Five practical tips to help you alleviate back pain at home

Wellbeing

Do you struggle with back pain? Discover five practical tips to help you alleviate back pain at home.

Working all day looking at a computer screen does more damage to your body than you may think. Sitting or standing at your desk for eight hours a day can put a major strain on your lower back, neck, shoulders, and other joints.

Juggling a career, a life, and possibly a family with back pain is not an easy task for anyone. So why sit and let it impact your life? In this article we share five tips to help you alleviate back pain at home.

1) Stretch out 

Taking the time to stretch is an easy option to incorporate into your routine to help reduce your back pain. Doing some simple stretches will help alleviate the tension in your back that could be causing major to minor discomfort.

Another major benefit of stretching at home is that this solution does not require medication, it is virtually pain-free, and there is little chance for injury.

Two effective and easy stretches that are very effective are the overhead stretch and the prayer stretch. Both stretches take only a few minutes to do and can be done multiple times a day for the best results. 

2) Foam roller massages 

Massaging your back at home is another great way to reduce tension and pain. Buying a foam roller will aid in the effectiveness and ease of this. Taking a few minutes out of your day to loosen up your back muscles with simple and effective self-massage will help loosen up pressure points on your back.

With the foam roller, you can target different areas of your back and body to loosen up and feel more comfortable and relaxed. Going through a foam roller routine a few times a week will keep you ahead of your back pain and help you stay pain-free through the hustle of life.

3) Ice and heat

The tried and true ice and heat method is a great supplemental method to help alleviate back aches and pain. Cold is not effective for more sudden or intense back pain. Using cold packs or frozen vegetables on the pain spots can provide a numbing effect for pain relief.

Using ice for more than 20 minutes at a time is not recommended. Heat is best used to relieve stiffness or aches in your back or muscles. This combination of icing and heating can help keep your pains and aches in check so you can keep your days moving. 

4) A good night’s sleep 

Like most things in life, sleep can be an effective problem solver. There have been many studies showing the connection between sleep and pain. Everyone sleeps in a different position, the important thing is to find which position is the best fit for you.

If you are not sleeping well, it is hard for your body to recover. If you think your sleeping position is contributing to your lack of sleep or back pains it is important to consider talking to a professional. Having a full and restorative night of sleep can greatly improve your quality of life, including reducing that back pain. 

5) Move around

A major contributing factor to back pain (especially in working professionals) is being static and sitting or standing in the same place for hours at a time. Sitting for hours at a time puts a lot of pressure on your spinal disks. It can be very helpful to incorporate a standing desk into your workspace.

You should try to get up and walk around every hour to take a load off and get your body moving. A standing desk could also be a helpful addition to your workspace. This will allow you to rotate through different body positions for different tasks throughout the day.

Don’t put up with back pain

Back pain can affect everyone. It can cause pain throughout the workday and affect your ability to enjoy your time off. So don’t put up with it. Staying on top of it with these simple at-home remedies will help you feel the freedom to conquer your day. 

You can also read some helpful advice for back pain in these articles:

Photo by Imani Bahati