Changes to Make Around the House for Back Pain Sufferers

When you suffer from back pain it can sometimes feel as though the simplest things are sources of agony. Then you know the problem all too well, if you are a sufferer of chronic back pain. You have probably spent most of your life trying to work around things that hurt you, getting new gadgets to make life easier, and doing stretches before braving a new activity. For that reason, the advice in this article may not be the most obvious, as we suspect you have already tried the obvious tricks.

Tip! Do not lift anything that is too far away from you. Always move closer to the object and do not twist around to grab something like in the back seat of a car for example.

If you have recently suffered an injury, or are pregnant, you could do with adapting your house. Even if you will only suffer back pain a short while, adapting your house has two uses. Of all it will help protect your back from further injury. And secondly, it will make sure that whatever hurt your back in the first place does not affect you again.

Although if you are a complete newcomer to the world of back pain it may be an idea to start with a few basics, such as installing hand rails in your shower and getting pressure cushions for your back. Besides that you can also ...

1: Get rid of your hard mattress

Tip! If you read for extended amounts of time every day - either for personal pleasure or professional reasons - then you can avoid back pain resulting from neck strain by keeping your head level and bringing the documents up to that level. Keeping your head bent or raised at unnatural angles for extended amounts of time can cause strain.

For a very brief period of time it was thought that the perfect way to protect yourself against back pain was to have a solid, firm mattress. Hard ground is actually, therefore, really bad for our backs.

Tip! If your job requires long periods of sitting, get up and move around often. Standing and stretching your body--legs particularly--helps you stretch back muscles.

2: Get rid of your old memory foam or non-pocket mattress

Even though memory foam is amazing for our backs when it is new, when your memory foam mattress starts to have a permanent dip in it, it needs replacing, as it is no longer offering the same sort of support.

Likewise, a mattress without enough springs will be too soft to offer the amount of support you need. Choose something firm with a little give.

3: Use stools

It may seem counter-intuitive, but the best support for our backs is actually not artificial supports like chair backs and corsets, but our own natural muscles. On the other hand, if we use a stool with no back we are forcing our back muscles to grow strong and support us, reducing the risk of injury.

4: Go barefoot

Once again: the best support for our bodies is our own muscle system. When we go around in shoes that either offer full support or which bend and twist our feet and legs into unnatural positions, that tension carries all the way up to our backs, putting us at risk of lower back pain especially. Go barefoot at home as often as possible to loosen your leg and foot muscles and alleviate back pains.

5: Remove tripping hazards

Even if you do not actually fall over, every time you trip your joints and muscles are forced to tense and twist in order to rebalance you. This effect not only causes temporary pain, but can cause long term damage.

6: Keep support items at elbow height

Finally, if you regularly need to use support, such as railings, shower grips, a Zimmer frame, etc., then try and keep them always at elbow height. When our support items are below elbow height we are forced to bend over in order to use them. This stooping puts unnecessary stress on our spine and leaves us with tension and soreness. 

 

Tip! A good way to reduce back pain is not drinking caffeine. Caffeine has been proven to cause muscle inflammation if you have had any muscle damage.

If you are a complete newcomer to the world of back pain it may be an idea to start with a few basics, such as installing hand rails in your shower and getting pressure cushions for your back.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but the best support for our backs is actually not artificial supports like chair backs and corsets, but our own natural muscles. On the other hand, if we use a stool with no back we are forcing our back muscles to grow strong and support us, reducing the risk of injury.

When we go around in shoes that either offer full support or which bend and twist our feet and legs into unnatural positions, that tension carries all the way up to our backs, putting us at risk of lower back pain especially. Go barefoot at home as often as possible to loosen your leg and foot muscles and alleviate back pains.