Back or Neck Pain? You Are Not Alone!
May 3, 2023
Maintaining a healthy spine can prevent injury and improve your life.
As anyone who experiences chronic back pain can tell you, the importance of a healthy spine cannot be overstated. The spine provides support for your entire body and contains the nerve bundles that connect your brain to nearly every part of your body. When the spine is not right, it affects everything you do and every aspect of your life.
The numbers don’t lie. Most people – 80% – experience back pain at some point in their life. Approximately half a million lumbar spine surgeries are done in the United States each year. Neck surgeries make up about a quarter of a million surgeries annually. With so many people experiencing neck and back pain, it may be time to look at ways to keep your back healthy.
1. Exercise
Specifically, you need to strengthen the muscles of your core. Those muscles help support the spine and spare the spine some of the load it would otherwise bear. Ask your doctor, physical therapist, or trainer for the best exercises to strengthen your core.
Exercise is also important for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. Excess weight can force the spine out of alignment, overtaxing supporting muscles, pinching spinal nerves and causing low back pain.
2. Stretch it out
Along with exercise, stretching can make a big difference in back pain. Make stretching daily a habit to keep your spine healthy.
3. Choose good footwear
Your shoes matter. Make sure you’re wearing supportive shoes that can absorb impact when you’re walking and exercising.
4. Give it a rest
When you sleep, your spine gets a break. Make sure you choose a good mattress and use a pillow to help achieve proper spine alignment. If you’re a back sleeper, put the pillow below your knees to reduce stress on your back. If you prefer sleeping on your side, put the pillow between your knees.
5. Pick a good chair
Sitting at a desk for long periods of time can aggravate back pain. Choose a chair that helps you not slouch and maintains a good ergonomic position. If you need to add extra support a chair, do so and prevent worsening back pain.
6. Practice good posture
When standing, your back should be straight, head level, shoulders back, abdomen in, with a slight bend in your knees and most of your weight on the balls of your feet to support your spine’s natural curves. When sitting, your feet should be flat on the floor, back straight, lower back supported, forearms and wrists level and relaxed, with your monitor at or slightly below eye-level.
7. Quit smoking
It may not be obviously related to back pain, but smoking is harmful to your spine. Smoking reduces blood flow to the discs in your back. Those discs are like cushions between your bones. When they break down, they provide less padding and can also bulge or rupture, putting pressure on nerves and causing severe and long-lasting pain.
8. Practice safe lifting
Lift with your knees, not your back. Carry heavy loads as close to your body as possible. Avoid twisting while lifting. When possible, use equipment or get help from another person when lifting heavy objects.
Keeping a healthy back helps keep you out of pain. If you do experience back pain, talk to your doctor. Rest and ice, physical therapy, medications and surgery can help reduce pain and restore function. Remember, the best medicine is always prevention. But if back and neck pain strike, St. Mary’s has got your back.
Sources:
https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health
Weiss AJ, Elixhauser A. Trends in operating room procedures in US hospitals, 2001–2011 HCUP Statistical Brief #171. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2014).