I was recently chatting with a client about her pain experience, and I was reminded how easily we can get caught up in a pattern of daily habits which are both unhelpful and aggravating to our back pain.
I completely understand how this happens. If you have niggling back pain which isn't going away, perhaps fluctuating in intensity and you are fed up with worrying about it, you will try anything to help reduce the pain and stiffness that you feel!
Learn how these 4 common habits are not helpful for ongoing back pain...
#1. Constant heat pack use is not helpful. If you are someone who pops a heat pack on their back whenever they feel sore, or even sleeps with one, you are likely to be aggravating your symptoms. You have HYPERSENSITIVE tissues in your lower back and these tissues need to be calmed down, not heated up. Heat use with persistent back pain is usually unhelpful (although I understand it feels nice!).
#2. How often are you getting hands-on treatment? If you are getting regular hands-on treatment, massage, manipulation, dry-needling and your pain experience is not changing you need to try a different approach. Just because your back is sore when someone presses on it, does not mean it needs to be massaged! Less is more when it comes to ongoing lower back pain.
#3. How much do you stretch? If you are someone who is constantly trying to stretch out their gluteals because they always feel tight or tender, you are most likely not changing your pain experience. Just because a muscle feels tight doesn't mean you have to stretch it. It may be working to stabilise your pelvis, back and hips so stretching isn't necessarily always what you need.
#4. Have you stopped bending your spine? When our back feel sore, it is often made worse by lots of bending. So what happens when we have frequent back pain? We often end up avoiding flexion so we don't stir our pain up. If this is done for an extended period, our spine can weaken and also become extremely sensitive to bending. There are better ways to manage this and it all comes down to reducing sensitivity within the tissues of our spine.
For more tips and general information, stay tuned to my blog post.
Lizzy x