Tag Archives: Back Pain

The Right Mindset for Beating Back Pain

Churchill MindsetEarlier today I tweeted a very true quote by Winston Churchill.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”  – Winston Churchill

I see evidence of this everywhere. I meet people with back pain and other pain, and without preaching, I try to help them by telling them what I have learned.

But many are under the impression there is nothing they can do for their pain. They say stuff like “yeah, that’s a good idea, but it wouldn’t apply to me, because you see, I have __________.” (whatever other condition that prevents them from doing any exercise, for example).

Since I took action to get out of my “Back Pain Jail”(!) I am no longer thwarted by limiting beliefs. If you want to say something is not possible because of X, then do something to conquer X.

If you can’t conquer X because of Y, sort out Y before that.

I’m sure there’ll be a Z too, and an A, and a B and a C.

But be diligent. Just keep going until you have conquered them all!

With regards to pain relief, an alkaline/low carb (low GI) diet and low impact regular exericse are the two ways to start.

You CAN do it, but not if you keep coming up with reasons why you can’t.

As well as health quotes and funny quotes, I also tweet super quotes from high achievers from many walks of life, as not only are their quotes inspirational, but they are living proof that they overcame their obstacles.

People who built great empires had THOUSANDS more obstacles to overcome than you do in your battle against pain. And actually I shouldn’t use the word Battle as that implies hard work. It’s not difficult, if you remain consistent and do a bit each day.

Another great quote I love is:

“It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop.”  – Confucius

That quote especially applies to becoming pain-free; just don’t stop.

If you are lacking energy, and the last thing you want to do is exercise, no matter how little, try cutting down on carbs and sugar/fructose, and make the calories up by eating healthy oils, nuts, avocadoes, and beans.

I’ll cover this in more depth in another post, but it’s a start in banishing the zero energy that a lot of pain sufferers have, and the number one reason a lot of people can’t get started.

So anything is possible, as long as you have the right mindset to begin with.

The best of health to you

Paula

Do THIS When Bending to Prevent Back Pain!

prevent back painHere’s how my clumsiness reminded me of a super little tip you can do that makes a big difference if you do it every time you need to bend down, so you can protect your back.

I broke a glass this morning in the kitchen. What a clumsy clutz!

So I did the old glass breaking ritual. You know the one:

  • Put some footwear on!
  • Tell the dog to stay in the living room
  • Get emergency newspaper
  • sweep up the glass into a dustpan
  • vaccuum the area
  • vaccuum the sweeping brush!  – etc, etc…

It was when I was bent down to sweep the glass into the dustpan (with my bum in the air!) that I was aware I was tightening my tummy.

This was a great tip I found worked a treat when I was really suffering with back pain. No matter how much we avoid bending down, we can’t avoid it sometimes, can we?

But you can take some of the pressure off you back by tightening your abdominals, so your tummy is doing all the work. When I lifted myself back up, I found my gluteals and thighs were also tightened. I’d got so used to doing this a few years ago, I have probably done it ever since.

I know I do it when I put the dog’s collar on, and when I scoop her poop too!

Not that it does any harm to continue it. It’s important to do everything you can to prevent back pain in the future, so what better time than when you are not in pain? It’s also a great trick to try when lifting is unavoidable too.

For more great tips on how to strengthen your core and back muscles and utlimitely protect your back permanently, have a look at the back pain exercises pages up at the top.

Have a great day – and don’t break stuff!

Paula

 

Photo by .Larry Page

Air Conditioning Is Bad For Your Back Pain

air con affects back painIn the last post I talked about ergonomic chairs that support the lumbar spine  in the right place, but even some ergonomic chairs, still fail to keep the back warm, because they have a mesh becking. This allows cold air from air conditioning vents to pass through.

While this is great when you first arrive at work, after you have been running up the stairs, it is not ideal after two hours of sitting down, when workers’ body temperature has considerably dropped. No-one thinks to turn the air conditioning down or increase the air temperature after an hour or so, and this too can save people’s backs.

People who are prone to back pain should not be sat near or in the path of air vents, as this can worsen their condition. It is an invisible threat and so often goes unnoticed, even by the sufferers themselves. For the people who are always hot, and insist on the air-con being ramped up to full power (“cranked up to 11” as Spinal  Tap – scuse the pun – would say!), those individuals should have an additional small fan in their faces (it’s usually their faces that need the breeze most).

Here’s another silly thing that a lot of employers do that costs them more money. They have the air con on full all day, but it’s set to room temperature. You can achieve the same results  if you have the air con on low and set to room temperature. It just takes longer initially!

Turning it up to full power is only needed for a short amount of time to change the temperature quickly.

So tell your employer you know a cool way (sorry, I’m all puns today) that they can save money on electricity AND on sick days from people with bad backs, simply by having the air con on low!

Image by Kenkwsiu on Flickr

 

Top 10 Ways To Prevent Back Pain When Sitting

Top 10 back pain tips when sittingSome employers are waking up to the fact that their employees need to be kept comfortable while working, in order to reduce the number of sickness days due to chronic pain; most notably Back Pain.

The Oman Observer reports that staff at Omantel are being asked “Are You Sitting Comfortably?” as part of a new campaign to reduce the number of back pain incidents and promote better posture so that they look after their backs and stay healthy.
The Omantel Human Resources Unit know that encouraging people to sit properly with the correct posture was vital in acheiving better health and safety standards at work.

Employees are also being given individual questionnaires that help them judge if their backs are healthy and give them practical advice on what to do to make sure their backs stay pain free and injury free. See the full story Here.

More companies need to follow suit. It’s fine to provide them with ergonomic chairs, but many people don’t sit correctly in them, or make the biggest mistake of all; they stay in the same position for too long.

It’s essential to change position regularly, and to stretch and exercise while sitting down for long periods of time. You can achieve this by doing the following exercises; all of which can be done while sitting:

  • Shoulder rolls
  • Shoulders up (for two seconds at a time)
  • Head rolls
  • Arm Stretches
  • Elbow rolls (similar to the funky chicken, but circular)
  • Buttock clenches
  • Thigh clenches
  • Back stretch (arms back, arch the back and face the ceiling – ONLY for a few seconds)
  • Hand stretches (spread the finger out, together with regular making of fists – NO punching people!!)
  • Abdominal clenches  (while rolling your back forward for a few seconds – chin on chest)

posture at workDo these every 20 minutes if possible. No fewer than every 60 minutes. You might want to TELL people beforehand, so they understand what you are doing! In fact why not do a presentation on this for everyone to use?

Some companies don’t even supply their staff with ergonomic chairs, which is a FALSE economy, when they end up losing their staff to back problems.

My personal favorite ergonomic chair is the Kinnarps PLUS 6000 series, and it MUST have arm rests. See one Here. They come in hundreds of different colors and fabrics. And they’re very solid and durable. I have had mine since 2003 and it’s still going strong.

But the best advice to reduce back pain when sitting is to move about when on your breaks. So many people just continue to sit at their desks and look at their emails, or browse the internet. Get up and go for a walk, even if only for five minutes, and it will make all the difference to your back.

 

 

 

Does Acupuncture Work For Your Back Pain?

acupuncture for back painMy ex neighbor had acupuncture every two weeks for over ten years, and claimed it relieved her arthritis right up until her death at age 77.

I peronally tried acupuncture myself about 12 years ago, and although it was relaxing and didn’t hurt at all, it did not relieve my back pain. I thought I had given it a good chance to work, by going three times, but I can’t say it made a difference.

But everyone is different and many thousands of people swear by it. I can certainly understand the option to want to heal yourself naturally, rather than use medication.

The needles used release endorphins, the body’s own pain killers, and how many of these endorphins are released will vary from person to person.

Another elderly lady who recommends acupuncture is 80 year old Texan, Roberta Land, who has been showcased at TylerPaper.com. See Coshandra Dillard’s article; Acupuncture: Precise Points, Body Balance for more information.

Photo by ~ggvic~