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Back Pain: Eight Ways to Find Relief

NIH (National Institutes of Health) says that 8 of 10 people will experience back pain at some point in their lifetimes.  Fear not!  Sometimes this is a transient problem; for others back pain can be troublesome over long periods of time.  If you are one of the eighty percent, and you don't know where to start, here are some tips to get you started...


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Rest--Often overlooked, this is one of the simplest..and sometimes the best remedy for back pain. Take a few days of from your routine, and the results may surprise you.

Exercise-Sometimes injury happens to to lack of movement.  A personal trainer can work with you to help determine what exercises are most appropriate for your situation.

Medication-within reason, over the counter pain medications can help with short term pain. As discussed in earlier posts, there are problems with using the medications on a regular basis. Some folks think that there are no risks to medications like acetaminophen, naproxen, and ibuprofen..but that is simply untrue.

Physical therapy, Pilates, and Yoga-It's time to consider these when the above three suggestions are no longer helpful.

Diet-Maintaining a healthy weight puts less exertion on weight bearing joints, and the spine is included on the list.  It will help other weight bearing joints, such as knees, and hips as well.

Pain Management- A pain management specialist can be of help for chronic back pain in particular. They can offer treatments such as epidurals, which may offer relief.

Spinal Fusion-This is a type of surgery where two vertebrae are fused together; it is used for certain back pain diagnoses only.  Once a time consuming, risky prospect, technique has improved over the years and in some instances can be done in an outpatient setting!

Other surgeries: Possibilities include microdiscectomies, total disc replacements, nucleoplasties, and more!

Source: digitaljournal


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