Anyone who has experienced back pain knows how inconvenient it can be. Here are some tips from expert naturopathic doctors on keeping your spine healthy and aligned.
Low-Impact Exercise
Low-impact aerobic exercises provide numerous benefits for your spine.
These include strengthening the core muscles that support your spine, nourishing the spine by increasing blood flow that provides nutrients and oxygen to the area, improving your overall flexibility, and reinforcing the bone structure of your spine.
Naturopathic Manipulation
A safe and effective technique to realign the body’s skeletal system is direct manipulation of the joints to allow movement and decrease pain. Indirect naturopathic manipulation of soft tissues, muscles, and bones use gentle techniques such as craniosacral, visceral manipulation, muscle energy stretching, Kinesio Taping, and much more.
A Standing Desk
Sitting for long periods of time places three times as much pressure on the spinal discs in your lower back compared to standing. One way to reduce the negative effects of sitting is to start using a standing desk for all or part of the day. Here are some tips for shifting your work station:
- Standing desks can be expensive, so consider purchasing an affordable platform that you can place on top of your current desk.
- Purchase a pair of shoes that you feel comfortable standing in for long periods of time. Or purchase a cushioned mat for standing.
- Set a goal of accomplishing one specific task per day using a standing desk. For example, you can answer your emails in the morning while standing. Add an additional task each week, and slowly you’ll build your way up to spending the majority of your day standing up.
Injection Therapies
Trigger point injection is designed to break the pain cycle, reset pain receptors, relieve muscle spasms, decrease inflammation and increase circulation. Therapeutic subcutaneous injection is designed to improve circulation and decrease inflammation, which aid in healing. All injections are performed using a thin, short needle with a safe, customized formula designed for specific conditions.
Nutrition and Supplementation
Naturopathic dispensaries has many safe and effective vitamin, herbal and medical-grade food solutions to decrease inflammation and therefore reduce pain. There are also many specific dietary protocols that help reduce inflammation, leaky gut, allergies, and imbalances which can be an underlying contributor to pain.
Back pain can be relentless and no one should have to live with pain. It’s important to step back and look at the bigger picture of what might be involved with your pain and how best to start your personalized road
to recovery and prevention.
Written by Dr. Brooke Weitz & Dr. Threasa Andrys, Naturopathic Medicine
