We often don't realize that most back pain injuries originate in the home from bad posture or lifting techniques

Have you ever been told to “bend your knees” when lifting up a heavy object? Or even a small light object for that matter? Carrying yourself with the correct posture may be more important than you think – it is really true – good posture helps with back pain relief at home.

By keeping your back straight, especially when seated, you can avoid any unnecessary injuries to your back. Also when you are doing any type of lifting in the home, however innocuous it may seem, you risk doing yourself a serious lower back injury.

This latest article on good posture emphasizes just how important it is to carry ourselves with good posture in our day to day lives. The fact is that most back injuries occur in the home, and some simple tips can help you prevent back injuries and also provide you with faster back pain relief if you are already susceptible to back injuries.

Good Posture Helps With Back Pain Relief At Home

Do you remember when your parents would constantly remind you to sit up straight and stand with your shoulders back? They thought it was important and you thought it was worthless. I know – that’s how I felt. Little did I know then how important posture really is in our adult lives.

 

My experience as a physical therapist has confirmed the results of researchers: Musculoskeletal complaints of pain are directly related to the posture or position that we keep our spine in during the day.

 

Research has proven that the sustained activities of sitting/standing in which we hold ourselves for long periods of time may be pain producing. We may believe this position or posture is normal for us; however, unless we move or change position, we develop aches, strains and pain.

 

The simple act of correcting our posture and maintaining that correct position may be the most important activity that we perform in the process of abolishing pain, managing pain and obtaining comfort.

 

Look around at other people’s posture and stance. We sit with poor posture – our bottoms scooted forward in our seats, our low backs rounded to their end range of motion, our thoracic spines or mid backs humped forward, and our heads protruded; our lumbar spines or lower backs are so rounded that they mimic a full bent forward position.

 

We look like a bunch of Neanderthals.

 

This habit of hanging our spines at end range of motion, unsupported in our chairs or sofas, puts them in a significantly stressful position.

 

We may not immediately notice the alarms going off; we interpret this stress as an ache, stiffness, or tightness . . . until we get up and take a few steps. Then the alarm rings loud and clear: Standing may be difficult and painful. Also, many of us know that driving our cars for long distances (usually anything greater than one hour) can be painful; when we exit the car at the rest stop and attempt to stand up, we may experience discomfort.

 

On my career journey as a busy physical therapist, I have encountered many experts in the field who confirm this theory of the correlation of posture and back pain.

 

One of them is Robin McKenzie, a fellow physiotherapist from New Zealand who states, “Usually the patient clearly understands the dangers of bending and stooping and carefully avoids these movements, but the hidden dangers of sustained flexion incurred in the sitting position is rarely recognized by patient or therapist.”

 

The common belief in society is that most back pain is produced or made worse by heavy lifting. This is usually not true. The majority of patients who appear for health care with back pain state that their pain came on for “no apparent reason.” This pain may be brought on by sustained poor postures or repeated bending over time – weeks, months, years – that produces pain in the back which may have moved into the periphery of the buttock, hip, and down the leg.

 

We must remember that to manage our back problem fully and effectively, we must correct our posture and keep it corrected in our daily activities, and especially important is our sitting posture. As our lives become more technologically driven, we sit even more and let the tools do the work for us; our smart phones, iPads, tablets and laptops promote more bending forward, protrusion of our head and overall bad posture. Original article here

Some great advice there and it really goes to show that good posture helps with back pain relief at home. I totally agree with Hugh on this issue, one of the best ways of avoiding back trouble is to use preventative measures to avoid getting hurt. If you are unlucky enough to get a back injury, maintaining good posture during this time is also a better way of getting back pain relief quicker.

For more information on lower back pain relief, be sure to sign up to receive your free back pain relief book on the right hand side of the page – until next time – you remember what your mother always told you – keep your back straight!