Five strategies to relieve your back pain

If you’re experiencing back pain, you’re not the only one. Back pain is very common; in fact, according to the American Chiropractic Association, around 31 million Americans deal with lower-back pain at any given time, while research from John Hopkins revealed that during any given year, around 30 percent of people will have neck pain. If you are dealing with neck or back pain, then the following are five tips that can help provide relief:

1. Change your diet – Inflammation can lead to back pain, which is why you should follow an anti-inflammatory diet. Avoid trans fats, sugar and processed foods and include plenty of vegetables, fruit and healthy fats in your diet to help limit inflammation.
2. Quit smoking – If you smoke, then you are three times more likely to experience chronic back pain than if you didn’t. This is because the pathways of your brain associated with pain are affected by smoking.
3. Exercise regularly – For many people, the pain that they are experiencing in their backs is the result of a sedentary life. People often work behind a desk and therefore do not move nearly as often as they should. This makes them more vulnerable to mechanical and postural injuries in their neck and back. Exercising will help you to activate and strengthen the muscles around your neck and back as well as encourage the healthy movement patterns of your joints. This, in turn, can help prevent long-term back and neck pain.
4. Begin meditating – Believe it or not, but meditation can be very helpful in reducing back pain. This is because meditation helps to relieve stress and stress is a major factor in back pain as it can result in misalignments and nerve irritation. Meditating for just a few minutes a day can do wonders in helping to manage their stress levels, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
5. Get your back adjusted – Sometimes, adjusting your spine will help solve the problem that you’re having with your neck or back. A chiropractor will make adjustments to your spine, allowing your body the chance to realign. This can free up strains as well as pains in your muscle’s soft tissues.

These are five tips for relieving back pain. If you are dealing with chronic back pain, then be sure to see a chiropractor in Vero Beach by contacting us at Florida Spine to schedule an appointment today.