Back Pain Prevention – Austin, TX

Today your friends and chiropractic professionals at TexStar Chiropractic wish to educate you on the single most cost-effective way to treat back pain. Sit down and prepare for this gigantic slap in the face from Capt. Obvious: take active measure to prevent back pain from ever happening in the first place. We realize that back injuries and bad-luck genetics prevents the complete eradication of back pain, however, there are certainly things you can do to improve your spinal health, posture, and to avoid what is often agonizing pain sourced at your back. We know some of this will read as simple common sense, but our experience proves that positive results can be achieved when we take the time to actively consider both the obvious (and not so obvious) tips below.

Here are five simple but effective back pain prevention tips.

1. Exercise. The back and spine are a complex arrangement of muscles, bones, cartilage, and nerves. The simple act of exercising (which by the way includes the simple act of walking) serves to facilitate a productive and harmonious relationship between all of these elements. If you are an inactive person, you need not go crazy with exercise. Start doing something, anything, that stretches and tasks your back muscles (even to the smallest of degree). Start something that you truly enjoy and that will naturally self-motivate continuance. Some of you have seen the commercial for that work desk tool that allows you to raise and lower your computer from sitting to standing height and vice versa. Well they work from the perspective of improving back and spine health. Exercise is a natural spinal decompression treatment. Strong muscles continually act (in somewhat similar fashion to a professional’s spinal decompression table) to retard spinal collapse.
2. Eat right. What more really needs to be said here. Health weight means your back and spine does not carry avoidable loads. A little known fact is that your intestines relate to the back and spine in that your inside and your outside relate to one another as proven by the fact that back and spinal pain patients often suffer irritated bowels.
3. Sleep sideways. Sleeping on your back stresses your back as will sleeping on your stomach. If you must sleep on your stomach or back, then you should consider trending toward a more firm mattress or put a pillow under your lower abdomen to help take stress off your back.
4. Reduce stress. Complying with steps one through three above will go a long way here. Most do not realize that stress negatively impacts the back and spine. Stress causes tense muscles. Recall the previous discussion about the need for a harmonious relationship between the muscle, bone, cartilage, and nerves. Well, stress stresses that relationship.
5. Quit smoking. While we do not know exactly why smoking can have a negative effect on back and spine health, research shows smoking can make existing back pain worse. One theory is that smoking narrows blood vessels resulting in the deprivation of oxygen and nutrients to the spine. Only bad things result from that.

We offer you these tips because we are patient-focused professionals whose professional reward is earned by delivering measurable and observable pain relief to our patients. We welcome the opportunity to further your education and to put you immediately on the path to pain-free living. Call us anytime!