Managing Stress and Back Pain: Effective Strategies for Relief and the Role of In-Home Care Services Stress is a common…
Medical experts rank back pain as one of most common medical conditions, affecting an estimated 80% of all Americans at some point during their lives. What makes back pain particularly troublesome, is that it is a medical condition that affects people of all ages, genders, and ethnic backgrounds. But what exactly causes back pain?
An adult spine consists of a stack of 24 bones called vertebrae, plus the bones of the sacrum and coccyx. These bones support the human body and protect the spinal cord’s major column of nerve fibers connected to the brain. These fibers run through the vertebrae via the spinal canal. Between each vertebra are discs made of cartilage and filled with a gel-like material, these act similar to a shock absorber. Also, ligaments, muscles, tendons and small joints called facets help hold the vertebrae together.
Unless you live in a warm-weather state where you can enjoy (or merely tolerate) doing yard work all year around, once the last of the snow has disappeared, it is time to start thinking about yard work once again. Even if you’ve been shoveling snow all Winter, you’re likely to use different muscles, plus you will be squatting and bending, as opposed to lifting and throwing the snow. If you have a snow blower, or your spouse or a service takes care of the snow, you might be out of shape somewhat, so, before you plan on doing yard work, you might want to begin by doing stretches, squats and lunges a few weeks before you tackle the raking/thatching and bagging up of debris, or tending to the yard in general. It really will help to be more flexible for the job at hand, and, you sure don’t want to overdo your unused muscles just because you insist on doing all the work in one weekend. That’s the way to likely incur pain in the back, or aching shoulders.
Probably the best and most-important advice from a top spine doctor in Summit, New Jersey would be to bend your knees. Those 40-pound bags of topsoil are a challenge for a lot of people once gardening begins in earnest. First you must heft them out of the back of your car and that can strain your back, especially if you twist and turn your torso the wrong way. Why not have a four-wheeled dolly at the ready to move those heavy bags from the car to where they will be used? Also, getting up and down from a kneeling or squatting position may be awkward or difficult for some. Don’t risk damaging your back – why not treat yourself to a rolling garden seat to make gardening easier and more enjoyable?