The health of your back is often something that can be easily identified. If you have aches or pain in your back, it means the health of your back isn’t quite up to scratch. Unfortunately, over 80% of adults struggle with back pain, either currently or in the past. Now it’s normal to have aching pains every once and a while, and certainly after prolonged periods where your posture has decided to take a break, but just because it’s normal to feel pain in these scenarios doesn’t mean that it’s good!
The truth is that the health of your back deteriorates over time. This is unavoidable. What is avoidable, however, is that it doesn’t happen so soon. Learning how to maintain proper posture and the importance of this can go a long way to preventing the deterioration of your back health for decades. That’s right, decades. You control the timeline of your back health, and simple changes to your habits and what you think about when you’re actively doing something can help deal with this universal issue.
Why Do I Have Back Pain?
Well, with age comes deterioration. It’s widely accepted that some form of back pain is attributed simply to ageing. As you grow older, your intervertebral discs start to dry out, wear away, and actually shrink. When this happens, it’s possible to begin experiencing more stiffness and pain in your back. This is because your vertebrae start rubbing against each other. It's also common for the area around your spinal cord to become narrower over time.
As you age you experience a drop in muscle mass and also in the density of your bones. Therefore your back loses its support system. This means that your muscles and skeletal system may now be working differently than they were designed to work, which causes the aches and pains in your back.
The Impact of Back Pain
Chronic back pain can cause a lot of problems in day to day life. Aside from feeling uncomfortable, you might experience any of the following:
● Poorer mood due to always being in pain. There’s a strong correlation between chronic pain and poor mental health.
● Time off work due to the pain or due to a consequence of the pain. This can lead to unemployment or failing to receive pay.
● Poorer sleep due to the pain. This then can lead to a whole host of other physical conditions including increased risk of obesity.
● Reduced social activities due to the pain. You might not do the hobbies you enjoy or see your friends as much, which can then create loneliness and depression.
● Addiction to pain killers. Prescription pain killers can be addictive and dangerous and if you take them over a long period of time, this could harm your health.
How to Fix Back Pain
Although you can never truly ‘fix’ back pain like this, there are certainly tried and tested methods in keeping the pain at bay. You can start by implementing a regular exercise regimen designed to relieve back pain. Moderate physical activity is a true game changer for chronic back pain. You can try swimming, biking, or even something as simple as going for a brisk walk.
Your exercise program should include stretching and mobility exercises to retain and improve your range of motion. It’s important to start small with these exercises in terms of duration, and build up as you go. Many people think exercise will exacerbate their pain, but actually a lack of activity is the leading cause of age related back pain.
When a bout of bad back pain strikes, simply resting an ice pack (or frozen peas) or hot towel on the affected area can ease the pain. If you were to apply cold or heat to the pain intermittently (20 minutes on, 20 minutes off, or something similar) then this can reduce inflammation and quiet the pain to a more effective degree
Another way of dealing with back pain is through changing aspects of your day to day with this pain in mind. How often do you sit on an office chair? If it’s regularly then we can certainly help you…
How Flexispot Can Help
A fantastic way to relieve back pain and fix posture is by using an ergonomic chair. Our ergonomic chairs are specifically designed for this purpose, and results in little to no back pain while using one. Come again? Little to no back pain. Yeah.
Our ergonomic chairs also decrease stiffness and straining of the hips, which enhances the flow of blood and can help boost the body’s metabolism. All this leads to significant long-term beneficial health effects and reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
If you want to learn more about our products and how they can help you bolster your now impressive home office, please speak to us and we’d be more than happy to help.
