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From the restrictive quality of brassieres to unhealthy lifestyles and bad habits, women can easily be more prone to back pain. No matter the cause, it’s important to prioritize relieving it immediately to avoid further stress. If you’re lucky, it will go away on its own but if untreated, it becomes a block in the way of living your life as per normal. Hopefully, the following four tips will aid you in the effort of reducing it.
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?4 Ways to Reduce Back Pain for Women
?1. Review Your Sleeping Position
?We spend many hours lying unconscious in bed when we sleep. That means it’s unlikely for you to be able to correct your form when you fall into it in a difficult position. It will also bring grave consequences, especially to your back, if you don’t sleep properly every night.
It helps to make sure you’re in the right sleeping position before you finally settle down and close your eyes. The way to know you’re not putting any tension to your back is if your body is not twisted or rested in ways that aren’t natural for your spine.
You can make sure your back won’t suffer from any pain by purchasing a good mattress. Otherwise, back pain when sleeping can be avoided? in?three?ways depending on how you prefer to sleep:
?2. Keep an Active Lifestyle
?How you position your body in your sleep will amount to little if what you do in your waking hours negates that good practice. Rest can only do as much good if it’s done in moderation and if it’s paired up with an appropriate active workout or lifestyle, even by just opting to ?ditch the seat and stand at work.
Strengthen Your Core and Stretch Your Muscles
Your back supports the same weight that your core does. When you strengthen that part of your body, it reduces the pressure and tension being put on the back and the spine to support everything. Simultaneously, this reduces the occurrence of back pain.
Just as you do strengthening exercises, it’s also important to stretch out the muscles that you used and engaged in your workout to relieve them of the tightness that might happen if you don’t, especially if you sit at work for hours on end. For this, yoga is a good practice to get into as it targets that same goal while also proving to be therapeutic not only for the body but also for the mind.
?Be Mindful of Your Posture
?It might be easy to prepare yourself for a proper sleep or keeping the correct form when you’re working out, but it’s in the mundane moments of the day that it’s harder to be aware of your posture. However, it’s still crucial to be mindful of this.
?Related: ?Top 3 Reasons Why You’re Better Off Standing While Working???
Most people would find themselves guilty of crouching down, especially those who are working 8 hours in the office. If this is you, it might be helpful to start off on the right position before you work, just as you would before sleeping. Lean your back to your seat and keep both feet on the ground before you get in the zone. A? great alternative would be to switch to a standing desk all together and by coaxing yourself with great some great accessories for your standing desk?.??A great add-on would be a treadmill if it’s possible.
?Use an Anti Fatigue Mat
?Standing for long periods of time will be difficult on your feet, no matter what you do to help. If you?re standing in one place for periods of time, add an anti fatigue mat to your standing area. These will reduce the impact on your feet, which will transition up to making your back feel better.
?3. Invest in the Right Bras for Your Body
?Some experts like Deborah Venesy, MD, a spine specialist from Cleveland Clinic, would negate the correlation of women’s posture with the right bra. According to Venesy, ?the benefits of wearing a bra are largely cosmetic.?
For some women though, everyday scenarios prove otherwise. If you’ve ever worn a bra for more than 12 hours in one day, then you’d be familiar to that feeling of extreme relief and liberation of taking it off after a long day, similar to that of sitting down after standing on concrete for hours on end.
In a study conducted by Edward L. Ryan, majority of the female participants that were asked to go braless for two weeks chose to continue doing so for good. At the very least, that says something about the relation of back pain to the importance of wearing the right bra.
?If wearing an appropriately fitting bra still won’t give you the relief you need, consider getting yourself a back pain belt for even better support.
?Frequently Check for Your Measurement
?Most women would probably take their measurements the first time and stick with it throughout the years. If you’re guilty of this too, you might be getting the wrong types and size of bra because of it.
Your breasts change just as your body does over time. What bra worked for you before might not be ideal for now. This is a concept we have to get more used to. It would be advisable to be sure about your measurements before getting another bra. You’ll feel the difference when it fits perfectly and you can go on about your day without irritation.
?Use Posture Bras
?That being said, not wearing a bra at all times is not realistic for all women. Women with larger breasts might even find it harder to go braless because of the absence of support from a bra. If you’re lacking support, consider getting a shelf bra for full coverage.
This particular problem is what posture bras are made for. Back pain from wearing a bra is not necessarily from the band around your body but the strain it causes on your shoulders that in turn impact your back.?Posture bras provide the support for the breasts while also keeping the shoulder strain to a minimum.
?4. Aid Your Back with Therapy or Medication As Needed
?Just like you do for other parts of your body, your back needs to be given some tender loving care too. You’d spend much for a manicure and block out time on your schedule for facials. Booking spa days, massages, or even seeing a chiropractor won’t be too different, especially when you have a job that is prone to ?result in back pain.
?Back pain has different levels of tolerability and it’s important for you to listen to your body and decide what it needs to relieve the pain. For mild aches, frequent massages and water therapy, whether in whirlpools or high-temperature pools, can be good preventative measures.
?Related:?The Complete Guide to Helping Your Pain From Standing for Too Long
?Use Ice or Heat Packs for Particular Types of Back Pain
?For certain types of back pain, using ice and heat packs are recommended by experts and fellow enthusiasts alike. The former is most commonly used for treating inflammation and injuries.
The latter works like the mentioned therapeutic methods. When a heat pack is put on your back, it promotes blood flow towards that part of your body which delivers oxygen to your muscles, thus encouraging relief and relaxation, just like how anti fatigue insoles work for our feet.
?Ask Your Doctor for Medication
?If unrelieved and untreated, back pain can worsen to the point of being unbearable. In this case, it would be safer to take the advice of your doctor to know what specific methods and medication would help you.
Think of it like your skin care. Many can relate to spending at least an hour everyday to make sure their face is hydrated and glowing. Some would even take vitamins for it. In the same way, you’d also need to take some time out to care for your back since it supports everything you do. Sometimes, that means taking prescription for it.
?Conclusion
Back pain is an inevitable effect of the lifestyle most women lead nowadays. It can either be a result of a strenuous activity or of a cumulation of bad habits that strain the muscles at your back over time. For most, it’s nothing a few lifestyle and wardrobe changes won’t fix. These tips could most likely be the key to getting your life back on track without disruption.