Back Pain Relief

Contributed by Dr. Mark Sobor, M.D., ChicagoHealers.com Practitioner

The winter season brings holiday and cheer, but it also brings snow and many hours spent hunched over shoveling sidewalks and driveways. Experts estimate that 80% of the population will experience a back problem at some point in their life. Whether your back pain is chronic or injury related the right treatment depends on what initially is causing the pain.

Dr. Mark Sobor, M.D., recommends these exercises to cope with different types of back pain.

1. Back Pain Stemming from an Injury
Try to remember what caused your back pain. Was is shoveling snow, lifting heavy furniture or just leaning down the wrong way to tie your shoes? When we reach down without bending our knees, we put tremendous pressure on our lower spine and surrounding muscles. This inherent weakness stems from the time man stopped walking on all fours and became upright. Ideally, we should be using the thigh (quadriceps) muscles in our legs to provide lifting power instead of those in our lower back. In the 2-3 days following a back injury, you should rest in order to relax the muscle spasm causing your back strain.
� Take an anti-inflammatory medication like ibuprofen
� Lay flat on your back on a hard surface (carpeted floor) with a pillow under your knees or lay in a fetal position

Perform these exercises to ease your back pain when you are feeling better:
� Lay flat on your back on a hard surface
� Pull knee to the chest, one leg at a time, hold for several seconds, release
� Repeat 5-10 times for each leg
� If you can pull both knees to the chest at the same time without pain, perform that 5-10 times also.

Self-acupressure using tennis balls:
� Lay flat on your back on a hard surface
� Place two tennis balls under your back on either side of the spine, starting with your lower back
� Either lay on the tennis balls or, if the pain is not too great, rock back and forth on the tennis balls, puttingpressure on your acupuncture points
� Repeat, moving the tennis balls gradually up your spine

2. Chronic Back Pain
Ongoing back pain has many causes, but much of it is due to one of three factors:
� Being overweight, putting strain on our back muscles
� Lack of exercise, resulting in weak muscles
� Bad posture while sitting, standing or sleeping, resulting in muscle spasms

3. Strengthening your Back and Other Muscles to Relieve Back Pain
Our back muscles do not work in isolation. We have to stretch and strengthen all our muscles and joints in order to relieve back pain. In addition to doing exercises stretching our hamstrings, neck, shoulders and spine every day, we should routinely do other low-impact exercises such as:
� Walking
� Yoga
� Swimming
� Low impact aerobics
� Riding a stationary bike or using an elliptical trainer

There are no guarantees that you will never have back pain. By exercising regularly, bending your knees every time you bend down and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, however, you can minimize the chances of injuring your back and suffering chronic back pain. For back pain specific guidelines, visit www.spine-health.com or www.FamilyDoctor.org.

About ChicagoHealers.com
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