How To Relieve Lower Back Pain At Home – 10 Tips

You try to lift something when suddenly you feel a twinge in your back. It’s a common enough experience for people over 50, but that doesn’t make it any more pleasant. And while it’s a normal part of aging, it doesn’t have to put a damper on your quality of life. In this blog post, we’ll explore the causes, and how to relieve lower back pain at home.

What Causes Lower Back Pain? 

As you get older, your spine naturally becomes more susceptible to back pain. The vertebrae that make up your backbone are cushioned by soft discs. However, these discs tend to wear down with age, making lower back pain more likely to occur. As you age, the odds of experiencing lower back pain increase. However, there are ways to alleviate this discomfort and enhance your body’s resilience.

How To Relieve Lower Back Pain

Tip 1: Exercise

One of the best ways to defend against a bad back is by building muscle. Working out your core is especially important to support your spine. Push ups, sit ups, and planks are popular exercises for the very active, but less intense activities such as walking and yoga are also beneficial for your core strength. Adding a bit of muscle can help, too. Consider a supplement such as Livegood’s plant-based protein powder for a boost.  

Tip 2: Use Ice packs

It’s a tried and true method: place a cold pack or some ice wrapped in a towel (Grandma recommended frozen peas) on the sore area. Holding it in place or leaving it while you lie on your stomach for a few minutes can provide relief.

Tip 3: Sweat It Out

While it’s true that cold can help a sore back, heat can be equally effective. Hot baths, jacuzzis, and saunas are excellent ways to relax stiff muscles and ease tension from stress. In fact, sweating it out has numerous other benefits–so many that home saunas are fast becoming a thing.  

Tip 4: Stretch

If you’re already feeling very stiff or sore, you don’t want to overdo it by stretching too aggressively. But both as a preventative measure and as a source of relief, a carefully calibrated regimen of gentle stretching can work wonders. Be sure to stretch before your workout, of course. If, on the other hand, pain is keeping you from vigorous exercise, a gentle stretch is preferable to doing nothing at all; too much inactivity can make a bad back worse. 

5: Improve Your Posture

Don’t be a slouch! Walking with a stoop can be a source of strain on your back. Make sure you’re both sitting and standing in a posture that sufficiently supports your spine, straight without being rigid. While it isn’t something many of us think about often, the way we stand can make all the difference. 

6: Take Your Vitamins

As we get older, it becomes harder for our bodies to absorb the nutrients they need. This is particularly true for calcium and vitamin D. Many people choose to supplement these, as well as other vitamins that the body needs. A diet rich in calcium is another, and proven, way to keep your bones strong. Dairy is excellent if tolerated, and if not, spinach, kale, almonds, and fish are good choices. 

7: Lose Weight

As if there weren’t enough reasons to shed extra pounds, they can put a burden on your back, too. Maintaining a healthy weight becomes ever more important the older we get. So step on the scale, take a walk, skip the potato chips. Your heart will thank you, and so will your back.  

8: Get Better Sleep

Here’s one you may not have thought of. It turns out, your sleep quality affects, among other things, your back. Making sure your mattress is the right consistency–neither too firm nor too soft, but a Goldilocks happy medium–is one way to make it easier on your spine. But other factors–making sure your room is dark enough, putting your phone in another room–can also improve your quality of sleep, and your back along with it. 

9: Sit Less

Are you sitting down while reading this? If not, great–but don’t get cocky, because, like most of us, you probably sit for a large portion of your day. Some people find that a standing desk improves their posture and relieves their lower back pain. But a simple remedy such as standing and stretching every 30 minutes can be very beneficial, too. 

10: Get New Shoes 

I will conclude with a tip for when you are outside the home. In order to stand, you have to plant your feet on the ground. And most of the time, you’ll have first planted them in a pair of shoes. If the shoes are old, though, they may have worn down and lost much of their cushion, causing a harsher impact with each step and putting strain on your spine. Some people find that running shoes–even if they’re just taking a walk–provide the cushion that they need to exercise without pain.

In conclusion, these ten tips are easy to implement and can all help to relieve lower back pain provided that you practise them regularly.

Guest post by Adam Littleton

Adam is an educator and copywriter. E-mails, blog posts, newsletters, webpages; he has the best words.

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Disclaimer

While I strive to provide accurate and helpful information, the content on this blog should not be considered a substitute for professional medical advice or consultation. I cannot guarantee the quality, suitability, or safety of any product or service offered by third parties through this website, including those advertised through Google Adsense or other ad brokers. I encourage you to conduct your own research and due diligence before making any purchases based on these advertisements.