You might have been sitting for a while and then got up quickly, only to feel a twinge in your back as you did so. Or maybe you just bent over to pick up a pencil you dropped, and found that you couldn't get back up. Whatever caused your back pain, you're certainly feeling it now, and relief is probably all you care about at the moment. Back pain can be excruciating, and the agony you feel with it will often drive you to do almost anything. Luckily, there are a wide variety of natural ways to relieve that back pain. Here are some of the best:
1. Get poked. Acupuncture, the ancient modality of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been relieving pain and other health conditions for thousands of years. Now widely accepted all over the world, acupuncture can often help bring you relief in only one session, although if you've been experiencing pain for a while you may need a few more treatments. Be sure to get your acupuncture done by someone trained as a TCM practitioner – many other professions will do it but since their training in diagnosis is limited, so will be their results.
2. Ask for a gentle beating. Probably even older than acupuncture, massage therapy is a very common treatment sought for back pain. And so it should be – who doesn't like a nice, relaxing massage when they're in pain? Scientifically speaking, massage helps your muscles by improving the circulation to them, ridding them of the inflammation that can exacerbate your pain. Massage will also help your body release endorphins, the 'feel good' chemicals that take away stress and pain.
3. Soak it up. If your back pain has been around for more than 24 hours, the inflammation process has ceased and something like ice will no longer help. In TCM, in fact, ice is almost never advisable, as it is heat that works better to move your blocked energy. Heat in the form of a hot bath is especially enjoyable. Try using Epsom salts, which contain magnesium – an excellent element for relaxing your muscles. You can also add essential oils to your bath, e.g. lavender, which is very soothing.
4. Stretch it out. Most people don't stretch nearly enough, assuming that the other exercise they get is enough. The truth is, stretching can help build muscle and burn calories, so there's really no reason to avoid it! And it can certainly help prevent or relieve your back pain, as stretching relieves tension and encourages lymph drainage. Lymph carries away the debris built up after the inflammation process has occurred.
5. Lay it on thick. There are a variety of different creams on the market that can help relieve muscle pain. One really good one is arnica cream, a homeopathic remedy for bruising, muscular strains, and swelling. Also taken internally, this herb is renowned for its ability to help enable the healing process. Another herbal cream that might help is capsaicin, the active ingredient in chili peppers that has a remarkable analgesic effect.
Getting relief right away may not be possible if your pain is severe enough. But be patient: often a variety of the above methods works best, and you may just have to give them some time to work. Natural remedies work best when you've also employed some preventative measures, so be sure (once you're healed) to get started on a decent exercise program to keep this type of injury from coming back (no pun intended!).
By Richard Lobbenberg, Acupuncturist and TCM Practitioner
