5 Tips to Minimize the Occurrence of Back Pain
For many of us, back pain is one of those unavoidable things. Whether it’s carrying in too many groceries at a time, a marathon round of golf, yard work, or even picking up a pencil from the floor, one wrong move can ruin a weekend. What you may not know, is there are a few easy things you can do to greatly minimize the occurrence of back pain.
- The first thing is simply, to stretch. Take 2 minutes each morning and stretch your back by slowly and gently, bending in each direction. Be sure to breathe while your stretching, that oxygen is good for the muscles.
- When lifting, bend at the knees and not at the waist. It’s especially important to avoid twisting, turning or pivoting while picking up an item. My favorite way to remember that is the saying, "lift like an elevator, not like a crane".
- Don’t overload yourself. A good rule of thumb is if you’re going to try and lift an object that is more than 20% of your body weight, ask someone for help lifting it.
- When lifting an object, keep it close to your body. It puts more and more stress on your back, the further out it is held from the body.
- Lastly, exercise. You’d be amazed how even a little exercise can help minimize the occurrence of most common back pain. Lower back, abdominal, and oblique exercise help to stabilize and strengthen the core. For many that have a low to moderate activity level, exercise is best thing to help minimize back pain.