Things to do at home for neck and back pain

Home Remedies: Neck and Back Pain

The #1 thing you can do to help yourself is move!

Exercise, in any form, is essential for our health, our vitality and for preventing damage, injury and degeneration from occurring.  There should be a dedicated time for exercise 3-5x/week.  Whatever you enjoy doing, whatever makes you happy and eager to do again, is a perfect exercise for you.  Sitting to your spine, is like candy to your teeth, it rots you.  The more movement you get, the better off you’ll be.  So, the next time you have the choice to take the stairs or the elevator, make the right choice.  The next time you have the choice to park closer to the entrance or farther away, make the right choice.  Walk instead of drive when you can.  Making the right choices will benefit your body in the long run.

The #2 thing you can do to help yourself is stretch!

We use our bodies and our muscles everyday and rarely take the time to rehab them or rest them adequately and then we are surprised that our bodies hurt.  There are 2 kinds of stretches.  Dynamic and Static.  Dynamic stretching is with movement.  It is a warm up BEFORE activity.  This is what gets the blood flowing in your muscles and gets them ready to perform.  Dynamic stretches include (but are not limited to) alternating heel and toe raises, to warm up your calves, ankles and shins.  Swinging your legs back and forth to warm up your Quadriceps and Hamstrings.  Swinging your legs side to side to warm up your groin muscles and hip/glut muscles.  Arm circles to warm up your shoulders, lunges to fire a burn in those leg muscles.  Push ups to get a burn in your core and upper body.  When warming up, you want to start to feel a little burn in the muscles and that’s when you know you are getting warm.  Only after your muscles are warm and ready, should you engage in the sport or activity.  Try not to engage at full throttle, continue to warm up the muscles until you get a sweat going and then you can increase speed/intensity as you wish and are able.

Once you are done the activity/exercise/workout, STATIC stretching is a must.  This is where you find the stretch for the muscle and hold it.  These stretches should be held for up to a minute (if tolerated) or for as long as benefit is still being derived.  You will know when you are no longer getting anything out of the stretch.  You obviously want to pay more attention to the muscles used the most during the workout as well as any muscles you experience pain or tightness from.   If you do not know how to stretch a muscle, I can help you devise a routine that will work for you.  If you feel the stretch in the affected muscle and it feels a little uncomfortable, but that that is exactly what and where you need it, you are doing it correctly.

Now that you know how to adequately warm up, exercise and cool down, go enjoy yourselves.  I am always here as a resource, because in my practice, I give you the tools, to love the body you live in.