Put Your Back Into It

Hey Guys!

I hope you are doing fabulous! Today I wanted to talk a bit about back pain! I know, so exciting.

Basically, I have been doing a lot of physically draining things at my different jobs, and most of time it would be ok, however, this week it seems to have taken a toll on my body! On thursday, I went to lift a very heavy object at work, and I felt a not so great fatigue and pain in my back. I lifted three more objects and it seemed to be ok, however, I then went to a concert and after standing all night in bad shoes, my back felt unbearable. The next day, I still felt some soreness, but I thought that maybe this was just some muscle weakness and I worked all day again to come home to more pain. Again, I worked a different job today that involved a ton of walking and now my back seems to be just as sore. So currently, I am sitting in my bed surrounded by pillows using heat and trying to figure out how to fix this.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because we need to stop for a minute and listen to our bodies. We live in such a fast paced environment that sometimes we forget to check in with ourselves and things get missed. We ignore our bodies and sometimes we get more injured, or we get sick when a lot of this could be avoided.

When it comes to my current situation, I have realized a few things that might help my fellow back pain people! One thing my dad told me was that your back is not a great thing to hurt. Please, don’t hurt any part of yourself, but your back is not fun. When you throw your back out you can’t move, you are stuck laying in one place and you can’t turn your body and it’s insanely hard to maneuver yourself! So here’s some fun information on how to help your back pain!

1. When lifting ANYTHING heavy, DO NOT bend over it and pick it up! Use those legs! You need to squat down and pick it up and use your leg muscles. This puts less of a strain on your body! When I lifted those heavy objects at work, that was my problem. I didn’t use my legs to assist my back and I tweaked it in some painful way.
2. Workout. By exercising, you’re strengthening your muscles, so they have less of a chance of being tweaked and pulled. Focus on your core specifically. When your core is strong, it helps to support and take more of the brunt work for your back.

These are the big ones for prevention, but here is what to do that might help your pain.

1. Have a hot bath with Epson salts. This will help relax your muscles and you! Your muscles will feel less tense. When one part of your body is sore, you might be limping or standing funny, and the rest of your body takes a toll, because it is trying to compensate for this new balance and weight shift. With a bath or hot tub, your whole body will feel less tense. One of the disabled individuals I work with has really bad scoliosis and she sits in front of water jets to massage those muscles as well. She feels so much more relaxed and her muscles are feeling way better after!
2. Put any form of heat on your back. I love the smell and feel of A535, so that is my go to for a healing lotion, but anything like that will help, because it is putting heat on your back and relaxing those muscles. I also suggest a heating pad as well! Those beaded ones you put in the mircowave are magical
3. If you feel like your body can handle it, than stretch. Do some yoga poses, or just stretch out. You need to begin to move your body slowly. Your body will become stiff after from sitting a certain way to not move it. That weakens those muscles and others because of the compensation thing I was talking about, but also you stop using those muscles properly and they become weak and you are more prone to hurting it again- but it will be easier to hurt it now as well.

These are all very important drug free methods! I don’t recommend using medication unless your doctor says it’s ok. I feel like the key to fixing your back method is to treat for long term, versus just a short term relief. Strengthening those muscles are truly key!

Well, I hope you guys are not in any pain like I am, but if you are I hope this helps for your temporary back pain! Stay tuned, my next article will give an update on how the diet and workouts are going!

P.S: Here is a picture of my dog to help you through any pain you might be having! He is so cute!

– Erin