by Alicia Slansky

Created on: February 21, 2009

There are so many causes for pain in the back that one could not possibly list them all. Some causes may not be preventable without doctor intervention. Many of the following ideas listed can be coupled together to customize a plan that will best suit your lifestyle and circumstances to help you prevent back pain.

Know the cause of pain and be self-aware

Finding out what is causing the pain usually involves at least one visit to the doctor. Depending on the severity of pain, you may need x-ray or MRI to determine whether or not the doctor needs to fix a specific problem before the prevention can begin. If you need surgery to remove cysts or other things from the spine, start there and then follow the doctor's instruction for getting your back healthy again.

Finding the cause of back pain is sometimes tricky so try not to diagnose yourself unless you are trained in skeletal medicine. If the pain is high in your back around your shoulder blades, it could very well be your neck that has a problem. The muscles between the two places are strained and the pain you feel is due to the muscle in your neck throwing your shoulder out of whack. The same goes for your low back. Neck, low back, middle back and shoulder blades are all connected. The placement of bones and muscles in all these places drastically affect the placement of the bones and muscles in the others. The location of the pain does not always demonstrate where the underlying problem is. Get it checked out.

Pay attention to your body. If you notice that your back is giving you trouble, stop abusing it. You have to live your life, but you can use better bending, lifting, pulling and carrying strategies to minimize the wear and tear on your spine.

Once you have figured out why you have pain and that the doctor can do nothing else for it (short of getting you hooked on meds that will destroy your liver) work through a few of these ideas to see what best suits your lifestyle.

Stress Relief

Find a way you can reduce stress without adding muscle fatigue or extra back pain. A relaxed body will not have as many knots in the muscles and therefore will tend to have less pain. Meditation is always a good thing to consider. If you think it is silly, then it will clearly not benefit you. But if you can take it seriously and just sit and relax, your muscles will relax with your mind and thee will be less tension on your bones and joints.

Stretching

Believe it or not, simple stretching of your muscles will greatly reduce the stress

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>