5 Tips to Good Back Health
For many Australians, nearly 4 million of us, back pain can be an unfortunate fact of everyday life. Whether it’s a persistent twinge or a constant sharp shooting pain when walking - back pain has the potential to cause a lot of discomfort and inconvenience to your quality of life.
Your back, along with the spine, play an important role in keeping our bodies upright, supported and mobile. That’s why doing everything you can to keep it healthy and strong throughout your lifetime is vital.
Here are some helpful ways to keep your back health in check.
Sleep in comfort
Quality sleep can do wonders for your mind and body - including your back. But it’s much more than just getting the recommended 8 hours sleep a night.
Give your back the royal treatment by sleeping on a medium-firm mattress and using a quality pillow that properly aligns your neck and spine. Sleeping on your side with a pillow in between your legs also keeps your body in the best form, reducing tension on your back as well as keeping your hips in a neutral position.
Making these small adjustments at night will ensure you are giving your back the support it needs during the day.
Exercise your core regularly
Strengthening the muscles around your core and spine can help take the load off and reduce soreness/aching/stiffness.
Keeping your core muscles engaged provides the spine with ‘active support’, essentially taking load off the ‘passive’ structures such as the spine (discs, vertebra, facet joints, ligaments, and the pelvic joints i.e sacroiliac and the hips).
And you don’t need to do a million crunches to start to notice a difference. Consistency is more important than intensity, start by doing a couple of simple core exercises given by your health professional, two to three times a week and you’ll begin to notice the difference.
Maintain a healthy posture
Good posture, whether standing, walking or sitting is critical to reduce unnecessary strain on your back.
If your work involves sitting at a desk for long periods of time, it's a good idea to take mini breaks every 20 minutes. Stand up and go for a short walk, even if it's around your office. This type of regular movement of the body helps to loosen up the spine and pelvis, which can help to reduce back pain.
Pay attention to early warning signals
There’s no doubt about it...life gets busy. It’s understandable if you keep putting off seeing a health professional for your back pain, but it could end up being a costly mistake.
Ignoring an early warning sign, whether it’s a sharp pain or a lingering dull ache… could be harmful to your back health.
Back pain can come in many forms and that’s why speaking with a trusted health professional is vital to diagnose the root cause of back pain and find a treatment that will work for you.
Enjoy the benefits of regular chiropractic care
As university trained health practitioners, Chiropractors have ample experience in treating acute and chronic back pain conditions.
Contact Dr. Chris Karacsonyi - Chiropractor today for personalised chiropractic care focused on improving your quality of life by reducing pain and discomfort. Chris is focused on providing you with chiropractic treatment tailored to your needs and providing quality advice and rehabilitation exercises to keep your back strong and healthy into the future.
Source: Estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017–18 National Health estimate about 4.0 million Australians (16% of the population) have back problems.
