Worried about a busy day at the practice with acute lower back pain? This month, Khalil Hussein discusses how to relieve the pain and why movement is the best thing for it.
Have you ever woken up one day and felt about 46 years older?
Your back is unbelievably stiff and sore and just putting on your shoes is a nightmare. You start to reminisce about the good old days when you could sneeze without blowing out your back.
Well, fear not. I am here to help you.
Acute lower back pain is often very scary. This is because of how tremendously painful it is and also how debilitating it leaves you.
Acute and chronic lower back pain currently causes more disability than the next five diseases combined. Those diseases include things like heart problems, diabetes, and cancer.
So, I know that it’s no joke.
If you have woken up this morning or you know someone who is currently suffering and unable to hit their UDA target because of their back pain, then please send them this article.
The tips I will be giving will help get you back to feeling normal much faster.
So what should I do?
Well, the first thing is to actually not do something. That something is not doing anything – not moving around, or laying in bed all day long.
When you first experience acute lower back pain, you might feel like you can’t even get out of bed – let alone walk around.
But I assure you that getting some kind of movement in is much better than just laying still all day long.
Acute lower back pain is often accompanied by inflammation and muscle spasms. These are protective measures, so we need to help first calm the body down so that it will allow for better healing to occur.
The trouble with muscle spasms and inflammation is that they are there for a good reason. They kick start the injury healing process, but sometimes they can cause just as much harm as good.
Movement will allow fresh blood and nutrients to enter into the injured area. In addition, it will move out any old inflammation that is lingering around and causing a nuisance.
The first step in getting moving is often getting over the intense muscle spasm and guarding. We do this by activating the body’s parasympathetic nervous system and calming things down.
Laying on your back trying to slowly breathe and consciously relax the muscles is hard. However, doing so will allow you to get more movement in that will help you feel better.
Movement is key – but don’t overdo it
From here, once you can, start to do some movement. Even if it’s for a minute.
All movement will help push the swelling out and help release your body’s own pain killers. These are which are stronger than morphine.
Slowly try to integrate a bit more range of motion as you’re able to. Slowly, you’ll find things will start to improve.
As time goes on, you will find the best philosophy is to rest, move, rest, move.
Rather than doing a lot of resting or a ton of exercise in one go.
Take the high-frequency approach and do multiple small exercises throughout the day with appropriate rest in between.
This will ensure that you don’t overdo things.
It takes time
Remember, all injuries take time to heal and it might take you a few days to start feeling close to normal again.
Working through the things I’ve shown in the video will help you feel better faster.
Often with acute lower back pain there is a time period where symptoms will resolve on their own.
But, instead of being in pain and being unable to move for 10 days, followed by six weeks of stiffness and pain, we can often shorten the recovery period.
As a result, you will be able to resume your regular day to day activities without too much trouble.
Give this a try if you’re in need or send it over to someone who is suffering at the moment.
Catch you next month for more Dentistry Gym.
This class is designed for viewers to carry it out with minimal equipment at home. We don’t use weights so these exercises are quite safe for most people.
However, before conducting any exercises please consult your GP or allied health therapist for guidance and advice about your own circumstances and whether these exercises are the right thing for you.
Always seek medical advice before starting any exercise program.
Follow Khalil Hussein on his Instagram: @khalilchiro, or via his website: www.khalilhussein.net.
Catch previous Dentistry Gym videos:
- Do this for your sore neck
- Things that work for back pain and things that don’t
- Easy neck strengthening for dentists
- Escape shoulder pain from dentistry
- Combat lower back pain and stiffness.
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