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Posture & Back Pain

3 Major Mistakes That Most People With Back Pain Make

By Health Skeptic

bed rest

According to the Center for Disease Control nearly 80% of adults will struggle with back pain or sciatica at some point. If you’re dealing with back pain you know that it’s a serious issue.

It disrupts your sleeping and waking cycles. It lowers the levels of serotonin – the our “happy” chemicals – in the brain.

And it can be stubborn. If you do the wrong things you will almost definitely keep yourself in pain.

The tricky thing is, some of the things you think will make you feel better are actually the worst things you can do.

Here are three mistakes that people with back pain make everyday, according to fitness coach and back pain specialist Emily Lark.

Mistake #1: Stretching the wrong muscles in your back

Woman stretching neck after waking up

It might feel good to get a nice back stretch, but be careful. If you’re stretching your sore area you could actually be making things worse.

You’re not supposed to directly stretch your sore area. To get rid of the pain you should actually be stretching other areas.

For example Emily talks about tight shoulders. You might think you need to stretch out your shoulders, but it’s really your chest that needs to be stretched.

It’s the same thing with other areas of your back that hurt. Your body sends a sort of false signal about what to do. With back pain, you need to stretch muscles away from the painful area if you want to get better.

Mistake #2: Trying to strengthen your back muscles

Here’s another myth about back pain: it happens because your back is weak.

The truth is most back pain isn’t because of a weak back. Emily says:

[T]he vast majority of the time, back problems aren’t caused by a weak back, they are the result of a weak core.

-Emily Lark, fitness coach and back pain specialist

Core weakness makes you have to overcompensate with your back. Over the long term this leads to back pain.

Fixing this does not require hundreds of crunches. Instead, you want to focus on strengthening your entire core, which is more than just your surface level six-pack muscles.

The wrong way to fight back pain.

Mistake #3: Too much rest

It’s totally understandable that you want to rest your painful back. It can even give you temporary relief sometimes.

But bedrest is one of the absolute worst things you can do if you want to feel better. It makes you more stiff and increases your pain. And it only takes a few weeks of bed rest to lose 20-30% of your muscle mass.

What you need to do to get out of pain and moving again are simple, gentle movements, according to Emily.

Emily’s Solution

If you’ve been paying attention, you can probably guess what Emily Lark prescribes for back pain (and sciatica): Gentle movements that stretch the correct muscles in your back and strengthen your core.

She has a routine that’s roughly 10 minutes long. She uses it for her clients and also makes it available online.

You can learn more about it at her website here. Or, read what we had to say about it here. It’s a system called “Back to Life” (sometimes also called “Erase My Back Pain”) where she teaches you how to use these movements to get out of back pain fast, and keep it away long term.

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back pain mistakes

Filed Under: Pain Relief, Posture & Back Pain

The All-Time Best YouTube Videos About Curing Back Pain

By Health Skeptic

youtube videos for sciatica

For the first time in history, a life-changing solution to back pain might just be a few clicks away.

Lots of back pain specialists upload videos to YouTube to teach people and grow their brand. In doing so, they give a lot of free advice that can dramatically reduce back pain.

We have seen videos with comments from real people saying that the 10 minute video they just watched helped more than years of doctors and specialists. So if you’ve been struggling with back pain for a long time, perhaps one of them will help you too?

Of course, a ton of YouTube videos give useless advice. So to save you time, we compiled the very best into one blog post. Hope you enjoy and benefit!

An “Instant” Low Back Pain Fix

If you’ve searched for anything fitness related before then you have probably heard of AthleanX. With over 7 million subscribers they are one of the largest channels on YouTube.

That might be because they put out insanely helpful videos. Even better, they get right to the point. Physical therapist and strength coach Jeff Cavaliere is great at teaching in video format.

This video from 2017 about fixing lower back pain has been viewed over 12 million times. The comments are full of people saying this 9-minute video helped more than anything else they’ve tried.

If you suffer from low back pain then this one is worth a watch.

A Sports Medicine Doctor Shows How To Prevent Back Pain

A popular video from 2012 features Dr. Douglas Chang from UC San Diego Sports Medicine. He shares a very gentle routine with 7 movements that you can do each day to prevent lower back pain. He says it only takes about 15 minutes a day.

How To Diagnose Your Own Low Back and Hip Pain

“Bob & Brad” is a popular YouTube channel featuring physical therapists Bob Schrupp and Brad Heineck. As you may have guessed, their videos are all about physical therapy.

In this one they explain how you find out what’s causing your pain. They make it easy to follow and understand. It’s probably the next best thing to getting evaluated by a specialist in person.

“You Made Me Able To Walk”

This video from Dr. Eric Berg, DC shows lower back stretches to get out of low back pain. One of the comments actually says: “DR BERG, YOU MADE ME ABLE TO WALK…” Speaks for itself.

Dr. Berg is a chiropractic doctor who has exploded in popularity on YouTube in recent years. Clearly his work resonates with people.

One-Minute Exercises For Sciatica

Again we turn to Bob & Brad for quick fixes to stop sciatic nerve pain. If sciatica is your main issue, be sure to watch this one. You can do these exercises at home. A lot of people seem to be getting relief nearly instantly (just check some of the comments).

Door Stretch (Neck and Shoulder Pain)

Emily Lark is an up-and-coming fitness coach who suffered from back pain herself for years. She has a popular back pain program that is solving back pain for many people. Her method is unique and effective. This video is her explaining how to release neck and shoulder pain at home.

Hopefully some of these videos can help you. If you want the best in home back pain treatment we highly recommend Emily’s program.

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youtube videos back pain

Filed Under: Pain Relief, Posture & Back Pain

5 Reasons Why You Should Try Essential Oils For Back Pain

By Health Skeptic

essential oil pain relief

Back pain has a way of robbing your happiness.

It can limit your ability to work and provide for your family. And it can make it harder to do the things you used to love, like exercising or playing with your kids.

It is quite bleak. But there is hope for you, even if your pain is stubborn. There are plenty of natural techniques for treating back pain that are actually effective.

Essential oils can do a world of good for back pain sufferers. Many different essential oils help address the most common symptoms people experience. These essential oils are therefore a great tool to have in your toolkit in the fight against back pain.

Here are five reasons why you should think about using essential oils to manage your back pain.

1. Conventional Treatments Have Mixed Results (At Best)

Back surgery and prescription drugs often leave people in even worse shape than they started.

Depending on the type of surgery, the success rates for back surgery are underwhelming. While some estimates say that up to 70-90% of patients experience less pain within a year of surgery, many have observed something different. A lot of patients have gone under the knife only to find things worse than before. Orthopedic surgeons have seen this so commonly that they even have a term for it: Failed Back Surgery Syndrome.

Prescription pain medications come with a price tag, too, and it’s not just financial. If non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) fail to provide relief, the next step is often opioid medications. Given the massive uptick in opioid deaths and hospitalizations, you are right to be cautious about prescription drugs.

Natural treatments like essential oils don’t get much attention from doctors, but they are potent and have far less risk of giving you side effects… or making your back pain issue even worse.

2. Essential Oils Are Strong Anti-Inflammatory Agents

Whether you’re dealing with chronic low back pain, upper-back pain, sciatica, or just general aches and stiffness, anti-inflammatories help. Most of us think of Tylenol or Ibuprofen first, but essential oils can also do the job.

A lot of the most common essential oils can help reduce inflammation:

  • Lavender oil
  • Ginger root oil
  • Eucalyptus oil
  • Peppermint oil
  • Marjoram oil
  • Helichrysum oil
  • Rosemary oil

And the list goes on and on.

Reducing inflammation will decrease pain and is critical if you want to make a full recovery.

3. Essential Oils Help You Relax

Chronic back pain can make us anxious and depressed and lead to insomnia. All of which only makes the problem worse, of course.

In addition to reducing inflammation, essential oils can ease feelings of tension, anxiety, and depression that are so problematic for back pain sufferers.

Although essential oils aren’t clinically proven to treat anxiety and depression, there is a lot of evidence that the right oils can help. Here’s a list of 18 essential oils for anxiety and oils for depression to get you started.

Reducing mental tension will help you sleep better, too – another major problem for those of us with back pain.

4. Essential Oils Help With Muscle Spasms

Muscle spasms often go hand-in-hand with chronic back pain. Spasms can be acute, painful and can seemingly come out of nowhere. Other times they are chronic and longer lasting. In either case, essential oils can help.

Peppermint oil is one of the best for muscle spasms. Not only does it have an anti-spasmodic effect, but it also helps relieve pain and reduce inflammation. Other good options for treating muscle spasms are sandalwood oil, helichrysum oil and cypress oil.

5. Essential Oils Are Easy To Use

You can reap the benefits of essential oils in a number of ways. For back pain you might wish to apply them directly to your skin with self-massage. Or, you can inhale an essential oil preparation with a nebulizing diffuser. Perhaps the easiest way to administer them is to put them in the bath, where you both smell and absorb them topically.

essential oils back pain

Risks of Using Essential Oils

Compared to surgery or drugs, essential oils are relatively low-risk. However, some people have bad reactions to certain oils, and so you should be careful if you’re starting an essential oil regimen for treating back pain.

If you are applying them to your skin, always dilute them with a carrier oil. And don’t use an excessive amount, especially if you’re using a new oil for the first time.

back pain

Filed Under: Pain Relief, Posture & Back Pain, Reviews

Is There a Link Between Walking and Low Back Pain Risk?

By Health Skeptic

walking and back pain

A fascinating study was just conducted on walking and risk for back pain.

Researchers in South Korea collected survey data from tens of thousands of people. This offered insights into lifestyle behaviors such as how often they walk, and for how long.

Dr. Gary Rothbard writing for Clinical Pain Advisor wrote the following about the study:

Although evidence suggests that physical activity may be beneficial in individuals with low back pain, the association between walking duration and low back pain has not been examined. In this cross-sectional study, data from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys V and VI collected between 2010 and 2015 were analyzed. A total of 48,482 people were asked to complete questionnaires regarding low back pain, daily walking activity (ie, walking >30 min/day and >1 hour/day; walking frequency <3, 3 to 4, and ≥5 days per week), and comorbidities (0, 1, or ≥2).

…

A negative association was established between walking >1 hour at a time for ≥5 days/week and having low back pain in the unadjusted (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.57-0.68; P <.001) and fully adjusted (OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.69-0.85; P <.001) models. In all instances, P-values were <.001, with the risk for having low back pain linearly decreasing as walking frequency and duration increased.

Full article here.

The article goes on to point out that this is a cross-sectional study, so they were not able to determine whether more walking was the cause of lower risk of back pain. But the results are nonetheless in line with what health professionals have known anecdotally for a long time: regular, gentle activity is a good way to prevent certain forms of chronic back pain.

From the actual study (published in Spine Journal):

Our study showed that longer walking duration was associated with a lower risk of LBP using a cross-sectional health survey in the Korean general population. Regular walking with a longer duration for more than 3 days/week is significantly associated with a lower risk of LBP in the general population aged over 50 years.

Access the full study here.

The results are promising, as they point the way toward simple solutions to preventing back pain. But a word of caution: you should always consult with a doctor before beginning any new exercise regimen.

Doing too much activity too quickly – even just walking – can end up causing back pain. And with walking in particular it’s important to be mindful of your footwear. From OrthoFeet:

When you walk, you put the force of as much as five times your body weight on each foot. If the foot doesn’t absorb that shock or redistribute it properly, you can develop problems elsewhere. Often this occurs in people who have ” flat feet,” because the arch appears to be flattened and closer to the ground.

Full article published here.

Your best bet is to consult with an orthopedist or physical therapist. You might want to invest in custom orthotics, which are going to be superior to anything you buy over the counter.

But if that’s not feasible, we recommend at least taking the time to do your research and find a good shoe for your body. Running stores often have employees who are knowledgeable and might even help analyze your gait.

Filed Under: Pain Relief, Posture & Back Pain, Reviews

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