Back Pain Can Mean a Change in Your Lifestyle

Back pain can impact your whole life. If you’ve been to your doctor about your pain and received a diagnosis and course of treatment you’ve done the first step. Your next step is to get better. Some types of pain in the back can be treated with physical therapy and exercise, while other pain requires surgery or bed rest to heal. However, regardless of your treatment, there will probably be a change in your daily routine. For those that need more exercise in order to make their backs healthier, learning to move more can be an effort. Little things like parking your car further away from a building’s entrance or taking the stairs can definitely make a difference but for regular results you need regular effort. Starting small is always a great idea when it comes to exercise so you don’t make your back pain worse, so talk with your doctor or physical therapist about short exercises that you can do at home to build up your stamina and muscles. Buy a timer and set it by your computer or TV. Have it ring every hour and get up and stretch every time it goes off to keep blood flowing to your back. If you’ve been prescribed bed rest or you are having surgery that will keep you in bed for your recovery, setting up your home properly is important. If you are on strict bed rest and will be getting out of bed rarely or not at all, move your bedroom around to allow you access to everything you will need during your convalescence. Move your desk over to one side of the bed so you can use your computer if need be, and make sure you have a good sized clear surface within arms reach for putting food, books, and the phone on. If you’re able to move from your bed to the couch and back, then set up both the bed and the couch with a clear surface and move furniture around to place everything you need within arms reach. When you’re healed you can move it all back. Back pain is not much fun. But with a bit of an adjustment you can shift your life and habits around a bit to accommodate what you need to do to heal as quickly as possible.