About 65 million Americans have recently reported low back pain and 25% of those considered themselves to have poor to fair overall health. Back pain can come from sitting too much, misaligned spine, weak muscles, tight muscles, emotional tension, inflammation, or hormonal fluctuations.
Whatever the cause, back pain is disruptive to daily life and unnecessary. It is harder to focus when there is that nagging sensation coming from the low back 24/7. It drains your energy and makes you feel more irritable. Relying on your daily Aleve, Advil or Ibuprofen for relief, may temporarily reduce the pain but comes with a cost (and not the one from the pharmacy). These NSAIDs are slowly ruining your intestinal lining and gut microbiota lowering your overall health and vitality. So what do we do? Here are three easy ways to combat your low back pain:
BREATHE. MOVE. RECOVER.
1. BREATHE:
Breathing is a way for us to massage our muscles from the inside out and calm the nervous system to relieve low back pain. It is simple, effective and works wonders for that mid-day break, or end of the day wind down. It is a self massage technique that utilizes the breath and directing our breath to the low back space.
Come down to a childs pose position with the knees hips distance or a little wider so that your stomach can rest on your thighs comfortably. If this is not possible, place a pillow on your lap so that your body is completely supported. Breathe in and out through your nose for counts of 5 while consciously sending breath to the low back envisioning your back expanding like a balloon. This is creating a deep diaphragmatic breathing massage to your muscles from the inside out while activating more parasympathetic activity in the nervous system to aid relaxation and healing. Complete a minimum of 6-10 breaths here or up to 7 minutes and notice how you feel after.
2. MOVE:
Finding balance in your stretch and strength to combat low back pain is key. Low back pain is a complaint I hear from many of my clients. Sometimes we are too flexible in certain muscles or overly tight in others which leads to an imbalance of musculature pulling on our bones, distorting our body alignment and neuromuscular communication. Strengthening core muscles and dynamically stretching tight hamstrings and hip flexors is a great place to start to retrain those neural pathways and muscles. Practice the stretching and strengthening exercises in the picture above daily or watch my youtube video here https://youtu.be/Ep0qiv-fEGc
3. Recover:
Your nutrition plays a huge role into how your body feels and looks. They say "abs are made in the kitchen" well, "anti-inflammatory elixirs are made in the kitchen" is what I have to say too. You want to be eating low inflammatory foods with supporting herbs and spices. Turmeric is an excellent addition to your meals to lower systematic inflammation. Cut out processed sugar, which is causing blood sugar fluctuations, stressing the nervous system and leading to more inflammation. Breads, pastas, high carbohydrate foods, and seed oils from the store are also irritating the gut which alters hormone balance and again, back pain results. Focus on whole, organic nutrient dense foods. Pictured above is:
Organic ground turkey with turmeric, sea salt, pepper, paprika, curry spice and fennel seed
Salsa
Sautéed spinach and yellow squash in coconut oil.
This is an excellent meal that can be pre-made for the week or for the whole family. Healthy fats, protein and easy to digest lightly cooked vegetables.
That's it! Give these three tips a try and let me know how it goes. If you would like to further discuss your back pain and get a personal assessment on your alignment email me casey@caseymauro.com to set up your free consultation and first appointment. Let's create a daily routine and food menu just for your low back. I look forward to helping you Breathe, Move and Recover your way back to your best self.
A'ho- Casey
Comments