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Lower Back Pain Prevention Secrets

Lower back pain is quite common among adults. According to the ABC News Health website, it affects 80 percent of all individuals at some point in their lives. It accounts for the majority of all disability claims for individuals between the ages of 18 and 45, and is the second leading cause for doctor visits and disability claims, missed days at work, and doctor visits among this age group.

However, although this ailment is common, it is not 100 percent unpreventable. By following certain tips, you can indeed significantly lower the risk of acquiring chronic lower back pain, if not totally prevent it.

Exercise

Exercise serves to strengthen the lower back muscles, which, in turn, will make lower back injury less likely. As the WebMd website points out, you should seek to do exercises that serve to increase core stability and strengthening exercises; such workouts make your trunk muscles stronger.

Alter Poor Lifting Techniqes

Rather than lifting with the muscles in your back or arms, practice doing so with your leg muscles. According to Women’s Fitness.net, you should bend at the knees and lift, especially when it comes to lifting heavy objects. Perhaps most importantly, refrain from curving your back; keep it straight.

Protect Your Neck Muscles

Determine your most comfortable position while working, eating, or reading. According to the Women’s Fitness website, that is the position you can most comfortably perform all of the above activities without craning your neck forward. If you are experiencing problems focusing your eyes at that position anymore, you may be at the age where you need reading glasses.

Watch Sleeping Position

Do not sleep on your stomach or on your back. For when you lie in either position, it arches your back, which, in turn, leads to an increase in your lumbar curve, which causes the excruciating and often debilitating lower back pain. According to the Women’s Fitness website, the best position for sleeping is on your side with your legs bent at the knees. Also use one or two pillows under the knees for added comfort. This practice will tend to move the hips forward, which will flatten the lumbar curve, relieving the stress on your lower back.

Lose the Belly

A pot gut places undue strain on your back. The sooner you lose it, the better for your back. According to the Women’s Fitness website, it is best to start with simple cardiovascular exercises performed at least three times a week. These will help you shed the extra weight that places such a burden on your lower back, for the exercises cause your lungs and heart to work harder than usual.

Quit Smoking

Besides improving your overall health, as well as your chances of living longer–stopping this habit can retard the degeneration of the discs in your back that lead to common back pain. For smoking is one of the chief factors that release the free radicals that speed up the aging process as a whole, which includes an increase in the destruction of the discs in your back.

Push–Don’t Pull

According to the ABC News Health website, you should push rather than pull heavier objects. Pulling strains the muscles of your arms, which, in turn, places undue pressure on your back muscles to perform operations they were not meant to perform.

Change Positions

If you must work in positions that require you to stand or sit for long periods of time, change positions when you can. Take a break and stretch for a moment. Even activities such as driving or operating a desk computer can lead to lower back muscle strain, because you are forcing your muscles to do repeated work in that one position without stretching them.