What’s The Fastest Way To Relieve Back Pain?
Category: Back Pain | Author: Stefano Sinicropi
It would be great if there was some miracle cure for back pain, but there’s no magic pill that you can take that will solve the root cause of your discomfort. That said, there are treatments that can get you back to a pain-free way of living sooner than others. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at some of the fastest ways to relieve back pain.
Fast Back Pain Fixes
As you might imagine, there is no one-size-fits-all playbook for overcoming back pain. How you would treat a spinal fracture is different than how you would treat a pinched nerve or a torn tendon. So while your best bet is to consult with a specialist in the event that you begin suffering from back discomfort, you may be able to speed up your recovery from minor aches and pains if you jump into a controlled exercise program.
That’s right, exercise and activity are actually recommended over passive treatments like rest or painkillers. That’s not to say that those two options have no place in a comprehensive care plan, because they can absolutely help you overcome your injuries. That said, simply laying in bed for days or popping pills to mask that pain won’t help to address the underlying issue. In many cases, controlled exercise will do that.
The reason exercise is oftentimes recommended as a way to speed up recovery is because it helps to target the most common underlying cause of injury, which is weakness. If ligaments or tissues are injured because they couldn’t handle the stress you put them under, or your muscles couldn’t adequately provide support and stability to your spinal column, tears, strains and other pains can develop. However, with the help of controlled exercise, we can help to strengthen injured tissues and ensure that your spinal column is adequately supported.
The key is to start with some easy movements and gradually take on a bigger challenge as your back and your body proves that it can handle the strain you’re throwing at it. Slowly increase your exercise duration or intensity, or begin to take on more stress during your physical therapy routine, which is a more targeted form of controlled exercise. Not only will these movements strengthen injured structures, controlled exercise will help to:
- Increase blood flow to the affected area.
- Expand your comfortable range of motion.
- Challenge your body with dynamic stress instead of straining it with prolonged static stress.
- Help you maintain an ideal weight at a time when you may be less active.
As we mentioned above, controlled exercise or physical therapy routines aren’t the perfect solution for every single person with back pain, but a large portion of patients with minor or mild back injuries will experience faster healing by jumping into these active treatment techniques. If you’d like to learn more about what type of active treatment would work best for your spine pain, or to talk to a specialist about a different back issue you’re dealing with, reach out to Dr. Sinicropi and the team at The Midwest Spine & Brain Institute today at (651) 430-3800.
