Secret Product Hacks To Alleviate Aches & Strains
Many of us struggle with back pain, particularly with increasingly sedentary lifestyles and more reliance on technology, remote working, and long desk-based hours for the majority limiting activity throughout the day. It can feel like simply a reality of daily life! But it really doesn’t have to be. There are a number of steps you can take to ease physical pains relating to your working lifestyle.
Whilst finding time and motivation to introduce more activity and exercise into your day can be the best way to minimise back pain, we know that can sometimes be easier said than done! Fortunately, there are some great gadgets, homeware, and furniture investments you can make if you need a little extra support in reducing your back pain.
Paired with exercise and gentle stretching as much as possible, these life hacks can really optimise your back health, especially when you’re low on time or energy. Improving your physical health can lead to better mental health, improved sleep, and an overall greater quality of life - so the sooner you can make those changes, the better. Let’s take a look at the options!
Acupressure Mat
Increased activity can be a great addition to maintaining our physical health for various reasons - one of the main benefits is that the boost to our blood circulation when moving improves our heart health and prevents aches, strains, and muscle cramps. If implementing more activity into your day is a continual struggle, investing in an accupressure mat may be a good choice.
Acupressure mats are portable foam or cotton rolls with a series of fine pin points along the surface, designed to be sat or laid upon to relieve tension across the body. Grounded in traditional Asian yogic knowledge, acupressure mats work to provide similar results to acupressure massage, but at a lower cost and with more flexibility to use whenever you need - not just when you can book an appointment.
The grounding of some of this knowledge comes from Traditional Chinese Medicine, which believes that acupressure releases blockages in our energy, or Qi (chi), throughout the body, to help relieve physical and emotional pain. Aside from energetic release, acupressure mats can also greatly improve blood flow at the body site in contact with the pin points, releasing tight muscles and creating a sense of calm and relaxation.
Acupressure mats have been recorded to help relieve headache, neck pain, backache, sciatica in the back and legs, stiff muscles, stress and tension, insomnia, and fibromyalgia pain. If you’ve gotten used to a daily struggle with any of these issues, it may be worth trying an acupressure mat!
Ergonomic Chair
If you’re spending most of your day seated in a poor quality desk chair, it’s only a matter of time until aches and pains take hold. However, investing in an ergonomic desk chair can make all the difference. Designed around creating the best support for maintaining optimum posture during long periods of work, a good quality ergonomic desk chair will feature adjustable height and head rest, expertly structured in-seat back support, and a supportive seat cushion to minimise seated fatigue.
Take your time to survey the marketplace properly to make sure you’re making the right purchase for your needs. When you consider you’re likely to spend nearly half the day seated at your desk, it really pays for your long term physical health to invest in quality office furniture.
Massage Gun
If you like something a little more high-tec to relieve the pains of the working day, a deep muscle massage gun may be more your style. Offering all the relaxation and relief of a deep tissue massage in a fraction of the time, massage guns have the advantage of being easy to use and adaptable to any body part.
Massage guns work in a similar way to accupressure mats, by stimulating the muscle with a series of high vibrations that ultimately increase blood flow to the area and relieve tension and pain. If you find yourself struggling to relieve chronic aches and strains at the end of the working day, or perhaps finding stretching and activity difficult, this gadget may be your next best kept secret.
