Originally published September 30 2005
Basic tips for easing back pain
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
There are many simple things you can do to help reduce and relieve back pain, and some of them include: Learning to improve your posture, buying a softer mattress, undergoing acupuncture treatments, doing Pilates exercises and taking herbal supplements, such as devil's claw, to help the pain.
Back pain is not only debilitating for the individual, it also costs the NHS and the economy billions of pounds each year.
Back pain --- aching stiffness or acute muscle spasm --- is the second most common workrelated condition after stress and, in economic terms the consequences, both to the NHS and industry, are costly.
An estimated �1.6 billion is spent treating back pain in Britain every year, with an additional �5 billion lost through the 180 million working days taken off each year because of the condition.
DITCH THE HARD MATTRESS For years, sleeping on a hard mattress was recommended by GPs and other medical experts as an antidote to back pain.
According to the results of a study published in The Lancet, orthopaedic specialists found that softer mattresses offered back pain sufferers the most relief.The reason may be that softer mattresses put less pressure on the shoulders and hips, allowing people to sleep more naturally.
ACUPUNCTURE The ancient Chinese therapy is an effective treatment for lower-back pain, according to researchers from the University of Maryland's school of medicine.
Special exercises develop the transverse abdominus, a muscle that wraps around the trunk horizontally, like a corset, the multifidus muscle in the lower back and the pelvic floor, all of which are important for controlling the lumbar spine.
Being too heavy, whatever your age, "affects posture and alignment and is among the most common causes of back pain", says Dr Peter Skew, a GP who is also president of the British Institute of Musculoskeletal Medicine.
"The spine is designed to carry the body's weight and distribute the loads encountered during rest and activity," says Louise Sutton, senior lecturer in health and exercise science at Leeds Metropolitan University.
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