One of the issues that our patients come to us with most frequently is the dreaded back pain. 80 percent of us will have at least one episode of debilitating back pain throughout our lives. 

It’s incredibly challenging to go about the business of life when you are suffering, so we offer you four natural and healthy ways to move into freedom from back pain: 

Why movement is so important for back pain

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This is a must. If you do not read another sentence, please read this one:

You were made to move and move in a variety of different ways–it’s essential to health! Think of children, healthy children are often in motion through wiggling, dancing, bending, squatting.

We would benefit greatly from letting our inner child take over throughout the day. An artist friend who was troubled with back pain from years of static sitting in front of her canvas, found enormous relief when she started setting a fun buzzer on her phone to remind her to move around twice an hour. 

Yoga for upper back pain.

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Whether you’ve been enduring back pain for years or you want to maintain a healthy back, yoga enhances the mobility of the back muscles and the stability of the core. This can not only relieve certain structural issues with the back but can protect you from future injuries. 

Our Awakenings’ yoga instructor, Laura Gries, has used yoga to not only recover from her own overall back pain but to help her students grow more body-aware to prevent and relieve back issues.

She says, “A sense of balance and security is rooted in our lower back area. When this area has disease, pain, and discomfort, we might be experiencing the major burdens of life and feeling under-supported. Creating flexibility in the spine and therefore moving the spinal fluids, not only gives a dose of the fountain of youth, but it also eases pain, giving mental clarity and an energetic boost!”

According to Laura, a good yoga session will incorporate all six movements of the vertebrae, allowing for a healthy, vibrant, and youthful circulation. As a result, you will feel confidence, happiness, great health, gracefulness, and certainty!

Safety reminder: If you are in an acute back pain episode, seek medical help before starting/resuming a yoga practice for your own internal medicine.

Heat therapy for back pain.

Traditional Chinese Medicine recommends the use of heat therapy for many chronic back pain conditions. Whether it’s using a heating pad at home, taking hot baths (especially baths super-charged with a cup or two of Epsom salts!), or heat patches, relief can often be found using thermotherapy. 

At Awakenings, Dr. Adam Gries highly recommends the use of certain heat patches to help back pain sufferers get relief throughout the day. 

Acupuncture for lower back pain.

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In research using acupuncture for back pain, not only did patients find relief from pain but accompanying issues that are often concurrent with chronic health issues, like depression, were also greatly improved. 

Dr. Brent Bauer of the Mayo Clinic says that the research is clear, acupuncture helps with back pain. He says that science is not yet certain of the mechanisms that bring the relief of pain–could it be endorphins or structural changes or both? But he says that at the end of the day he knows that it helps his patients, and that is what is important. 

If you are experiencing chronic back pain and want to try acupuncture, Dr. Geng Wu or Dr. Adam Gries have both had successful outcomes in helping patients find relief. 

For a free, brief telemedicine consultation, call or text us at 919-935-9832. 

By Deana Vassar