Back pain, especially the lower back pain is a very common chronic disease. Acupuncture, just like acupressure is an ancient Chinese physical therapy form that has numerous beneficial effects with almost zero side effects. And in those numerous side effects, acupuncture also helps to cure back pain. But how does it help? And if yes then how?

Here in this article, we are going to answer all your questions related to acupuncture and back pain.

How does acupuncture help back pain?

As mentioned above, acupuncture is an ancient Chinese physiotherapy process that has a lot of beneficial effects on the human body. The acupuncture way of treatment is based upon the various pressure points spread throughout our body and skin. Acupuncture does not cause pain or any discomfort.

Any professional acupuncturist is always going to target the Qi point of your body to start the treatment. Qi point is the pressure point in Chinese medicine. These points are also widely known as meridians.

There are some meridians or energy points in our body. Here in this article, we are only going to discuss the meridians that helps us to cure our back pain.

Some of the energy points or the Qi meridians to cure our lower back pain are:

• Back of the knees.
• Lower back point
• Hip point
• Stomach point
• Hand point
• Foot point

And, some of the upper back pain points are usually different; the upper back pain points are normally on the upper side of the body. These pressure points include:

• Head point.
• Shoulder point
• Neck point
• Upper back point

Some parts of our nervous system and related pain can also be cured with these pressure points. Here are some examples below.

• Fibromyalgia
• Headache
• Post-surgery recovery
• TMJ
• Sciatica
• Musculoskeletal pain

Now you know about some special pressure points in our body that help to get some relief from your back pain. But, if you are a science guy, you must be thinking ‘oh! That’s great. But is it backed by science?’

Here is the answer to your question.

Scientists are still confused about the working process of acupuncture therapy. But they still have some explanations of why acupuncture works for back pain. Science says:

• It stimulates the nervous system: Triggering the special energy points acupuncture releases the chemicals from the spinal cord, the muscles and in our brain. Some of these chemicals may have natural pain-relieving properties.
• It releases opioid-like chemicals: Scientists says that acupuncture may stimulate some chemicals in the body that has similar properties as pain relievers. Thus, it helps.
• Releasing neurotransmitters: Acupuncture helps releasing neurotransmitters in our body is another theory to tell the working principle of acupuncture. Acupuncture may stimulate some that shut off the pain.
• It may trigger some electromagnetic impulse in our body: These impulses may help to speed up the point handling of our body. Some scientists claim that acupuncture may release endorphins to cure the pain.

Whatever the reason may be, acupuncture helps to cure our back pain, and there are a lot of satisfied patients who are ready to prove that. So, consult your doctor, and you can try acupuncture to relieve your back pains forever.

Have you ever wondered how many muscles does our Back have? Or how many bones are there in the spinal cord? I guess you have. But it is quite difficult for a layman to understand the tough anatomical words associated with our body structure. Many of us think that studying and analysing our body and its structure is the sole job of doctors and medical students! But it is not so; you too can know the details about your back structure! How? Let’s go for the basics of our back structure first.

What is Human Back?

This is the very basic thing one should know! The Human Back or simply the Back is the wide hinder area of our body. It rises from the buttock region and goes till the back portion of the neck and spreads to the shoulder region. The back region is divided into two halves by the Backbone! The width of our back portion is usually determined by the size of our pelvis and shoulders.

The Anatomical Structure of the Back

Now once we know what we mean by the back portion, let’s move on to the anatomical structure of the back portion.

The most important part of any back structure is the spinal cord or the vertebral column or the backbone. This structure is entirely made up of bones and can be divided into mainly four parts, namely – Sacral spine, Cervical spine, Lumbar spine, Thoracic spine.

Now, these four parts have different important functions to do. Firstly, the Cervical spine consists of seven vertebrae, namely C1 – C7! There are, namely, three important functions of the cervical spine.

1. The first and foremost important function of the Cervical spine is to support the skull’s weight.
2. The C1 and C2 vertebrae are solely responsible for turning of the head and neck.
3. Lastly, the C6 and C7 vertebrae help in bending and extension the head and the neck.

Secondly, the Thoracic spine is made up of 12 vertebrae, namely T1 – T12. As the main function of Thoracic spine is to protect, thus it is capable of minimal movement.

Thirdly comes the Lumbar spine; also, commonly known as the Lower Back. The main function of this is to support the trunk (torso) and help to bend over, stretch and rotate left or right at the waist level

Lastly, the Sacral spine, which is the foundation of our vertebral column or the spine. It joins the vertebral column to the pelvis. There are mainly two bones in this part – the coccyx and the sacroiliac bone.

There are three kinds of muscles in the Back, namely – Extensors, oblique, and flexors.

Back pain, often considered as a disorder, is not a disorder but a symptom of numerous types of medical problems. Any problem associated with one or more parts of the lower back causes back pain. Even a problem with kidney leads to back pain.

Diagnosis of back pain

You definitely know your back is hurting, but you may be unaware of the reason behind it and the treatment you should follow. For this, you need to see a doctor who will consider all aspects and then let you know the cause behind the pain. He will first examine your back and will check if you’re able to stand, sit, walk and lift your legs properly. Make sure you describe your pain, and how you’re functioning with it, to the doctor very well. This information altogether will help the doctor determine the origin of pain. He will get an idea about how serious the pain is, which body parts are suffering and how can it be treated.

Well, before jumping to any conclusion, he would want to be very sure regarding his anticipations. For this, he might also order one or more tests which could be:

• X-ray: The x-ray images will focus on bones and check their alignment to ensure if you have broken bones or arthritis. Please be informed that x-ray images do not consider or show problems related to nerves, spinal cord, muscles and disks.
• Blood test: If any kind of infection is causing you pain, it could be diagnosed through a blood test.
• MRI or CT scan: X-ray ignores the problems related to nerves, muscles and cord, but all these are diagnosed through CT scan or MRI. It reveals the problem of herniated disk and any other possible causes of back pain related to bones, nerves, tissue, tendons, blood vessels and ligaments.
• Electromyography (EMG): Narrowing of the spinal canal or herniated disks often cause nerve compression, which can be confirmed by conducting this test. It basically studies the nerves and how the muscles respond to the electrical impulses.
• Bone scan: If the doctor suspects osteoporosis caused compression fractures or bone tumors, he might use a bone scan to be sure.

These tests could be conducted by the doctor to be sure about the cause of the pain.

Risk Factors for Back Pain

There are a few risk factors that make you more prone to back pain. Such situations are mentioned below and should be avoided at any cost:

• Physical inactivity or no exercising causes stiffness of the back and ultimately leads to back pain.
• Being overweight is also one of the major reasons behind back pain.
• Smoking is injurious to health, and your health includes healthy back as well.
• The risk of back pain increases with age. So, being older could also be a reason.
• Intense workout first needs warmup. If you indulge yourself in high impact activity without warming up or stretching, you might be inviting back pain.

Fibromyalgia is a disorder that you can characterize by widespread musculoskeletal pain and that gets is accompanied by sleep, fatigue and mood issues. Researchers also have said that this musculoskeletal condition amplifies a painful situation that affects your sensation by affecting the pain signals on our brain. A physical trauma, infection or surgery or psychological stress are the symptoms of this condition. Fibromyalgia is more likely to develop in women than in the male body. The fibromyalgia also includes headaches, tensions TMJ disorders, anxiety, bowel syndrome, and also depression. Fibromyalgia has no cure as of now, however, it can be relieved with few medications. It can control the symptoms. Stress-reduction and normal exercise, relaxation are the measures that may help to get away with this situation.

Symptoms of fibromyalgia:

The widespread symptoms of fibromyalgia are:

• Widespread pain: The fibromyalgia pain is often described as a dull ache constantly and consistently present. This pain can last until months, at least three months normally. This dull feeling of ache is widespread as it is going to occur on both sides of your body and also above and below the waistline.
• Fatigue: The people who are suffering from this condition of fibromyalgiaoften have a feeling of tiredness while awakening. This feeling of them is constant even though they have been sleeping for a long time. Their sleep can often get disrupted by the dull ache they feel. The fibromyalgia patients may have sleeping disorders too. These disorders include sleep apnea or restless legs disorder too.
• Cognitive difficulties: A symptom that is commonly referred to as fibro frog. It includes the disability to focus and pay attention or concentrating on a mental task.

Fibromyalgia can also co-exist with some different painful conditions too. Here are some listed below:

• Irritable bowel syndrome.
• Temporomandibular joint disorder or TMJ disorder.
• Interstitial cystitis or painful bladder syndrome.
• Headaches such as migraine and other types.

Causes:

There can be a lot of different causes that create fibromyalgia. These are:

• Genetics: An inevitable cause of fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia tends to run into the families. The genetic traits of your ancestors or some kind of genetic mutation can make you susceptible to fibromyalgia.
• Infections: Some illness appears to trigger or aggravate fibromyalgia too. Infections are a considerable cause to suspect fibromyalgia in patients.
• Physical or emotional trauma: The disease can get triggered by physical trauma, car accidents or such fatal disasters, even psychological trauma sometimes induce fibromyalgia disorder in the human body.

Risk Factors:

• Your family history if contains one of your ancestors with fibromyalgia makes you the one susceptible patient.

• Osteoarthritis, rheumatoid, arthritis or lupus patients more likely to develop fibromyalgia.
• Women tend to develop fibromyalgia more frequently than men.

• If you are suffering from any kind of infection, that can also cause fibromyalgia too.

• And obviously, the physiological or psychological trauma can also develop this condition in your body.

So, these were a few things that you may want to know about the disease. However, you should always contact a doctor to confirm your problem and take actions accordingly.

Homeopathy medicines are one of the oldest medications that have proved its efficiency on various diseases. However, allopathic medications since its discovery been pushing the homeopathy remedies backwards. But, there still are a few homeopathic remedies that work efficiently to cure some diseases where even the allopathic medicines failed. One of them is the backaches.

Backaches been a serious problem for the sufferers and sometimes it’s unbearable. People try a lot of remedies to cure this disease, but it keeps coming back. Here are some homeopathic remedies that can help you with your back pain in a way you have never imagined. Have a look at the list below to know them.

Homeopathic remedies for backaches:

Rhus Tox

Rhus Tox is a high rated homeopathy medicine that helps you in a lot of diseases. It can help with your unbearable backache too.

Here are some characteristics that indicate the uses of Rhus Tox:

• Backaches rising from the muscle strains due to overstretch or lifting heavy weights.
• When you got a backache that gets better when you apply hard pressure on that area.

Rhus Tox is your automatic choice of homeopathic medicine when you got this kind of back pains.

Bryonia Alba

Bryonia Alba is a very efficient homeopathic medicine for back pain problems. The symptoms that indicate you should opt for Bryonia Alba are:

When you get a back pain that gets worse with the continuous motion.

When the back pain gets worse with walking, and only rest brings relief.

It is a great medicine for the backaches that gets severe with standing or stooping.

Choose Bryonia Alba whenever you face these kinds of pains.

Aesculus Hippocastanum

It is a very frequently used medicine for the backaches that affects the sacrum region. The pain arises from the sacrum area often reach the hip portion of the body. The symptoms that indicate the need for this remedy are:

When walking or stooping, induce the pain.

Rising from a chair or any other sitting position is a challenge.

The sacrum and the hip area get stuff along with constant and unbearable pain.

Aesculus Hippocastanum is the perfect homeopathic remedy in these cases.

Kali Carb

Kali Carb is a very efficient and helpful remedy for the women who are suffering the backaches in the post-childbirth period. The symptoms are:

Your backache in the post-childbirth period that makes you lie down to seek some relief from the pain.

The pain that gets worse with walking. You need to stop after some distance, take rest, but the pain comes back the moment you start walking again.

Back pain after a miscarriage.

Cobaltum and Phosphorus

Cobultum is mainly used in cases where the backache is induced from a sitting position. This pain radiates from the lower side of your back and extends to the legs, and the feet downward. Phosphorus is whereas helps when prolonged sitting is the reason for your backache, and a weakness can also be felt in the back.

These were some of the best homeopathic remedies for your backaches. However, you should always consult a homeopathic specialist and talk about your symptoms. They will always lead you to the right remedy for your back pain.

Having a Back Pain can really turn your day into a hard one, the gnawing pain will not only allow you to be at ease but also be the reason that you miss your office and other important works. There are many reasons that can induce one to have a Back Pain, like – having a bad posture, bending your neck for a long time in front of the computer, injuries during sports, abrupt movements, bad sleeping positions. Now once you get back pain, you should know how to ease your pain. Instead of having medications, you can go for these simple massages that can lessen your back pain. Let’s have a look at those:

1. Effleurage –It is a basic kind of massaging technique. In this the patient is made to lie down flat on the stomach, then gradually a second person places her/his hands on their lower back near the hip portion on both the sides of the backbone. Then gently press the muscles in the upward direction and back again and then release them. Do this for a minimum of 5 minutes and remember that instead of putting pressure on the bones, it should be the muscles you will be focusing.
2. Circular pressure –Now the next massage you can give to anyone having back pain is the circular pressure on their hips. For this make the person lie down on his/her stomach and gently with the heel region of your hand apply pressure in a circular manner around their hips, moving up and down in this manner. Do this for 5 minutes and do not apply pressure in any of the bones.
3. From Spine to Hip –In this kind of massage, you have to move from the spine muscles to the hip muscles. First, you need to locate the base of the backbone, then by using your fingertips put slight pressure on the outer region of the spine and then gently move to the hip muscles. During this massage, you actually manage to relax the gluteus muscles, which are mainly responsible for back pains.
4. Sliding massage –While your patient is lying on the stomach, use fingertips to locate the long muscle that usually runs along the backbone. Now apply gentle pressure using your thumbs on that muscle, go up and down for about 5 minutes and then switch to the other side.
5. Trigger point massage –Once the person suffering from back pain comes for massage, ask him/her exactly where he/she is feeling the pain. Once you have located out the regions apply little pressure on those affected regions. Press the areas gently and move your thumbs in a circular manner. Do these for 5 minutes. While you are doing this, you are actually loosening the muscles and making them relax.

Thus, these are five simple massages that you can do to the person suffering from back pain or ask someone to do it for you if you need. You are sure to get good results if you do as you are told and if you do them regularly.

Most of the patients who suffer from low back pain are recommend physical therapy treatment before they consider any other method that’s aggressive. It’s true that physical therapy treatment takes time to heal the pain completely. However, it is also true that it is a very healthy and recommended way of treatment as compared to over the counter medications.

Basically, there are two common forms of physical therapy:

1. Active Physical Therapy: This is the focus in the treatment of back pain. It includes stretching and specific exercises. These exercises treat low back pain very effectively only if the patient is consistent and performs them correctly.
2. Passive Physical Therapy: This part of the physical therapy program includes modalities like things done to the patients. It could be anything as simple as ice packs and heat application or something as intense as electrical stimulation.

With these forms of physical therapy, the doctor prescribes exercises to the patient. Now, these exercises differ from patient to patient, depending on the cause and severity of pain. However, the classification of exercises for back pain still remains the same.

Here are the types of exercises that doctors recommend to the patients:

•   Core Strengthening Exercises: Low back pain patients are recommended to work their core. This category includes exercises that focus on strengthening core muscles of the abdomen, low back, hips and legs. It includes sit-ups, leg raises, crunches and abdominal machines.
•   Dynamic Stabilization Exercises: Dynamic stabilization exercises include various exercises that focus on strengthening the secondary muscles of the spine. It makes your spine strong and supports it through various motion ranges. These exercises may also include the use of props and machines like balancing machines and exercise balls for effective treatment.
• Stretching: Active exercises can actually work for opposite results if not accompanied by proper stretching. It improves circulation in the muscles and prepares the body for exercises. In fact, patients should follow a stretching routine. If considered generally, stretching of abdominal muscles, lower back muscles, legs and hips are best for patients of back pain.

Things to keep in mind

Apart from the physiotherapy treatment, you need to follow certain things to treat back pain quickly. Also, if it’s already treated, this will help you avoid the pain to return.

• If you suffer from back pain very often, try not to carry heavy bags, briefcases, purses, suitcases, laptop bags, etc.
• Focus on and strengthen the muscles around your back and abdomen. These are your core muscles, and you need to strengthen them to avoid back pain.
• Poor posture stresses your spine, which, ultimately, leads to back pain. So, start sitting upright and roll your rounded shoulders back every time you see yourself into a bad posture.
• Ladies, avoid wearing heels. Keep it flat and keep it comfortable as much as possible.
• Stretching is very important. You can’t put yourself into high impact workout without stretching your muscles.

Acute or chronic Back pain is among the most commonly observed health issues, observed in billions of people from all around the globe. It is hard to find an individual who has never suffered from this issue at some point in life or the other. Are you aware of the fact that improper body posture is one of the major factors that stands beyond these issues? Though modern health science is yet to find a specific remedy to the issues of low back pain, still, bringing improvements to the body posture, you can certainly find a permanent and a root-cause solution to these problems.

Why is the right body posture so important? 

Posture is basically the way you would hold your body, in the instances you stand, sit, or you perform any activities like bending, lifting, or you reach out to an object. In case your posture is not right, it will disturb the correct alignment of the spine, thereby exerting pressure to this part of the body. This is the key factor that triggers issues like low back pain. This is why the right body posture becomes so important. Hence, you don’t have options than to adopt the right posture.

The key steps in bringing improvements in the body posture

• Put your thinking cap on: To get the right posture, there is a good scope of imagination. You need to stand upright, and imagine that a straight line is passing from the ceiling to the floor, moving through your body. You need to ensure that shoulders, ears, knees, as well as the hips and the ankle, get lined up vertically. Now, you need to hold back your pelvis and ensure that the lower back is not swaying away. Now, you might feel an urge to stand on the tiptoe, but you need to resist the temptation. Rather, you need to stretch the head in the direction of the ceiling, gradually enhancing the gap between your pelvis and the rib cage.
• Squeezing the Shoulder Blade: you need to sit up straight in the chair, and you should rest your hands on your thighs. Now, hold back your shoulders at the level of the chin. Now, start drawing the shoulders back and squeezing the shoulder blades together. Now, start counting till 5 and then, relax. You can repeat this workout for 3 to 4 times at a go.
• Stretching the upper body: You need to stand, facing one of the corners of the room with your arms stretched and the hands held flat against the wall. Now, start bending your front knee and keep on exhaling out, as you lean your body in the direction of the wall. Ensure that your back is held back straight and the chest and head are held up.

These simple tricks come highly effective in improving your body postures. This ensures that you find a permanent solution to the troubles with low back pain. These steps are easy to follow and, if practiced regularly, will surely produce the most delightful outcome.

Sciatica is a backache condition that spread along the sciatic nerves. This unbearable condition radiates the lower back thoroughly through your hips and the buttocks, and it goes down to each of your leg. Sciatica normally affects only one side of your body.

The condition commonly occurs when a herniated disk or another body part such as the bone spur narrowing the spine or on the spine compresses the sciatic nerve or a part of it. This mainly causes inflammation, numbness and pain on the affected leg. Sciatica sometimes appears as a severe condition in the back. However, it can be treated with a few weeks of treatment. Although the treatment is non-operative in most of the cases, people suffering from severe Sciatica, that lead to bowel, bladder changes or leg weakness might need surgery.

The Symptoms of Sciatica:

A pain that radiating from the lower spine to the buttocks, that eventually reaches the back of your leg is a major symptom of Sciatica. A person suffering from this condition may experience a sensation throughout the pathway of the sciatic nerve. However, it mainly follows the path from the lower back to the buttocks.

From a mild sensation at the pathway of the sciatic nerve to a sharp, burning condition to indescribable pain, Sciatica can escalate very quickly. It gets worse with coughs and sneezes. Sometimes the prolonged sitting can also induce this pain. Sometimes when you get up from a prolonged sitting position, you may feel like an electric shock or a jolt. In most of the cases, one side of our body mainly gets affected by it.

A lot of people suffering from this condition may also experience numbness, a tingling or muscle weakness in your affected leg or foot. In many cases, the sufferer feels numbness in one leg and excruciating pain in the other.

The most common causes of Sciatica:

As we have described it earlier, one of the main reasons for this condition is when your sciatic nerve gets compressed with the Herniated disk or a bone spur on the spine. However, there are cases when the nerve gets damaged by a disease such as diabetes or is compressed by a tumour.

Now a few details about the Risk Factors of the disease:

Age is one of the most widespread factors of Sciatica. Why? With age, our body structure usually keeps growing. Age-related changes of our spine, the herniated disk or the bone spurs become one of the most common causes of Sciatica.

• Obesity is another very risky factor in Sciatica. Obesity increases the stress on your spine. Excess obesity can lead to spinal changes and thus can lead to Sciatica as well.

• Occupations that make you keep twisting your back can be a reason for Sciatica. People who mainly carry heavy loads on their back or driving a vehicle for a long time can lead to Sciatica too. However, there is not any proof to support this statement until now.

• Diabetes can affect the uses of your blood sugar level. It can also make you a future candidate for the disease.

So, these were a few things you should know about Sciatica. Consult your general physician or a doctor to know more.

The spinal column on your back is a series of aligned bones that have stacked each other. From the top to bottom, your spinal column is the inclusion of seven bones in the cervical spine part, 12 in the thoracic spine, and five bones in the lumbar spine. These series of bones are eventually followed by sacrum and coccyx at the base. These bones have been cushioned by the discs. These discs are there to absorb any kind of shocks from our daily activities. Activities that include walking, twisting, lifting and more such.

Here, we are going to know about the discs in detail:

Each of the discs that cushion the series of bones in our spine has two parts. There is a soft gelatinous part, as well as a hard outer ring. These discs are known as herniated, prolapsed, or more commonly as slipped disks. The slipped discs itself causes pain and discomfort. In addition to that, this herniated disc can cause conditions such as sciatica if the nerves get compressed by the discs. You can also experience the numbness and the pain along the pathway of the affected nerve. In some cases, you may have to have surgery to remove slipped discs.

Now we know about the herniated or slipped disc in detail, here are a few symptoms of slipped disc:

You may experience this condition anywhere along your spine. You can experience it anywhere from your neck area to the lower back of your body. The spinal column is an intricate nervous and blood vessels network. Your slipped disc can put on some extra pressure along the nerves and the muscles around it.

The major symptoms of slip disc are when you will feel numbness or pain on one side of your body. In slip disc, you will face this symptom more commonly as it normally does not affect the whole body. There are some cases where you may feel numbness on one side of your body and pain in the other. The pain gets extended to the arms or the leg portion of your body. The pain that gets worse in the night time, there are cases when certain movements induce and make the pain worse.

One suffers from slip disc may face worsening paining conditions after prolonged standing or sitting positions. You may feel pain when walking in short distance, and also some unexplained muscle weakness can also be caused by the slipped disc often.

How do slipped discs get diagnosed?

Doctors are going to perform a routine physical check-up. They are going to look at sources of your pain and discomfort. This check-up will involve in checking nerve function and also the muscle strength check too. Doctors will check if some certain kinds of movement or touching of the affected area cause pain or not. They will make sure what kind of activities causes your pain to worsen. X-Ray, MRI, CT Scans are the tests to confirm ones’ slipped disc condition.

These were a few things you may want to know about the slipped disc. Check them out, consult your doctor and take actions accordingly.

In today’s world it is very obvious that due to a hectic lifestyle and schedule, people irrespective of age get stressed out very easily, complain about having a gnawing back pain, or sometimes report of getting mild to severe panic attacks! Not only any kind of pain makes you normal life all messed up but also being all stressed out makes your life worse! Frequent mood swings, getting irritated regarding little things, panicking about small things are signs that you are leading a stressful life. Now once you know that you not only have stress but also back pain in addition to it, you should know means to get rid of it.

1. Eat healthy – The first and foremost thing to get relief from stress is to go for a healthy diet. Taking into consideration the present lifestyles we all are living, stress is bound to happen. Eating all sorts of unhealthy food, fried food, all filled with calories and fats. If you want to get rid of stress, then switch to a healthy diet. Having a healthy plate everyday make you feel all energetic and bring up the enthusiasm to do different kinds of work.
2. Physical activity – When was the last time you went for a walk or did some freehand exercise! If you want to get rid of stress and back pain, then go for some physical exercises! Do yoga to get rid of stress or go for a walk! To get rid of back pain, do the required exercises as directed by your physiotherapist or go to a therapy centre whenever you get time. Do these exercises or workouts regularly; you will clearly see the visible results.
3. Relax yourself – Due to your hectic schedule, you remain all stressed and which consequently adds on having a back pain you never imagined! Now you just can’t stop working or dealing with every day’s problems. But you can definitely try to relax yourself a bit. Try to finish off your works in time, go out for a nice stroll during your off days, do freehand exercises, have healthy food and go to bed as early as possible, give yourself ample amount of sleep. Because you all must know the well-known proverb – “All work no play, makes Jack a dull boy”.
4. Laughter yoga – Now this is something that many of you have heard but probably never tried before. This is one of the best things you can go for if you want to get rid of stress as well as back pain. While you are doing this kind of yoga, not only your stress level reduces but also a special type of hormone endorphin gets released, which is known to reduce the levels of stress as well as pain.

So, these are some few simple tips that you can definitely follow to get rid of your stress and back pain.

Back pain is a nagging issue in today’s world. It is a stressful problem that has triggered people who belong to different age groups. The back pains can be caused by anything and can be a prominent pain in your lives for quite some time. However, there are many ways of treating back pains, and those are also believed to be resolving nagging pains of back.

These treatments can be done at home as well as you can seek medical intervention for it.

Home Remedial Treatments

a) Hot/Cold Compression- Application of an ice pack or hot water is believed to lower the pain in the back. It relieves those stressed muscles and nerves and opens them in order to release the clogged pain.

b) Painkillers- Pain relief medicines that can be bought over the counter can also be effective in treating back pains. Painkiller such as ibuprofen is believed to relieve the discomfort in the back.

c) Rest- Taking a proper amount of rest from a rigorous routine or drenching physical activity is also said to be effective in removing the back pain. It reduces stiffness and prevents the muscles and nerves from weakening and tearing down abruptly.

Medical Treatments

If in any case, the home remedial treatments don’t seem to be effective on the area of nagging pain in the back then you should consider seeking medical help for it. Any kind of pain endured for quite some time is not a sign of being courageous. On the other hand, this can worsen the problem of your back pain.

a) Medication- this kind of medication is not over the counter painkillers but a prescribed dose of drugs that are recommended by the doctor to ease in the back pain and requires to be taken in a minimum amount of dosage as said by the doctor.

Anti-depressants are also prescribed by some doctors and should be strictly taken in the advised dosage.

b) Traction treatment- traction is an instrument that consists of pulleys and weights and is used for treating nagging pains of back or spine. The weights and pressure implied by the pulleys stretch the back and relieves the pain.

c) Botox- Botox is said to releases pain from a particular area by paralyzing the whole area. The application of Botox as a medical treatment to aid back pain is highly contemporary and not practised by everyone.

Other Complementary Therapies

a) Chiropractor- A Chiropractor is a therapy specialist that treats sore joints, muscles and bone-related problems. It cracks several joint points in the body and releases the clogged muscles and pain from it.

b) Acupuncture- A Chinese therapy that consists of inserting fine light needles in the skin only on specific points and the pain area. This therapy stimulates nerves and tissue tension.

c) Yoga- Yoga is said to be the most effective in terms of strengthening muscles, improving postures, breathing frequency, as well as increasing flexibility in the body. It helps in realising the pain from the back with stretchy yoga asana.

Back pains are a common problem in today’s world. Every other person you meet is either having a back-ache or having a back adjustment. This certain kind of problem is not limited to certain age groups or working class. It is a whole wide common issue that has made lives quite miserable. As we talk further about the age groups; it includes senior citizens, athletes and even toddlers or little children.

There can be anyone with a back-ache with totally other reason such as being overweight, inappropriately lifting or bending, stressed, surgery or bad injury in the past. One can simply pull up a muscle or a string that can cause them a lifespan of back-ache related problems.

The duration of back pains can be acute, sub-acute and chronic:

• Acute back pain- It is a severe pain that develops suddenly and goes away within a few weeks.
• Sub-acute back pain- It can last up to 3 months.
• Chronic back pain- It lasts more than 3 months and is also said to be a lifelong issue.

Following are some of the most identified back pain causes-

• Slipped Disk– This is also known as a herniated disk. In this situation, the disks that are there in the human spine to provide space bulges out and intervenes the nerves that are beside the spines, causing back pain. The slipped disk can further cause more additional problems such as Spinal Stenosis and Sciatica.

• Back strain- This is an injury of muscles and ligaments in the back. It is a strain that happens in the ligaments and muscles of the back and causes pain. It can also trigger muscle spasms as the pain from the back moves to buttocks and sometimes even the legs.

• Arthritis- chronic back pain is often a result of Arthritis. This can affect any joint in the body and includes the human spine as well. This also causes more fatigue and tear in other joints of the body as well. Due to this, the spinal disks present in the spine gets dry and become stiff. These situations can rise into a spinal fracture or Spondylosis.

• Osteoporosis- This is a situation where the body doesn’t make new bone, and the old bones are heavily consumed by it. The constant work pressure, stress and physical movement causes a huge tear in the old bones which are unable to be healed or replaced by the new bones. The bone gets weaker and fragile due to the lack of minerals and vitamins and gets fractured or broken even without any fall or injury.

• Stress fractures- A common problem among the athletes is stress fractures. Gymnasts, footballers, weight-lifters struggle with such fractures on a daily basis. Due to a comprehensive workout or rigorous practice, they develop these back pains in the spinal cord, which doesn’t even notice for a week or two. Certain exercises and physiotherapy take it away, but in most cases, it becomes a nagging back pain.

What Causes Back Pain – Have you ever experienced really bad back pain? Getting up in the morning & suddenly you realize you can’t sit straight or bend over because there is bad back pain! You are most likely to get a back pain once in your life & that too irrespective of your age. Having a back pain not only ruins your everyday work but also becomes the reason behind your absence from work or other important work. Now you must be what must be the causes behind getting this nasty back pain. Well, here are some reasons behind why you get back pain.

Strain

First, you must know what is a strain? When due to over stretching or other strenuous activity, a muscle fiber gets torn then it’s known as Strain. Now there can be many reasons by which you can get a strain. Some of them are

1. Sudden lifting of heavy things – even if we are used to picking up pf heavy things. Still, there are times when immediate lifting of those heavy things might lead to the tearing of muscles, i.e. strain.
2. Sports – now there are many sports that require physical strength, such as weight lifting, kabaddi, rugby etc. In such sports, there are high chances that the players might get a strain if they are not careful enough.
3. Sudden movements – sometimes making sudden or abrupt movements can also cause one to get strain. The sudden movement sometimes creates pressure on the muscle, resulting it to get torn.

Structural problems

Sometimes having some structural problems can also be the cause for your back pain. Some of them are;

1. Arthritis – as you grow old, your bones start to degenerate, start losing their strength. In osteoarthritis of the spine, the cartilage of the joints & discs presents in the neck & the lower back portion collapse.
2. Unnatural curving of the spine – scoliosis or the S shaping of the spinal cord can also cause immense pain for the patients. People who suffer from this particular ailment have severe back pain.
3. Osteoporosis – not having the proper amount of calcium can be one the important factor leading to osteoporosis. In layman’s term Osteoporosis means ‘porous bones’. As they become porous & easily breakable, it too leads to back pain among people.
4. Herniated disc – also known as the ruptured disc is a situation when the disc part is pushed out of the annulus creating unnecessary pressure on the nerve, thus resulting in back pain.

Postural problems

Now, these are one of the most crucial factors that lead to having back pain. 9 out of every 10 people have a bad posture. There can be many reasons that lead to a bad posture; sitting in front of the computer for hours in a bending position, unnecessary twisting of body parts, carrying something heavy on the back, sleeping in a bad posture. These are the reasons which not only contributes to having a bad posture but also severe back pain in many cases.

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