preg­nancy. The preva­lence varies with reports, show­ing between 50 to 70 per­cent of all preg­nant women hav­ing back pain.
What causes back pain dur­ing pregnancy?

Back pain dur­ing preg­nancy is related to a num­ber of fac­tors. Some women begin to expe­ri­ence lower back pain with the onset of preg­nancy. Women who are most at risk for back pain are those who are over­weight or had back pain prior to preg­nancy. Here is a list of poten­tial causes of back pain or dis­com­fort dur­ing pregnancy:

* Increase of hor­mones – hor­mones released dur­ing preg­nancy allow lig­a­ments in the pelvic area to soften and the joints to become looser in prepa­ra­tion for the birthing process of your baby; this shift in joints and loos­en­ing of lig­a­ments may affect the sup­port your back nor­mally expe­ri­ences
* Cen­ter of grav­ity – your cen­ter of grav­ity will grad­u­ally move for­ward as your uterus and baby grow, which causes your pos­ture to change
* Addi­tional weight – your devel­op­ing preg­nancy and baby cre­ate addi­tional weight that your back must sup­port
* Pos­ture or posi­tion – poor pos­ture, exces­sive stand­ing, and bend­ing over can trig­ger or esca­late the pain you expe­ri­ence in your back
* Stress – stress usu­ally finds the weak spot in the body, and because of the changes in your pelvic area, you may expe­ri­ence an increase in back pain dur­ing stress­ful peri­ods of your pregnancy

How can you pre­vent or min­i­mize back pain dur­ing pregnancy?

Back pain may not be pre­vented com­pletely, but there are things that you can do to reduce the sever­ity or fre­quency. Here are a few steps you can take to help reduce the back pain you are experiencing:

* Use exer­cises approved by your health care provider that sup­port and help strengthen the back and abdomen

* Squat to pick up some­thing ver­sus bend­ing over
* Avoid high heels and other shoes that do not pro­vide ade­quate sup­port
* Avoid sleep­ing on your back
* Wear a sup­port belt under your lower abdomen
* Make sure your back is aligned using a chi­ro­prac­tor
* Get plenty of rest. Ele­vat­ing your feet is also good for your back

How can you treat back pain dur­ing pregnancy?

There are a num­ber of things you can do to treat back pain dur­ing preg­nancy. Some of the steps you take to avoid back pain may also be used to treat cur­rent back pain. Here are some other com­mon interventions:

* Ice or heat
* Braces or sup­port devices
* Sleep on your left side and use a sup­port pil­low under your knees
* Med­ica­tions used to treat inflam­ma­tion
* Use a licensed health care pro­fes­sional such as a chi­ro­prac­tor or mas­sage therapist

When to con­tact your health care provider?

Expe­ri­enc­ing back pain itself is usu­ally not a rea­son to con­tact your health care provider, but there are sit­u­a­tions where con­tact­ing your provider is nec­es­sary. You want to con­tact your health care provider if you are expe­ri­enc­ing any of the following:

* Severe back pain
* Increas­ingly severe or abrupt-onset of back pain
* Rhyth­mic cramp­ing pains; this could be a sign of preterm labor

Severe back pain may be related to pregnancy-associated osteo­poro­sis, ver­te­bral osteoarthri­tis, or sep­tic arthri­tis. These are not com­mon, but it is some­thing your health care provider will exam­ine if you are expe­ri­enc­ing severe back pain.
Your Next Steps:

* Begin an approved exer­cise pro­gram to sup­port your back and abdomen
* Set aside a cou­ple of times a day where you can take a nap or get off your feet
* Find a Chi­ro­prac­tor in your area
* Pur­chase a sup­port belt
* Pur­chase a sleep aid pillow

Com­piled using infor­ma­tion from the fol­low­ing sources:

Dan­forth Obstet­rics and Gyne­col­ogy Ninth Ed. Scott, James. Gibbs, et al, Ch. 1

Williams’s Obstet­rics Twenty-Second Ed. Cun­ning­ham, F. Gary, et al, Ch. 8

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1) Acupunc­ture
A study con­ducted at Sheffield Uni­ver­sity in the United King­dom looked at the long-term symp­tom reduc­tion and eco­nomic ben­e­fits of acupunc­ture for per­sis­tent low back pain. An aver­age of 8 acupunc­ture treat­ments were given to 159 peo­ple, while 80 peo­ple received usual care instead.

After one year, peo­ple receiv­ing acupunc­ture had reduced pain and reported a sig­nif­i­cant reduc­tion in worry about their pain com­pared to the usual care group. After two years, the acupunc­ture group was sig­nif­i­cantly more likely to report that the past year had been pain-free. They were less likely to use med­ica­tion for pain relief.

How does acupunc­ture work? Accord­ing to tra­di­tional Chi­nese med­i­cine, pain results from blocked energy along energy path­ways of the body, which are unblocked when acupunc­ture nee­dles are inserted along these invis­i­ble pathways.

A sci­en­tific expla­na­tion is that acupunc­ture releases nat­ural pain-relieving opi­oids, sends sig­nals that calm the sym­pa­thetic ner­vous sys­tem, and releases neu­ro­chem­i­cals and hormones.

An acupunc­ture treat­ment gen­er­ally costs between $60 and $120. Acupunc­ture is tax-deductible (it’s con­sid­ered a med­ical expense) and some insur­ance plans pay for acupuncture.

If you want to try acupunc­ture, plan on going one to three times a week for sev­eral weeks initially.

2) Cap­saicin Cream
Although you may not have heard of cap­saicin (pro­nounced cap-SAY-sin) before, if you’ve ever eaten a chili pep­per and felt your mouth burn, you know exactly what cap­saicin does. Cap­saicin is the active ingre­di­ent in chili peppers.

When it is applied to the skin, cap­saicin has been found to deplete sub­stance P–a neu­ro­chem­i­cal that trans­mits pain–causing an anal­gesic effect.

In one double-blind study, 160 peo­ple were treated with cap­saicin for 3 weeks, while another 160 peo­ple used a placebo. After 3 weeks, pain was reduced by 42% in the cap­saicin group com­pared to 31% in the placebo group. Inves­ti­ga­tors rated cap­saicin sig­nif­i­cantly more effec­tive than placebo.

Cap­saicin cream, also called cap­sicum cream, is avail­able in drug stores, health food stores, and online. A typ­i­cal dosage is 0.025% cap­saicin cream applied four times a day. The most com­mon side effect is a sting­ing or burn­ing sen­sa­tion in the area.

If pos­si­ble, wear dis­pos­able gloves (avail­able at drug­stores) before apply­ing the cream. Be care­ful not to touch the eye area or open skin. A tube or jar of cap­saicin cream typ­i­cally costs between $8 and $25.

3) Vit­a­min D
Chronic mus­cle pain can be a symp­tom of vit­a­min D defi­ciency. Vit­a­min D is found in fish with small bones, for­ti­fied milk and cereal, and expo­sure to sunlight.

Risk fac­tors for vit­a­min D defi­ciency are:

•darker pig­mented skin (e.g. His­panic, African Amer­i­can, Asian) does not con­vert UV rays effi­ciently to vit­a­min D

•diges­tive dis­or­ders, such as celiac disease

•use of glu­co­cor­ti­coid med­ica­tions for con­di­tions such as lung dis­eases and allergies

•min­i­mal sun expo­sure (elderly, insti­tu­tion­al­ized, home­bound, veiled or heavily-clothed individuals)

•lat­i­tude and sea­son — for exam­ple, peo­ple in Boston do not pro­duce vit­a­min D from sun expo­sure between Novem­ber and February

A study by the Uni­ver­sity of Min­nesota looked at the preva­lence of vit­a­min D defi­ciency in 150 peo­ple with chronic mus­cu­loskele­tal pain. Researchers found that 93% of patients had vit­a­min D defi­ciency. All peo­ple with darker pig­mented skin (African Amer­i­can, East African, His­panic, and Native Amer­i­can ori­gin) had vit­a­min D deficiency.

Another inter­est­ing find­ing was that the major­ity of peo­ple with severe vit­a­min D defi­ciency were under 30 years of age. Sea­son was not a sig­nif­i­cant factor.

The researchers con­cluded that all peo­ple with per­sis­tent, non-specific mus­cu­loskele­tal pain should be screened for vit­a­min D deficiency.

4) Music Ther­apy
Music ther­apy is a low-cost nat­ural ther­apy that has been found to reduce the dis­abil­ity, anx­i­ety, and depres­sion asso­ci­ated with chronic pain.

A study eval­u­ated the influ­ence of music ther­apy in hos­pi­tal­ized patients with chronic back pain. Researchers ran­dom­ized 65 patients to receive, on alter­nate months, phys­i­cal ther­apy plus 4 music ther­apy ses­sions or phys­i­cal ther­apy alone.

Music ther­apy sig­nif­i­cantly reduced dis­abil­ity, anx­i­ety, and depres­sion. Music had an imme­di­ate effect on reduc­ing pain, although the results were not sta­tis­ti­cally significant.

5) Vit­a­min B12
Vit­a­min B12 has been found to relieve low back pain. A double-blind Ital­ian study exam­ined the safety and effec­tive­ness of vit­a­min B12 for low back pain. Peo­ple who received vit­a­min B12 showed a sta­tis­ti­cally sig­nif­i­cant reduc­tion in pain and dis­abil­ity. They also used less pain med­ica­tion than the placebo group.

Besides pain, other symp­toms of vit­a­min B12 defi­ciency are numb­ness and tin­gling, irri­tabil­ity, mild mem­ory impair­ment, and depression.

Risk fac­tors for vit­a­min B12 defi­ciency are :

•per­ni­cious anemia

•med­ica­tions (stom­ach acid-blocking medications)

•inad­e­quate intake of meat or dairy products

•infec­tion (small intes­tine bac­te­r­ial over­growth, parasites)

•Diges­tive dis­eases (stom­ach removal surgery, celiac dis­ease, Crohn’s disease

Vit­a­min B12 mus­cle injec­tions are the stan­dard treat­ment for vit­a­min B12 defi­ciency. Stud­ies have found vit­a­min B12 sub­lin­gual tablets (placed under the tongue for absorp­tion) and nasal gel are also effective.

6) Mag­ne­sium
Mag­ne­sium is the fourth most abun­dant min­eral in the body. It’s involved in over 300 bio­chem­i­cal reac­tions in the body.

Mag­ne­sium helps main­tain nor­mal mus­cle and nerve func­tion, keeps heart rhythm steady, sup­ports a healthy immune sys­tem, and keeps bones strong. Mag­ne­sium also helps reg­u­late blood sugar lev­els, pro­motes nor­mal blood pres­sure, and is known to be involved in energy metab­o­lism and pro­tein synthesis.

Symp­toms of mag­ne­sium defi­ciency include mus­cle spasms and pain, pre­men­strual syn­drome, irri­tabil­ity, depres­sion, insulin resis­tance, high blood pres­sure, irreg­u­lar heart rhythms, and heart disease.

A Ger­man study found that min­eral sup­ple­ments increased intra­cel­lu­lar mag­ne­sium lev­els by 11% and was asso­ci­ated with a reduc­tion in pain symp­toms in 76 out of 82 peo­ple with chronic low back pain.

7) Wil­low Bark
The bark of the white wil­low tree (Salix alba) has pain-relieving prop­er­ties sim­i­lar to aspirin. An ingre­di­ent in white wil­low bark, called salicin, is con­verted in the body to sal­i­cylic acid (aspirin is also con­verted to sal­i­cylic acid once in the body). Sal­i­cylic acid is believed to be the active com­pound that relieves pain and inflammtion.

A num­ber of stud­ies have com­pared white wil­low to med­ica­tion or placebo:

•A Uni­ver­sity of Syd­ney study com­pared the effects of wil­low bark extract to refe­coxib, a Cox-2 inhibitor pain med­ica­tion. In the study, 114 patients received a herbal extract con­tain­ing 240 mg of salicin and 114 received 12.5 mg of refe­coxib every day. After four weeks, both groups had a com­pa­ra­ble reduc­tion in pain.

•A study in the Amer­i­can Jour­nal of Med­i­cine exam­ined 191 patients with an exac­er­ba­tion of chronic low back pain. They were ran­domly assigned to receive a wil­low bark extract with either 120 mg (low-dose) or 240 mg (high-dose) of salicin, or placebo. In the fourth week of treat­ment, 39% of peo­ple receiv­ing the high-dose extract were pain-free, 21% receiv­ing the low-dose were pain-free, and 6% of peo­ple receiv­ing the placebo were pain-free. Peo­ple in the high-dose group improved after the first week. Sig­nif­i­cantly more peo­ple in the placebo group required pain medication.

Yoga for Back Pain
Yoga cre­ates bal­ance in the body through var­i­ous poses that develop flex­i­bil­ity and strength. A study of peo­ple with chronic mild low back pain com­pared Iyen­gar yoga to back edu­ca­tion. After 16 weeks, there was a sig­nif­i­cant reduc­tion in pain inten­sity, dis­abil­ity, and reliance on pain med­ica­tion in the yoga group. Ben­e­fits were also seen at three month fol­low up assessments.

Another study com­pared yoga, con­ven­tional exer­cise, and a self care book for peo­ple with chronic low back pain. Back func­tion in the yoga group was supe­rior to the book and exer­cise groups at 12 weeks. Although there was no dif­fer­ence in symp­toms at 12 weeks, at 26 weeks, the yoga group was supe­rior to the book group.

9) Bowen Ther­apy
Bowen ther­apy is a type of gen­tle body­work that was devel­oped in Aus­tralia by osteopath Tom Bowen (1916–1982). Bowen ther­apy is more widely used in Aus­tralia and Europe, but it has been grow­ing in pop­u­lar­ity in North America.

Bowen ther­a­pists use a series of spe­cial­ized “moves” using their fin­gers and thumbs. The moves typ­i­cally involve the ther­a­pist pulling the skin slack away from the mus­cle, apply­ing pres­sure, and then quickly releas­ing the tension.

These moves are per­formed on pre­cise areas of mus­cles where spe­cial recep­tors are located. Nerve impulses are sent to the brain, result­ing in mus­cle relax­ation and reduc­tion of pain.

The moves are not con­tin­u­ous — the ther­a­pist allows the client to rest for a few min­utes between each move. A typ­i­cal treat­ment is between 30 to 40 minutes.

10) Breath­ing Tech­niques
Breath­ing tech­niques that make use of the mind-body con­nec­tion have been found to reduce pain. These tech­niques inte­grate body aware­ness, breath­ing, move­ment, and med­i­ta­tion. What’s great about breath­ing tech­niques is that you can do them your­self at home at no cost.

One study com­pared 6–8 weeks (12 ses­sions) of breath ther­apy to phys­i­cal ther­apy. Patients improved sig­nif­i­cantly with breath ther­apy. Changes in stan­dard low back pain mea­sures of pain and dis­abil­ity were com­pa­ra­ble to those result­ing from high qual­ity, extended phys­i­cal ther­apy. Breath ther­apy was found to be safe. Other ben­e­fits of breath ther­apy were improved cop­ing skills and new insight into the effect of stress on the body.

11) Mas­sage Ther­apy
When many peo­ple have back aches and pain, the first thing they think of is mas­sage. Stud­ies have found that mas­sage may be effec­tive for sub­a­cute and chronic pain. It has also been found to reduce anx­i­ety and depres­sion asso­ci­ated with chronic pain. Mas­sage ther­apy is the most pop­u­lar ther­apy for low back pain dur­ing pregnancy.

12) Chi­ro­prac­tic
Back pain is one of most com­mon rea­sons peo­ple see a chi­ro­prac­tor. Doc­tors of chi­ro­prac­tic use chi­ro­prac­tic spinal manip­u­la­tion to restore joint mobil­ity. They man­u­ally apply a con­trolled force to joints that have become restricted by mus­cle injury, strain, inflam­ma­tion, and pain. Manip­u­la­tion is believed to relieve pain and mus­cle tight­ness and encour­age healing.

A study pub­lished in the Spine Jour­nal exam­ined manip­u­la­tions com­pared to sim­u­lated manip­u­la­tions in 102 peo­ple with back pain and/or radi­at­ing pain. The researchers found that active manip­u­la­tions were more effec­tive at reduc­ing acute back pain and sci­at­ica with disc protrusion.

13) Alexan­der Tech­nique
Alexan­der tech­nique teaches peo­ple to improve their pos­ture and elim­i­nate bad habits such as slouch­ing, which can lead to pain, mus­cle ten­sion, and decreased mobil­ity. This tech­nique was cre­ated by Fred­er­ick Matthias Alexan­der (1869–1955), an Aus­tralian actor who learned how to cor­rect hoarse­ness in his voice by improv­ing his posture.

You can learn Alexan­der tech­nique in pri­vate ses­sions or group classes. A typ­i­cal ses­sion lasts about 45 min­utes. Dur­ing that time, the instruc­tor notes the way you carry your­self and coaches you with ver­bal instruc­tion and gen­tle touch.

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10) Breath­ing Tech­niques
Breath­ing tech­niques that make use of the mind-body con­nec­tion have been found to reduce pain. These tech­niques inte­grate body aware­ness, breath­ing, move­ment, and med­i­ta­tion. What’s great about breath­ing tech­niques is that you can do them your­self at home at no cost.

One study com­pared 6–8 weeks (12 ses­sions) of breath ther­apy to phys­i­cal ther­apy. Patients improved sig­nif­i­cantly with breath ther­apy. Changes in stan­dard low back pain mea­sures of pain and dis­abil­ity were com­pa­ra­ble to those result­ing from high qual­ity, extended phys­i­cal ther­apy. Breath ther­apy was found to be safe. Other ben­e­fits of breath ther­apy were improved cop­ing skills and new insight into the effect of stress on the body.
•Breath­ing tech­nique — How to breathe with your belly
11) Mas­sage Ther­apy
When many peo­ple have back aches and pain, the first thing they think of is mas­sage. Stud­ies have found that mas­sage may be effec­tive for sub­a­cute and chronic pain. It has also been found to reduce anx­i­ety and depres­sion asso­ci­ated with chronic pain. Mas­sage ther­apy is the most pop­u­lar ther­apy for low back pain dur­ing preg­nancy.
•Find a mas­sage ther­a­pist
12) Chi­ro­prac­tic
Back pain is one of most com­mon rea­sons peo­ple see a chi­ro­prac­tor. Doc­tors of chi­ro­prac­tic use chi­ro­prac­tic spinal manip­u­la­tion to restore joint mobil­ity. They man­u­ally apply a con­trolled force to joints that have become restricted by mus­cle injury, strain, inflam­ma­tion, and pain. Manip­u­la­tion is believed to relieve pain and mus­cle tight­ness and encour­age healing.

A study pub­lished in the Spine Jour­nal exam­ined manip­u­la­tions com­pared to sim­u­lated manip­u­la­tions in 102 peo­ple with back pain and/or radi­at­ing pain. The researchers found that active manip­u­la­tions were more effec­tive at reduc­ing acute back pain and sci­at­ica with disc pro­tru­sion.
•Find a doc­tor of chi­ro­prac­tic
13) Alexan­der Tech­nique
Alexan­der tech­nique teaches peo­ple to improve their pos­ture and elim­i­nate bad habits such as slouch­ing, which can lead to pain, mus­cle ten­sion, and decreased mobil­ity. This tech­nique was cre­ated by Fred­er­ick Matthias Alexan­der (1869–1955), an Aus­tralian actor who learned how to cor­rect hoarse­ness in his voice by improv­ing his posture.

You can learn Alexan­der tech­nique in pri­vate ses­sions or group classes. A typ­i­cal ses­sion lasts about 45 min­utes. Dur­ing that time, the instruc­tor notes the way you carry your­self and coaches you with ver­bal instruc­tion and gen­tle touch.
•More about Alexan­der tech­nique
14) Pro­lother­apy
Pro­lother­apy addresses dam­aged lig­a­ments (bands of con­nec­tive tis­sue that help keep bones attached to each other) to relieve chronic mus­cu­loskele­tal pain.

How does it work? Ten­dons and lig­a­ments in the back often do not heal com­pletely after injury. Bones of the spine become less sta­ble, which can lead to chronic pain.

Pro­lother­apy involves the injec­tion of a liq­uid solu­tion into soft tis­sues such as lig­a­ments and ten­dons. This trig­gers local inflam­ma­tion and trig­gers the body’s nat­ural heal­ing response which repairs the weak­ened soft tis­sues and relieves pain. Unlike drugs, pro­lother­apy is thought to address the under­ly­ing problem.

After locat­ing the areas that require treat­ment, the doc­tor inserts a thin nee­dle with the solu­tion into the area. There is often mild pain, but it can be reduced by using a local anaes­thetic. A typ­i­cal course of treat­ment is 10 to 25 ses­sions for back pain. Since it is believed to repair the joint, no other treat­ment is necessary.

Pre­lim­i­nary stud­ies have found that back pain, which often involves lig­a­ment injury, responds par­tic­u­larly well to pro­lother­apy. It is the posi­tion of the Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion of Orthopaedic Med­i­cine that pro­lother­apy is a safe and effec­tive ther­apy for the treat­ment of selected cases of low back pain and other chronic myofas­cial pain syn­dromes. Pro­lother­apy injec­tions must be admin­is­tered by a med­ical doc­tor (M.D.), osteopath (D.O.) or by a state-licensed natur­o­pathic doc­tor (N.D.) in cer­tain states.

15) Bal­neother­apy
Bal­neother­apy is one of the old­est ther­a­pies for pain relief. The term “bal­neo” comes from the Latin word, bal­neum, mean­ing bath. Bal­neother­apy is a form of hydrother­apy that involves bathing in min­eral water or warm water.
•A study com­pared bathing in min­eral water to plain tap water in 60 peo­ple with low back pain. They found that min­eral water con­tain­ing sul­phur was supe­rior in reduc­ing pain and improv­ing mobil­ity com­pared with tap water.

•A sys­tem­atic review and meta-analysis pub­lished in the jour­nal Rheuma­tol­ogy assessed spa ther­apy and bal­neother­apy for low back pain. The researchers found that the data sug­gest ben­e­fi­cial effects com­pared to con­trol groups. They con­cluded that the results were encour­ag­ing and that large-scale tri­als were war­ranted.
Dead Sea salts and other sulphur-containing bath salts can be found in spas, health food stores, and online.

Peo­ple with heart con­di­tions should not use bal­neother­apy unless under the super­vi­sion of their pri­mary care provider.

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While the over­all qual­i­ties of warmth and heat have long been asso­ci­ated with com­fort and relax­ation, heat ther­apy goes a step fur­ther and can pro­vide both pain relief and heal­ing ben­e­fits for many types of lower back pain.

In addi­tion, heat ther­apy for lower back pain — in the form of heat­ing pads, heat wraps — is both inex­pen­sive and easy to do.

This arti­cle pro­vides an exam­i­na­tion of how heat ther­apy inter­acts with the body to alle­vi­ate pain as well as options on how to apply heat ther­apy to help alle­vi­ate many types of lower back pain.

How heat ther­apy works

Many episodes of lower back pain result from strains and over-exertions, cre­at­ing ten­sion in the mus­cles and soft tis­sues around the lower spine. As a result, this restricts proper cir­cu­la­tion and sends pain sig­nals to the brain.

Mus­cle spasm in the lower back can cre­ate sen­sa­tions that may range from mild dis­com­fort to excru­ci­at­ing lower back pain. Heat ther­apy can help relieve pain from the mus­cle spasm and related tight­ness in the lower back.

Heat ther­apy appli­ca­tion can help pro­vide lower back pain relief through sev­eral mechanisms:

• Heat ther­apy dilates the blood ves­sels of the mus­cles sur­round­ing the lum­bar spine. This process increases the flow of oxy­gen and nutri­ents to the mus­cles, help­ing to heal the dam­aged tissue.
• Heat stim­u­lates the sen­sory recep­tors in the skin, which means that apply­ing heat to the lower back will decrease trans­mis­sions of pain sig­nals to the brain and par­tially relieve the discomfort.
• Heat appli­ca­tion facil­i­tates stretch­ing the soft tis­sues around the spine, includ­ing mus­cles, con­nec­tive tis­sue, and adhe­sion. Con­se­quently, with heat ther­apy, there will be a decrease in stiff­ness as well as injury, with an increase in flex­i­bil­ity and over­all feel­ing of com­fort. Flex­i­bil­ity is very impor­tant for a healthy back.

There are sev­eral other sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fits of heat ther­apy that make it so appeal­ing. Com­pared to most ther­a­pies, heat ther­apy is quite inex­pen­sive (and in many cir­cum­stances it’s free — such as tak­ing a hot bath). Heat ther­apy is also easy to do — it can be done at home while relax­ing, and portable heat wraps also make it an option while at work or in the car.

For many peo­ple, heat ther­apy works best when com­bined with other treat­ment modal­i­ties, such as phys­i­cal ther­apy and exer­cise. Rel­a­tive to most med­ical treat­ments avail­able, heat ther­apy is appeal­ing to many peo­ple because it is a non-invasive and non-pharmaceutical form of lower back pain relief.

How to Apply Heat Therapy

The most effec­tive heat ther­apy prod­ucts are the ones that can main­tain their heat at the proper tem­per­a­ture. “Warm” is the proper tem­per­a­ture. Patients should not have their heat source be hot to the point of burn­ing the skin. The desired effect is for the heat to pen­e­trate down into the mus­cles. Sim­ply increas­ing the tem­per­a­ture of the skin will do lit­tle to decrease discomfort.

In many instances, the longer the heat is applied, the bet­ter. The dura­tion that one needs to apply the heat, though, is based on the type of and/or mag­ni­tude of the injury. For very minor back ten­sion, short amounts of heat ther­apy may be suf­fi­cient (such as 15 to 20 min­utes). For more intense injuries, longer ses­sions of heat may be more ben­e­fi­cial (such as 30 min­utes to 2 hours, or more).

Two options of heat ther­apy include moist heat and dry heat.

• Dry heat, such as elec­tric heat­ing pads and saunas, draw out mois­ture from the body and may leave the skin dehy­drated. How­ever, some peo­ple feel that dry heat is the eas­i­est to apply and feels the best.

• Moist heat, such as hot baths, steamed tow­els or moist heat­ing packs can aid in the heat’s pen­e­tra­tion into the mus­cles, and some peo­ple feel that moist heat pro­vides bet­ter pain relief.

A spe­cific type of heat ther­apy may feel bet­ter for one per­son than for another, and it may require some exper­i­men­ta­tion to fig­ure out which one works best. There are many dif­fer­ent man­ners for heat to be applied to the lower back.  How­ever, I like to rec­om­mend the one, which I had expe­ri­enced and known.  It is Nature Cre­ation — The nat­ural Hot & Cold Herbal Ther­apy products.

Nature Cre­ation (www.naturecreation.com) is the ulti­mate nat­ural hot & cold pain ther­apy prod­ucts.  They hava vari­ety of designs to fit com­fort­ably to the shape of your body and main­taina the heat or cold effects through out the treat­ments.  The effects of the heal­ing is almost instan­te­nous.  Within 10–15 min­utes upon the treat­ments, you will feel the absolute relieve from your pain.

You may visit its com­pany web­site at www.naturecreation.com or call their friendly cus­tomer ser­vice at 1–888-250‑2010 ext., 101.

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Almost every­one will expe­ri­ence low back pain at some point in their lives. This pain can vary from mild to severe. It can be short-lived or long-lasting. How­ever it hap­pens, low back pain can make many every­day activ­i­ties dif­fi­cult to do.

Under­stand­ing your spine and how it works can help you under­stand why you have low back pain.

Your spine is made up of small bones, called ver­te­brae, which are stacked on top of one another. Mus­cles, lig­a­ments, nerves, and inter­ver­te­bral disks are addi­tional parts of your spine.

Back pain is dif­fer­ent from one per­son to the next. The pain can have a slow onset or come on sud­denly. The pain may be inter­mit­tent or con­stant. In most cases, back pain resolves on its own within a few weeks.

There are many causes of low back pain. It some­times occurs after a spe­cific move­ment such as lift­ing or bend­ing. Just get­ting older also plays a role in many back conditions.

As we age, our spines age with us. Aging causes degen­er­a­tive changes in the spine. These changes can start in our 30s — or even younger — and can make us prone to back pain, espe­cially if we overdo our activities.

These aging changes, how­ever, do not keep most peo­ple from lead­ing pro­duc­tive, and gen­er­ally, pain-free lives. We have all seen the 70-year-old marathon run­ner who, with­out a doubt, has degen­er­a­tive changes in her back!

Back pain varies. It may be sharp or stab­bing. It can be dull, achy, or feel like a “charley horse” type cramp. The type of pain you have will depend on the under­ly­ing cause of your back pain.

Most peo­ple find that reclin­ing or lying down will improve low back pain, no mat­ter the under­ly­ing cause.

Peo­ple with low back pain may expe­ri­ence some of the following:

• Back pain may be worse with bend­ing and lifting.
• Sit­ting may worsen pain.
• Stand­ing and walk­ing may worsen pain
• Back pain comes and goes, and often fol­lows an up and down course with good days and bad days.
• Pain may extend from the back into the but­tock or outer hip area, but not down the leg.
• Sci­at­ica is com­mon with a her­ni­ated disk. This includes but­tock and leg pain, and even numb­ness, tin­gling or weak­ness that goes down to the foot. It is pos­si­ble to have sci­at­ica with­out back pain.

Regard­less of your age or symp­toms, if your back pain does not get bet­ter within a few weeks, or is asso­ci­ated with fever, chills, or unex­pected weight loss, you should call your doctor.

In gen­eral, treat­ment for low back pain falls into one of three cat­e­gories: med­ica­tions, phys­i­cal med­i­cine, and surgery.

It may not be pos­si­ble to pre­vent low back pain. We can­not avoid the nor­mal wear and tear on our spines that goes along with aging. But there are things we can do to lessen the impact of low back prob­lems. Hav­ing a healthy lifestyle is a good start.

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