If you find yourself standing for long periods of the day, as a result of the work you do or chores you have to get through, this can result in low back pain and associated problems.
There are products available such as the anti fatigue mat, that can help you to feel more comfortable, and you can find it at Amazon.com. There are also some things that you can do, such as making sure your posture is correct, which will also help to lessen your low back pain.
Understanding the causes of low back pain
Back pain is an extremely common complaint and many of us experience a bout of low back pain at some time or another, but some of us can be greatly affected by low back pain and struggle to get through daily life while contending with pain that can range from niggling to severe.
There are actually a great number of different factors that can contribute towards low back pain.
You can experience a problem simply due to overuse of your muscles and ligaments, or you might suffer a disk injury or suffer from disk degeneration, as a result of general wear and tear.
What makes the issue more complicated is the fact that low back pain symptoms do tend to vary between each person, so there are numerous different issues to potentially contend with.
It might be that your pain is intermittent or gets worse when you are standing for long periods at a time, but whatever the symptoms, one of the most common reasons why you experience lumbar pain is probably down to the fact that there is evidence of unbalanced support amongst your discs, joints and muscles.
Pain is the end result
The mechanical issues that are affecting your joints, discs and muscles are obviously at the heart of your problems with low back pain, but the issue you have to contend with is that the pain you are experiencing is the end result and therefore you need to work backwards in terms of identifying the cause of that pain.
If you are going to successfully get the pain relief you seek, it is important to work on uncovering the underlying issue that is causing you to experience pain, so that you can tackle this issue in order to alleviate the pain and discomfort you are experiencing.
Balance is the key
If everything in your spine is healthy and working correctly, you will find that the muscles of your lower back are actively contracting and relaxing while you are standing, giving you the natural order that allows you to maintain a good balance.
Balance is a matter of good distribution of your weight and an even level of force being exerted on your discs and facet joints.
When everything is as it should be and your weight is being correctly distributed, your spine will resemble an s-shaped curve, which is the ideal shape for protecting your spine from an level of uneven pressure being exerted on the discs that can prove vulnerable when your posture is out of line.
Correcting muscle imbalances
If you are going to hope to alleviate some or all of the pain you are experiencing, it is essential to address and correct any muscle imbalances in the muscle groups responsible for keeping your spine in a good shape.
When you are able to adjust any muscle imbalance and find the way to correct it, you are going to re-introduce some much needed protection as well as relief, to your lumbar spine.
It is certainly well worth concentrating on getting any imbalance issues resolved, as it can often be the case that even if you are already known to be suffering from disc wear or facet pain, lower back pain can still be noticeably reduced.
Stand safely
If you do need to be on your feet and have to adopt the same sort of position for a reasonable period of time, good posture is going to prove vital if you want to improve your odds of reducing or averting low back pain.
Try to be mindful of how your back is aligned when you are standing. If you can visualize a line that runs from your ears and through your hips, this will help your posture if you try to maintain this line and avoid the temptation to slouch. If you want to look into getting a back brace, there’s a lot to be said for doing so. They can help you stand straighter, and safer, with reduced pain in many circumstances.
Try to change your position frequently, by moving around when possible and do some light stretches to help keep things working properly.
Low back pain can be very difficult to contend with, especially when it is a regular occurrence, so it makes sense to do what you can to improve your posture and maintain good balance.
Freya Blackburn is a nurse who is currently taking extended maternity leave. In between finishing up the nursery and generally preparing for motherhood, Freya is indulging in some writing time, knowing that there won’t be time once her daughter enters the world!