Ten rules for back health

To protect the health of the back there are some universally valid rules, which everyone should know and apply.

Always move, in the right way

The first is to practice moderate and regular physical activity. Except for the moments of greatest pain of an acute low back pain attack, movement is the most effective preventive weapon and the best solution against back pain.

Of course, you should not make efforts, nor risky movements: just walk half an hour or an hour a day at a good pace when you are well and try to walk often for short distances when the situation is a little less rosy.

The elevator should be forgotten: if the floors to go up or down do not exceed 3-4, for the sake of the back it is preferable to do them on foot.

In this way, it will also be easy to keep body weight under control which, if in excess, is one of the main causes of low back pain and joint pain.

Balance the weights and do not stress the column

While moving you should be free of weights, but this is obviously not always possible. In order not to damage your back while carrying shopping bags, your bag with a computer or the outcome of a full-bodied afternoon of shopping, it is important to divide the weights and balance them well on both arms.

This also applies to children and adolescents who go to school: backpack anchored to both shoulders if the kg allow it, otherwise the trolley is welcome.

Another rule: wear comfortable shoes, because this allows you to make more correct movements and maintain more physiological postures, avoiding transmitting improper stimuli to the spine and the muscles that support it.

In this regard, it should be noted that to support the back are not only the paravertebral, dorsal and lumbar muscles, but above all the abdominal ones: therefore, it is better to keep trained also on this front.

Still on the subject of correct movements, it is essential to remember not to bend your back when you have to pick up objects from the ground (especially if not very light), but to lower and get up by flexing your knees.

Small tricks for sitting

The other anti-back pain rules mainly concern the way you sit or lie down.

In particular, you must: equip yourself with rigid chairs, with armrests and shaped backrest, on which to unload the weight of the arms and back while studying or working; in the car, the seat must be adjusted so that you can drive with semi-flexed knees and elbows, sitting well at the bottom and resting your back completely on the backrest; Both in the car and on the sofa and armchairs at home (especially if soft) lumbar support should be applied to ensure a physiological posture to this area of the spine particularly at risk.

Whatever activity you are doing, you must also remember that monotony is the enemy of the back.

So if you have to sit for several hours you need to get up every now and then to walk a little (just a few minutes), and the same must be done if you have to stand still for a long time: it will also benefit the peripheral circulation.

Finally, wherever you are and in any circumstance, pay attention to air conditioning and air strokes: just a moment and back pain is assured.

A natural and discreet remedy

If the aforementioned cold snap betrays or if, despite compliance with all the good rules mentioned, back pain appears, to alleviate it naturally and without taking medication you can take advantage of the heat.

In addition to the classic and impractical hot water bottle, to heat the area affected by pain, today, there are shaped self-heating bands, thin and invisible under clothes, to be applied directly on the skin.

While working, walking, going to the cinema, the self-heating bands release heat for eight hours, reducing painful stresses on nerve fibers and attenuating any muscle contractures.

In addition, by increasing blood circulation, they promote the elimination of toxins and free radicals produced by the inflammatory process, assisting healing.

Similar bands, of different shapes and sizes, also exist to alleviate joint pain that can appear in the neck, shoulders and wrist.