Ouch, my back! How many times do you say this in a day? If it is more than you can count, then perhaps it is time that you learn if you are suffering from something way more serious than just an abnormality and a weekly occurrence. It could be a chronic health condition or it could the beginning of perpetual daily pain. Either way, it is important to first identify the symptoms of your back, then seek out solutions, and then finally visit a doctor.
If you are suffering from this ailment, the following are nine tips on how to treat lower back pain symptoms:
1. Pain That Radiates Down Your Leg
When you suffer from lower back pain, and it is beginning to metastasize into something serious, you will feel it radiating up and down your leg. These lower back pain symptoms are extremely uncomfortable to experience. What is worse, however, is that it could result in excruciating agony if continually left untreated, so try visiting a chiropractor as soon as possible.
2. Upright Increases Your Pain
The go-to solution for many people who experience lower back is to sit down. Why? Because being in an upright position – standing, walking, or bending – increases your lower back pain. It is just too unbearable to be upright, which, as we will learn later, exacerbates your problems.
3. Muscle Aches
You have not run the Boston Marathon. You have not played five hours of tennis. You have not climbed Mount Everest. Yet, your muscles feel like they have. Indeed, one of the earliest signs of lower back pain, which could become ultra-serious, is aching muscles. It is a similar feeling as to when you have come down with a cold or the flu and all of your joints and muscles ache.
4. Shooting or Stabbing Pain in Your Back
There is no other worse feeling than a shooting or stabbing pain in your back. Stabbing pain is mostly temporary, particularly when you move. These lower back pain symptoms are not pleasant in the slightest. It makes you want to stand in place, especially as the discomfort intensifies and becomes more frequent.
5. Back Pain When You Wake Up
As soon as you wake up, you are in tremendous pain. After eight consecutive hours of laying in the same position, it will inevitably have a great effect on your back, which is applicable to those who already suffer from lower back pain.
6. Maintain Good Posture
Obviously, your lower back does not feel good and the last thing you want to do is provide any stress to that area. However, the worst thing you could do is slouch and make it look like you have a hunch, compounding the health problem. What you really want to do is maintain your good posture and not cave into the pain.
7. Do Yoga or Other Exercise
A simple natural remedy to back pain is stretching, primarily yoga or other key exercises that concentrate on a series of stretches. Yoga is certainly one of the best exercises because it is a proven method of improving your health: physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Just remember one thing: Be sure to start off slow when you’re doing yoga or another exercise. You do not want to aggravate the pain, particularly if you are not someone who exercises often.
8. Apply Ice and Heat
When you need quick and temporary relief, then the best solution is to apply ice and heat. This will tackle the pain at the source for the time being, but it will not serve as a permanent aid. You will need to seek treatment. That said, you want anything when you are in terrible pain.
9. Wear Low Heels – Yes, Men, too!
Finally, you need to get rid of those heels. And this goes for guys and gals!
The heels put a strain on your lower body and place you in an awkward, unnatural position. A four-inch heel is not natural and for men’s dress shoes, the heel is just a tad too uncomfortable. While this footwear might be necessary for work, try to opt for something a bit more comfortable that also looks professional at the same time.
The last thing you want to endure is the agony of back pain – upper or lower. Is it our fault? Mostly, yes. From the way we position ourselves at our desks day in and day out to the poor posture we maintain on a regular basis (have we forgotten about our teachers telling us to stop slouching?), we do our bodies a disservice by neglecting them in our everyday lives. It’s time to stop it.
Perhaps lower back pain will serve as a wakeup call to finally do your best to improve your health. It starts by taking a load off your back.