Low Back Pain Relief: Finding Treatments that Work
It is an unfortunate fact of life that when your back hurts, everything else seems off kilter as well. You want relief from the discomfort that you are experiencing, and you want it yesterday! While most low back pain relief won't happen overnight, there are effective treatment options that will get the pain under control and allow you to enjoy your life once again. However, in the case of low back pain relief, it is often a matter of trial and error to see which pain management strategies will work the best for you. Therefore, it is best to enter into the process of low back pain relief with patience, persistence and the confidence that you will indeed find the right therapy for you.
Home Treatments
For acute back pain, which only lasts a few days to a couple of weeks, home treatments are often the best course of action for low back pain relief. Start with ice therapy that you apply every two to three hours for the first day or two. Make sure that you only keep the ice on the area for a few minutes at a time, and never apply it directly to the skin. You can follow up after a couple of days with heat therapy that is applied with a heating pad or by taking a hot shower. You can also repeat the heat therapy every few hours for a few days. The heat will successfully relax the muscles and reduce the inflammation that usually accompanies a strain or an injury.
Combine this type of therapy with an over the counter pain medication for maximum results in your low back pain relief. The best choice here is often an anti-inflammatory medicine like ibuprofen or naproxen. However, talk to your doctor before taking these types of medications for a number of days, since they can have undesirable side effects in some people. Finally, you can rest the injured area for a day or two. Just keep in mind that resting for longer than this can actually counter the effects, making your pain worse instead of better. A day or two of rest and resuming normal activities as much as possible after that is the best course of action in low back pain relief.
Talking to your Doctor
When home remedies do not bring the desired low back pain relief, your doctor has additional options for you. Perhaps you need a stronger pain medication to get you past the acute phase of your pain. Or you might need a few rounds of physical therapy to bring low back pain relief and reduce your odds of having additional problems in the future. Your doctor can also advise you in alternative therapies like chiropractic care, acupuncture or deep tissue massage. All of these have been found to bring low back pain relief in some of the patients who have tried them.
Your back may hurt, but there are plenty of methods to reduce the pain. Try these suggestions in home remedies or talk to your doctor today about your options in low back pain relief.
