Have you ever been told to “just rest” while you are in need of some lower back pain relief? Rest may not be the answer to fixing your back pain in the short or long term.
When you initially hurt your back and you are in acute pain and can barely move. At this stage, you must stop what is aggravating your pain and apply ice to the injured area. When applying ice make sure that you do not apply ice or an ice pack directly to your skin. It will often burn your skin making the injury worse. Use a wet towel with the ice wrapped up inside to protect your skin. There are many opinions when applying ice to an inflamed area. We tend to apply ice for 15 minutes and then remove it for 30 minutes, repeating this at least 4 to 6 times. While the ice pack is removed, we ask the patient to gently move around to assist in dispersing the swelling of the inflamed area. If it is too painful you don’t have to move just keep applying the ice for intervals of 15 minutes on and 30 minutes off.
As soon as possible you should speak to a medical professional to have an examination and get the correct diagnosis. This is very important as many people will think their injury will just go away with time. While in some cases this may be true, many times we tend to just adapt to the situation and stop doing the things we love to do in case we re-injury ourselves.
This is where rest may not be the answer to fixing your back pain.
Most of the time injuries can occur because an area may be too tight or too weak and you will need to get an appropriate stretch or strengthening program to completely resolve your issue.
For long-lasting results staying active and continuing an appropriate strengthening program is vital for long-lasting results. This is something that you will need to do for yourself. Talk to your treating practitioner about your goals and what you enjoy. They can often put a program together so you don’t have to stop the things you like doing.
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