BACK PAIN TREATMENT

Do you think spas are places where the rich and famous go for getting pampered? Is it your opinion that the body treatments offered at spas can only help you look younger? This is not the case. Today, spas can offer you a lot more and are a place where you can enjoy a wide array of services for different purposes. They have become known for their detox services and can also be useful in treating a myriad of health issues such as back pain. If you suffer from back pain, you can visit a spa and opt for treatments that are beneficial for your spine’s health. Some of the most effective spa treatments for relieving back pain have been discussed below.

Massage: Good circulation is the key to a healthy body and massage is an excellent way to increase the blood flow throughout the body. Massage is a popular way to relieve spasm and muscle tension, fluid retention, pain, stiffness, aches and inflammation. It has been widely used for relieving low back pain for years in which therapists use their hands and sometimes special tools for rubbing, kneading and stroking muscles. Oil or lotion is also applied to the skin for reducing friction. Massage can promote circulation, which relaxes the muscles and relieves the tension and stiffness that was causing back pain.

Hydrotherapy: It is one of the oldest forms of therapy and has different forms such as whirlpool, swimming pools, water spas and even bathtubs. The temperature of the water and the speed at which it moves can aid in relieving inflammation, swelling and pain and can also relax tense muscles. You can also build flexibility and strength with gentle water exercise that are performed using the resistance of water. Only a few minutes of hydrotherapy can do wonders for bout of back pain.

Pilates: Even though the concept of Pilates has been around for a while, it has become the focus of renewed attention. This is a low-impact type of exercise that focuses on developing a strong body core. It is immensely effective in improving the spinal range of motion, increasing flexibility and strengthening back and abdominal muscles. As it is pays a lot of attention of posture correction and is focused on flexibility of the spine, it is highly recommended for those who are suffering from various spinal conditions including constant back pain.

Flowstick Muscle Scraper: Flowstick Muscle Scraper is being used by several spas now. It is a kind of Gua Sha tool which has been made to eliminate muscle adhesions and tension. In just 3 minutes of applying, it decreases pain and increases mobility. It actually works by releasing myofascial to the affected areas. By scraping affected areas with adhesions and internal scar tissues, the tool clears the pathways for allowing blood circulation that consequently restores healing and movement.

Yoga: Another ancient form of exercise is yoga, which includes controlled breathing, gentle stretching, meditation and focused concentration. Similar to Pilates, yoga is extremely helpful for you if you want to increase your endurance and flexibility without putting your body through the stress of high-impact exercise. There are various exercises and positions that are targeted towards the back and can reduce chronic back pain. However, you can only find out these postures and practice them under the supervision of an experienced yoga instructor, which is exactly what spas can offer you.

Source : http://www.examiner.com/article/most-effective-spa-treatments-for-relieving-back-pain

By Dr. Mercola

Eighty percent of people will experience back pain at some point during their lives. It's one of the most common health challenges, yet many people fail to find lasting relief, even after seeking medical help.

If you visit a doctor for back pain, you're likely to receive a prescription as a solution. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is the recommended first-line drug treatment for back pain, despite the fact that a recent systematic review and meta-analysis found it to be ineffective for this purpose.

Chris Maher, a physical therapist and researcher at the University of Sydney in Australia told NPR:

"We've got this perverse incentive in our health care system where we encourage people to innovate in terms of drugs, but we don't have the same system to get people to innovate in terms of physical activity."

Perhaps if we did, there would be a lot fewer people struggling with chronic back pain.

Exercise Works for Reducing Your Risk of Back Pain

Maher and colleagues reviewed 21 studies, which included more than 30,000 people, to determine what really works for preventing low back pain. Commonly recommended back belts and shoe insoles didn't help but exercise did.

Among people who had experienced back pain, those who exercised had a 25 percent to 40 percent lower risk of having another episode within a year than those who did no exercise.

Further, the type of exercise didn't seem to matter. Strength exercises, aerobics, flexibility training and stretching were all beneficial in lowering the risk of back pain. This makes sense since your body needs regular activity to remain pain-free.

For example, when you sit for long periods of time, you typically end up shortening your iliacus, psoas, and quadratus lumborum muscles that connect from your lumbar region to the top of your femur and pelvis.

When these muscles are chronically short, it can cause severe pain when you stand up as they will effectively pull your lower back (lumbar) forward.

Imbalance among the anterior and posterior chains of muscles leads to many of the physical pains you experience. By rebalancing and strengthening these muscles, you can remedy many pains and discomforts, including low back pain and similar pains, like neck pain.

In one study of neck-pain patients, for instance, 30 percent of those who exercised became pain-free compared to just 13 percent of those treated with medication

Source : http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2016/01/22/low-back-pain-exercises.aspx

"Exercise is the best medicine to banish back pain and stop people taking sick days," reports the Daily Mirror. While this may be true, the research in question did not look at treatments for existing back pain.

In fact, the researchers reviewed previously gathered evidence about what helps prevent, not treat, lower back pain. Also, the evidence that exercise reduced sick leave was judged to be poor quality.

The review found exercise with or without education on the back and back pain was the most likely intervention to prevent lower back pain. This included core muscle strengthening, stretching and aerobic exercise carried out over a period of about 3 to 18 months.

Education alone, back belts, shoe insoles, and ergonomics (changes to objects such as chairs to make them more "back friendly") were not found to prevent lower back pain. But this finding was based on low-quality studies, so it should be viewed with caution.

Some of these interventions, such as shoe insoles, were only studied in army recruits, so the results may not be applicable to other population groups.

These limitations aside, exercise would seem to be the best option based on the available evidence. Exercise is known to offer a range of benefits. This review suggests preventing lower back pain is another potential benefit.

Source: http://www.nhs.uk/news/2016/01January/Pages/Exercise-is-most-effective-method-of-preventing-lower-back-pain.aspx

A risk factor is something which increases the likelihood of developing a condition or disease. For example, obesity significantly raises the risk of developing diabetes. Therefore, obesity is a risk factor for diabetes.

The following factors are linked to a higher risk of developing low back pain:

• A mentally stressful job
• Pregnancy - pregnant women are much more likely to get back pain
• A sedentary lifestyle
• Age - older adults are more susceptible than young adults or children
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Gender - back pain is more common among females than males
• Obesity/overweight
• Smoking
• Strenuous physical exercise (especially if not done properly)
• Strenuous physical work.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/172943.php

Keeping active through the pain barrier and learning more about the condition are significantly better than the alternatives
Big problem: Back pain is estimated to cost Britain £5 billion per year
Exercise is the best medicine to banish back pain and stop people taking sick days, a study has found.

Together with education on how to prevent the condition, these were the most effective ways to stop it recurring within a year.

But other remedies, including education alone, back belts and specialist shoe inserts do not appear to be associated with the prevention of lower back pain.

Back pain is a common problem that affects most people at some point in their life and is triggered by bad posture while sitting or standing, bending awkwardly, or lifting incorrectly.