Not many things are more painful and frustrating than a serious lower back injury. Whether it’s caused by trauma (sudden fall, car accident), or lifting something heavy (at work or at the gym), a low back injury can easily become debilitating and long-lasting.
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The Common Types of Lower Back Injury
Just like with any other health problem, the more you know about the type of your injury, the better you know how to treat it.
The most common types of back injuries are muscular injuries, bone injuries or nerves of the spine (bulging discs, herniated disc, pinched nerves). But no matter the type of your injury, the body reacts in the same way: Inflammation and pain.
Conventional Treatments for Lower Back Injury (Do They Work?)
It’s always the same story with conventional medicine: take some painkillers, then take some more pills. Then take a Cortisone shot. That doesn’t work too? Schedule surgery. That didn’t work either. Schedule a reoperation (if you have any money left).
The conventional approach is based on a mistake, masking and hiding the symptoms, instead of treating the root cause of the injury and helping the body heal itself – naturally.
While pain pills and cortisone shots may relieve your pain, they carry with them dangerous side effects (liver and kidney damage, ulcers, heart problems, drug dependency), and more importantly – they do nothing to cure your injury.
They just help you forget about your pain for a little while.
And surgery?
Even if you ignore the dangers of any surgery, the huge costs, and the long recovery time – it’s something to think about. Plus, so many back surgeries FAIL that there’s a new syndrome in their honor – Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS).
(I’m not making this stuff up)
The truth is that 90 percent of back pain can be resolved without surgery if both doctors and patients are willing to try other treatments that basically help the back to heal itself.
Alternative Treatments (and Why They Are Better)
The first thing to understand is that the pain (and swelling) you are experiencing is caused by inflammation. Reduce the inflammation and you will reduce the pain.
Give your body the nutrients it needs to heal the injury (that’s what it’s trying to do through inflammation). Give your body the strength to heal itself by reducing the other junk it has to deal with daily (bad diet, poor sleep, damaging physical activity), and the road to complete healing of your lower back injury is wide open.
1. Natural Anti-Inflammation Methods
Instead of popping pills, pop some natural anti-inflammation supplements. Some of the best herbs to fight inflammation are Bromelain, Turmeric, Papain, Boswellia, Devil’s Claw, Ginger, and systemic enzymes. You can find all of them in this supplement, which is one of the best.
The herbal-based anti-inflammatories have no side effects, they are not addictive and you can take them for months with no problem. But if you take any other medication, check with your doctor to make sure they don’t counter-interact.
Another simple way to help your body is eating more anti-inflammatory foods (such as Alaskan Salmon, green tea, olive oil, fresh whole vegetables and fruits (5 different colors of vegetables every day), nuts and seeds, oatmeal, water, turmeric and ginger (spices), dark green leafy vegetables.
Avoid inflammatory foods such as white sugar, vegetable and corn oils, processed foods, French fries, white bread, ice cream, soda, caffeine and alcohol, cheddar cheese, and snack foods.
👉 See more effective ways to heal a lower back inflammation
2. Far Infrared Heating Pads
Most of us have a heating pad lying around the house.
Infrared heating pads are a lot more effective and are great natural pain relievers. This technology allows heat to penetrate much deeper than a traditional heating pad, providing you with relief that lasts much longer.
Far infrared rays, which are completely invisible to the naked eye, can penetrate deep into the human body (literally right down to your bones) where they gently elevate the body’s surface temperature and activate major bodily functions.
👉 See the best infrared heating pads for back pain
3. Acupuncture
Acupuncture has been proven to be very successful in relieving back pain and healing back injuries, especially for injuries that “refuse” to heal. The Chinese believe that a stagnant Chi results in pain and other physical ailments, and acupuncture helps get things moving again.
Can’t afford acupuncture sessions? Try the acupressure method. An acupressure mat for back pain (A modern-day bed of nails) is based on the theory of acupressure: that the body is lined with “pressure points” which, when stimulated, release the body’s natural pain-relieving hormones.
It may be uncomfortable at first, but then it starts working, and you get that tingling sensation of blood rushing to your back, bringing healing nutrients to speed up recovery from your injury.
4. Inversion Therapy
Inversion therapy, also known as a gravity table – is a drug-free and ancient way to relieve back pain. A home traction device can change your life if your lower back injury is a bulging disc, a pinched nerve, sciatica, or just a seriously strained muscle.
👉 Read: Inversion Table for Sciatica – Does it Work?
If you just do a simple search on Google or read a few stories on the back pain forums, you’ll be amazed at how many people have canceled their surgeries and claim to be completely pain-free since using their inversion table.
An inversion table actually decompresses the spine (by hanging upside down at a certain degree that’s comfortable for you) and promotes the healing and regeneration of damaged discs, or injured muscles.
If you have any current or previous medical issues with your heart, blood pressure, etc, or have had back or neck surgery before, you should talk to your doctor before beginning inversion therapy.
People with glaucoma, bone disorders, or just a history of severe spine injury or surgery should also check with a doctor first.
5. Avoiding Further Damage
If your lower back injury is caused by a bad movement at the gym – from lifting, squatting or any other exercise that was simply too much for your back – please avoid doing it again – until you have an alternative way to strengthen these muscles so the injury doesn’t happen again.
👉 Exercises to avoid when your lower back hurts
Many muscle and nerve injuries occur simply because the muscles in the area are weak. Other times muscle imbalances are the root cause of muscle injuries, pinched nerves, and herniated discs.
In this case, one of the best ways to fix muscle imbalances is muscle balance therapy. This treatment helps you identify exactly where the muscle imbalances are and the right exercises to do to restore this important balance.
Always remember, an ounce of prevention is worth weeks of sitting on the sidelines, especially with lower back injuries. Train smart, with your body’s best interest positioned well above your ego’s best interest.
To your health & happiness,
Meital
