The Best Treatment for Back Pain
The good news: I’m not going to make you read the whole article to find the answer; the best treatment for back pain (in my opinion) is exercise. The bad news: not just any exercise helps with back pain, and you’re going to have to read a bit more to understand why.
What Types of Back Pain Are There?
You can basically divide your back pain into upper, middle and lower back pain and within those categories there are various reasons your back might be causing you pain. These reasons (and more than one might be present together) include disc herniation, muscle injury, nerve compression, degenerative disc disease, arthritis and more.
How Can You Treat Back Pain?
The precise nature of your back pain will determine what type of therapy you’ll need, though it’s often a good idea to start with chiropractic or physiotherapy since these two professions are allowed to give you a legal diagnosis you can take with you to other therapists. Other therapies that might be able to help relieve your back pain include acupuncture, osteopathy, and massage therapy.
As I mentioned above though, exercise (and usually some kind of mild strength training though some stretching may also be advised) is an excellent way to help relieve back pain and also to keep it from coming back. Whichever therapy you try in order to find relief, be prepared to ask about which exercises are best and be prepared to do these exercises, potentially long-term. You may also find that some exercises are helpful in the short term, but over the long term you’ll need to adjust these exercises or add in new ones.
How Does Exercise Relieve Pain?
Basic exercise such as walking might help relieve your pain by getting blood flow into muscles. However, exercises that stretch your muscles often help get even more blood flow into those same muscles. Stretching may also help relieve pain by encouraging endorphin release.
Strengthening muscles to help relieve pain usually involves strengthening while considering antagonist muscle pairing. Strengthening in this manner to relieve pain is a practice in which you strengthen the muscles that oppose the action of those muscles that are in pain. For example, it often helps to relieve low back pain by strengthening your abdominal muscles. This often is not the final answer for back pain as many other factors need to be considered as well, e.g. weak gluteal muscles can contribute to lower back pain and so strengthening these muscles is often helpful for pain relief.
If you’d like some more information on how we can help with your back pain, would like to book a free consultation or would like to go ahead and schedule an appointment at Yellow Gazebo, please give us a call at 416-909-2334, email us at info@yellowgazeboclinic.com, or use the online booking link below. We’ll be happy to help you get on your way to optimum health.
