If you’re a Victorian and are suffering from acute or chronic neck and back pain, then probably the best response is to seek an experienced chiropractor in Melbourne for help. However, sometimes the pain can get too much to bear and you need a more immediate way to respond to provide you at least with enough comfort until you can consult with an experienced medical professional.
For those in this position, the following advice should prove extremely useful, and will hopefully assist you in restoring some equilibrium to your neck and back without any harsh measures or need to take painkillers.
1. Relax and Take it Easy
A lot of the time, especially when suffering from acute back pain, the best way to deal with it is just to take a load off, relax, and restrict your movements for a few days. If you combine this with simple over-the-counter medications such as ibuprofen, you may resolve whatever issue it was, perhaps causing overly tensed or pulled muscles to relax and unknot themselves.
Acute pain can sometimes feel as though you’ll never recover, which is why some people freeze in awkward positions, slowly lowering themselves to the ground or to a bed or sofa just as fast as their pain threshold allows them too. As dramatic as it can feel to sufferers, and look to those around you, there’s rarely any cause for panic.
2. Ice First, Then Heat to Follow
Some people forget the particular order of application when it comes to cold and heat when helping people with back pain. They know that ice and heat both help, but they do need to be applied correctly. First you have to apply ice to the affected area, potentially for the first 48 hours of pain or injury. Only after reaching the milestones should you start applying heat to increase blood flow and help to relax the muscles.
The ice helps to reduce the swelling and inflammation, which is what helps relieve the pain coming from your muscles and ligaments. It doesn’t last forever, though, and that’s why after a maximum of 48 hours, heat is applied to the affected area to promote blood flow to the deep tissue.
3. Gentle Massage
Whether you call someone up for a professional consultation, or you just have a family member, friend, or other loved one with some experience to help you, performing a massage of the affected area can really work wonders. Stretching out the tightened muscles and working them back to a more natural state can really help provide temporary relief. The more skilled and experienced the massage therapist, of course, the more they can do for you.
4. Look at Your Standing and Sitting Positions
How would you rate your normal posture when you’re sitting and standing? Did you know that posture can have a huge bearing on your overall neck and back health? If you stand slouched for long periods of time, it can exacerbate existing pain or even bring about added pain, and the same goes for sitting. Stand up straight with your head up and shoulders straight as much as you can. When sitting, have your knees and hips at a right angle, and feet flat on the floor.
5. Lie on a Firm and Supportive Surface
If you are experiencing acute back pain, then you can also gain some temporary relief by ensuring that you lie down on a firm and supportive surface. In your mind you may crave a soft mattress, but what you really need most is proper support. You can put a board under your mattress for additional firmness, or lay the mattress on the floor. For your neck, ensure that you have a pillow that will support the curve of the neck as you lie down.
