Low back pain is a condition that causes pain between the bottom of your ribs and your buttock. It can be experienced at any age, and most people experience it at least once in their life, it can be a painful and bothersome condition that could have a negative impact on your daily life. Thatās why knowing how to prevent it can be helpful and necessary, and Doctor Alvarez has some tips for you to avert this type of pain.
Doctor Alvarez is a founding partner of Space City Pain, and our pain specialist, he knows that prevention is key in most cases. Your routines and habits can be a great starting point to help you prevent certain conditions in the future to come, you just need to know where to start.
Common Causes of Low Back Pain
Low back pain can be caused by conditions that are chronic, like arthritis, to herniated discs, or osteoporosis. Also, they could stem from work-related or sports-related injuries. Luckily, for most cases the reason is not something as severe as that, thatās because, for the majority of people the root of the problem could be as simple as low physical activity levels, smoking, obesity and high physical stress at work, among other reasons that can be taken care-of in the present to help you prevent low back pain in the future.
6 Tips to Prevent Low Back Pain By Doctor Alvarez
1. Stretch On a Daily Basis
Dcotor Alvarez recommends that you stretch as often and regular as you can, especially before activities hard on your back, or after being seated for too long. Why? Thatās because your back builds up tightness during your day-to-day tasks, heavy activities, and even long periods of stillness, making it extra easy to add stress to your spine, which could be a future cause for problems in your spine and joints. To keep you flexible is to keep you mobile, but is also a great help to reduce the risk of injuries, avoid stiff muscles and prevent harm in your spine and joints in the future.
Read more: Dr. Alvarez Shares 4 Tips to Prevent Joint Pain When Working From Home
2. Exercise To Look After Your Spine
Many people believe that they do enough exercise every day, with all the moving and walking, running to get to work on time, or doing the chores, and running after the kids, being as tiring as it is that should be exercise enough, right? The answer might be more complicated than that. In the case of preventing low back pain, exercise must be focused on strengthening your back and core muscles, because toned muscles surrounding it would give your spine a better support, and reduce pressure on it. In some cases, exercises should also focus on proper posture, which is another way to prevent low back pain in the future, but weāll talk about that later.Ā
3. Stay in Your Ideal Weight, or at least 10 Pounds from it
We already talked about how, by keeping yourself active, you can:
- Prevent injuries in your spine and joints
- Keep your muscles strong.
- Reduce pressure on your spine and give it better support.
By being active, Doctor Alvarez emphasizes that you can also address another possible reason for low back pain that we have mentioned before, and that is obesity. Why is this so important? Thatās because extra weight, especially when it’s located in your midsection, can put additional strain and stress on your spine, causing it to become tilted or uneven, making it lose its proper support, and in some cases even developing unnatural curvature over time.Ā
4. Quit SmokingĀ
Are smoking and back pain related? The answer, as given by Doctor Alvarez, is yes, smoking poses a risk for your health, even the majority of smokers know that, but smoking not only harms your lungs and causes shortness of breath. Research shows that there’s a link between smoking and low back pain, thatās because smoking also damages your arteries, and restricts blood flow to the discs that cushion your vertebrae, leading to quicker disk degeneration, smoking also reduces calcium absorption, increasing the risk of fracture due to osteoporosis. To sum up, yes, smoking hurts your back.
5. Doctor Alvarez Recommends to Keep a Good Posture
By keeping a good posture while standing, but especially when seated, youāre looking after your spine. How? Because slouching, hunching or sitting slumped, places uneven stress on your back, muscle tissue, spinal joints, and disks. This stress accumulates and slowly weakens the affected zone. If changing this habit is difficult for you, there are many exercises to improve your posture that you can try, just ask your doctor about it beforehand.
6. Proper Lifting Technique
Lifting is not just about the gym, or weightlifting olympics, you probably would need to lift or carry something heavy at least once in your life, and by knowing the right technique you can protect your spine. Doctor Alvarez expails that an incorrect-lifting technique could cause your lumbar disc to herniate, as well as other injuries like:
- Back strain or sprains
- Muscle strains
- Injuries to the spine and neck
- Knee injuries
- Shoulder injuries
The right technique to avoid all those complications should be focused on using your legs, not your back, while lifting heavy objects. How? Bend at your knees, not at your hip, tighten your stomach muscles and lift with your leg muscles. Keep your back straight, with nose, shoulders, hips and toes all facing the same direction, and always avoid sudden twists while lifting.Ā
Related Article: 5 Habit Changes to Avoid Shoulder Pain in Webster, Texas
Talk to Doctor Alvarez about Low Back Pain SolutionĀ
If you are worried about early and recurring symptoms of low back pain, know that, even while following these prevention tips, you can still present pain for other causes, like extreme tallness, prolonged sitting, highly physical jobs, among other reasons. When prevention, home treatment, or self-care, arenāt helping you with your pain, getting the help that you need from a professional is the next step.
Doctor Alvarez and the rest of the team at Space City Pain, are here to help you in your first step to a life free of pain. Our team offers a friendly and bilingual approach to all our patients, with personalized programs and cutting edge technology. Find us at Webster, League City, Texas City, Clear Lake, Friendswood, and surrounding areas, and book your appointment by calling 346-788-4430 or send us an online message.
