Back Pain Relief: Self Help Tips & Advice

Here are some tips and advice from Chart Clinic Osteopath, James Clapham on how to prevent and manage low back pain.

In the unfortunate event that you suffer with some problems, you may notice that your back feels tender, bruised or inflamed. The muscles in your low back may feel stiff or could possibly go into spasm and perhaps even a combination of the two. If this is the case for you, in this article you will find some self-help tips and advice that should help to offer you some relief. Also detailed is a list of some pain relief medication to help you prior to your appointment with an Osteopath.

The reasons for back pain are many and should you suffer with back pain, then the following self-help tips will be of use.

Disuse

If you neglect to use your back without due care and attention you may run into difficulties. For example, maintenance of poor posture in a sustained positions e.g. sitting slumped or slouched with poor posture in front of the telly. This can stretch and strain the muscles, ligament and delicate structures supporting your spine in your low back. This can be avoided by: 

1 - Ensuring that your low back is supported with a pillow or cushion to help maintain the natural curvature in your low back

2 - Take regular breaks, avoiding sitting in one position for too long is helpful. Just getting up from your seat to get a drink or briefly stand and move about will help – it doesn’t have to be a long break.

      Misuse

There a many ways in which you can misuse your back. A classic example is lifting without with poor posture i.e. bending your back to do all the lifting. For example lifting a heavy bag or suitcase, moving some heavy furniture or carrying small children – these are some of the ways we see people who have hurt their back. 

Top tip for lifting: The key thing here is to lift properly – bend your hips and knees as opposed to just your back and keep the weight as close to your body as possible.

Something new, overdoing or abusing it

These can all come together and overlap in some ways, for example this could be a return to and/or starting a new sport, a long very hard day in the garden in spring or challenging the kids to a game on the Kinect or Wii! Potentially here we can overdo it or abuse our bodies.

It’s fine to do all these types of things but just follow this advice

1- Take regular breaks 

2- Vary the type of activity or game you are playing

3- Don’t keep going on and on, always stop so you feel you could do more.   

     If something does go wrong – here is how you can get out of trouble…

Move it or lose, just don’t abuse it

Firstly make sure you keep moving, allowing your back to move is highly beneficial to most types of back pain. Movement reduces inflammation and stiffness. If you rest your back completely this will encourage stiffness, increase inflammation and lead to muscle weakness.

Feeling stiff, tight or muscle spasm?

HEAT is generally the best application here. Use a hot water bottle, wheat bag or heat pack. It should never be so hot it could scald you. Apply heat as required ensuring you protect the skin to avoid burns. Generally we don’t advocate topical heat creams and pads, on occasion inflammation may be present and heat could possibly make your problem worse – so it easier to take a heat pack off than a cream or gel.

Feels inflamed, bruised, swollen or hot?

COLD is your best option here. An ice pack, cold compress or bag of frozen vegetables are good options. It is well debated as to what the appropriate length of time and intervals to apply ice. I find that placing an ice pack on the affected area for 10 minutes of every hour or when the skin warms up again (whichever comes first) throughout the day is most useful for my patients.

Never place an ice pack / frozen veg in direct contact with the skin, always use a damp tea towel or cloth. This will prevent ice burns. Avoid exceeding the recommended icing time and prolonged use and actually cause more inflammation.

Feeling stiff AND inflamed?

Contrast bathing using a combination or hot and cold is the solution for you. Follow these rules:

1-  Always start and finish with an application of cold.

2- Use each one for 4-5 minutes.

3- Always ensure ice is wrapped in a damp cloth. 

4- Apply as above following a routine of cold-hot-cold, applying more changes if  required. 

Medication

As an Osteopath, I don’t offer advice on what medication to take, but if you do want help to feel more comfortable then the following drugs can be brought without prescription. The following are simple guidance to what the differing types of medicines are for.

Anti-inflammatories: Aspirin, Ibuprofen. Avoid taking without medical advice if you are asthmatic or suffer with stomach complaints such as ulcers. These help ‘mop up’ the pain causing chemicals and reduce inflammation.

Pain Killers: Paracetemol, Codeine. These change the pain signals reaching your brain.

Muscle Relaxants: these can help ease muscle spasms by relaxing the nerves rather than the muscles themselves, these may be prescribed in short doses for low back pain and muscles spasms but are not available without prescription, so you should seek GP advice. 

As with all medication it is very important to seek the advice of your pharmacist for proper guidance.

Disclaimer: The information within this article is intended for information only and should never replace medical advice. As with any injury, if in doubt get checked out by a medical professional.