Surprising new methods to relieve back pain
Back pain is on the rise. Around the world, a staggering 619 million people – around one in 13 of us – suffer from back pain. By 2050, the number is anticipated to rise to 843 million.
It’s not just an inconvenience. Back pain can be debilitating, wearing down mental health and making once mundane activities impossible. Daily walks, chores, work, and playing with your kids suddenly become herculean tasks when faced with chronic pain.
Back pain has become the leading cause of disability in the world, referred to as a ‘global epidemic’ by Lancet Rheumatology. In the US, medical treatment costs and lost productivity stemming from chronic back pain add up to $635 billion.
But, like anything on the internet, misinformation about back pain can be found everywhere. As a result, the causes, and ultimately the solutions to back pain, are often misunderstood.
Fortunately, we’ve got your back. Whether you can’t get out of bed without wincing or you’re looking to protect your spine for the future, these science-backed tips can make a big difference.
Acute vs. Chronic Pain
The vast majority of all back pain is ‘non-specific’, meaning that tests fail to find any signs of structural injury or disease. Most of us will experience back pain at some point. It can affect anyone, of any age, but it becomes more common as we get older. Intermittent episodes of back pain from heavy lifting or other strains are a normal part of life, like having a headache. What’s not normal is when the pain continues long after whatever triggered it has gone.
Acute back pain, like a minor sports injury, tends to resolve itself within a few weeks or months. Chronic pain, however, is any pain that persists for more than three months. Between 4 and 25 percent of people with acute back pain go on to develop chronic pain. While harder to manage, some things can help.
At-Home Remedies
If you have no other symptoms, give it four to six weeks before visiting your doctor. During that time, pain can be managed with over-the-counter anti-inflammatories, Ibuprofen or Tylenol, and with rest. Ice can be applied to help with pain and swelling. Heat can be used to help with stiffness or sore muscles.
Lifting “Correctly”
As research has shown, there’s a common belief among patients and healthcare professionals that back and neck pain is caused by sitting, standing, or bending incorrectly. Many people think that slouching is bad and that carrying heavy objects is a recipe for disaster.
Yet there’s little evidence to suggest that any of the ergonomic chairs or lifting stances make much of a difference.
Lifting with a curved back is no more likely to lead to back pain than lifting with a straight one. Manual workers who don’t have back pain are more likely to lift with a round-back posture, and manual workers with back pain tend to lift with a straighter back.
Further studies have also shown that workplace manual handling training, where people are taught to bend and lift ‘correctly’, doesn’t actually help to reduce back pain or back injury.
A Different Story About Pain
Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) is a psychological treatment for back pain. It involves challenging people’s beliefs about pain – teaching them that pain doesn’t always indicate danger and that their bodies are safe, but their brains have generated a false alarm.
In the first randomized clinical trial of PRT, published in 2021, two-thirds of people who had the treatment were pain-free or almost pain-free one year on, compared with one-fifth of those in the control groups. MRI scans of their brains also revealed less activity in key pain-related regions, indicating that their brains had dampened down the production of pain signals.
Pain is influenced by many different things, especially fear and anxiety. Stress can also worsen pain, as can lack of sleep, poor diet, and inactivity. Therefore, the best treatment is one that takes as many of these factors into account as possible.
Cognitive functional therapy (CFT) is one approach that tries to do this. CFT is a method that focuses on psychological, physical, and lifestyle factors.
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