Back health can be hampered if you are having back pain. The pain in your spinal cord is quite common among people these days with as many as 2.5 million people experiencing some form of back pain every day! Back pain can be caused by a lot of reasons, you should opt for ways that help you to prevent back pain and protect your spine. Extreme back pain can be a result of trauma like falling downstairs or car accidents. But most of the time, the back pain is caused due to the incorrect activities that you do regularly in everyday life. Activities such as lifting up a heavy object, sitting in front of the computer for several hours or bending over whilst doing housework.
If you want to keep your back healthy and reduce back pain, then you should follow some of the following steps that will keep you fit and strong.
- Doing exercise regularly
One of the easiest ways to keep your back healthy is doing regular exercise. You may ask, how will exercise reduce my back pain? Some types of exercise may be highly beneficial to 75% of you whereas 25% potentially may be ineffective. Having a personal trainer or exercise coach to train with can make it much easier to find exercises right for you. Exercises keep your facet joints lubricated and keeps the weight down. Obesity can affect back pain in many ways, excessive weight on the lower back whilst walking, stress on the muscles whilst sleeping or even excessive strain on the spine whilst doing light jogging.
- Rest your spine properly while you sleep
When you are sleeping, you should always rest your spine in the proper manner so that it perfectly touches the bed. Sleeping straight is very important to reduce the back pain. You can use the right pillows and the mattress that can rest your spine in the perfect manner. The choice of buying the mattress and pillow will depend upon your preferences, sleeping positions and also any back or neck problems. If you want to keep your back health in good condition, it is better that you sleep in the right way.
- Have a proper diet
One of the most important ways to reduce back pain is to eat healthy. Eating healthy food can help you to stay fit and reduce weakness. This can provide you strength and keep the spinal cord fit. Proper diet helps in maintaining the bone structure too. If your intestine is working properly, it can put a good impact on your spine as well. Foods such as cherries, olive oil, canned salmon, nuts, vegetables and lean meats are great sources of food that will keep you healthy. Foods to avoid are processed foods, products with high levels of fructose syrup, high in trans fats and many more.
- Quit smoking and other addictions
It is known to all that smoking can cause heart disease and cancer as well. But, some people don’t recognize that smoking can cause back pain too! Smoking narrows the blood vessels and the spinal cord gets less amount of oxygen. Smoking a cigarette reduces the much-needed calcium for new bone growth, leaving smokers with an increased chance of conditions such as osteoporosis (Weak, fragile bones) This means that the bones in your abdominal and back are not strong enough to support a stable and strong healthy back.
- Using the right ergonomics
In the office or at your working area, the perfect ergonomics should be maintained to help reduce back pain. The average person sits down each day for 8.9 hours so maintaining a correct sitting position is essential to combat the risk of back pain. Products such as the Backboard support by BackPainHelp are great for supporting you back whilst you sit down at the desk, at home on the sofa or even on the go whilst travelling on the train/bus.
Developed in conjunction with the London Spine Clinic, the Backboard is completely customizable to the curvature of your spine and fits any chair with ease. For more info, click on the following image.
