Can you believe this? 8 out of 10 people in the world suffer from back pain!
Back pain can simply be described as discomfort to one’s posterior portion of the body. Back pain can be so severe at times that it starts to affect the shoulder, hips, and sometimes the whole body. Back pain is a growing problem in many adults as their life progresses, but ignoring and enduring it rather than seeking help is adding to a bigger problem.
Consequences of Ignoring back pain.
Back pain usually starts as mild pain after a long day at work or doing strenuous work, after abdominal surgery, a vehicular accident, fall, injury at the gym or during/after childbirth. Chronic back pain can affect the wellness of both the mind and body. Such type of pain can go away on its own but sometimes, rather than go away, it becomes worse, until proper intervention has been made. At this point, you definitely need to consult an orthopedic doctor. A simple diagnosis can find the cause and get you treatment in a timely manner.
Effect on Mental Health:
Chronic pains wreak havoc on one’s mental health. Persons can suffer from depression, insomnia, and other anxiety disorders. The pain is usually exacerbated with these conditions. Lack of sleep can cause fatigue and further increase the pain.
Anatomical Changes:
Recent research with brain imaging shows anatomical changes in the nerve anatomy due to chronic back pain. These changes can affect the way the body responds to pain.
Effect on the Body:
Chronic back pain deteriorates the physical well-being of a person. Constant muscle spasms, painful spinal ligaments, and persistent muscle tension are also a consequence of prolonged back pain.
Physical Fitness: Physical fitness of a person is greatly affected with chronic back pain. In extreme cases persons become bed-ridden and this immobility further affects their ability to manage their pain.
When to seek help?
When the pain has exceeded your pain threshold, definitely that’s the time you would want to get help. Instead of self-medication and self-diagnosis, it’s better to get immediate.
What to do?
There are few ways in which you can help regress your chronic lower back pain.
Diet: A diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats, nuts, and olive oil is essential. It is considered an anti-inflammatory diet. Maintain your weight and BMI altogether.
Lifestyle Modifications:
This is the most important thing to work on. One needs to adapt, by making small modifications to your day, avoiding static posture, repetitive activities without rest, avoiding a sedentary lifestyle and becoming more active can have a great impact on managing your symptoms. Changing your mattress every seven years and repositioning it every 3 - 6 months can also assist in alleviating back pain, a medium-firm mattress is best to rest on.
Physiotherapy:
Improve movement of your bones, ligaments, muscles, and joints by resorting to physiotherapy. Exercise can restore mobility and decrease the radiating pain.
Consult a doctor: Consult an orthopedic doctor, he’ll assess your body and give you relevant medications and talk to you about your pain management options..
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