This week is Back Care Awareness Week, running between October 6th to 11th, so now’s the perfect time to prioritise back health, check in with yourself and make sure that you’re doing all you can to look after yourself.
Back pain is one of the most common conditions that people can experience, affecting anyone at any stage of life.
Most of the time, this kind of pain is short-lived and easily resolved through rest and rehab. However, for many people, back pain can become chronic, making it difficult to carry out ordinary daily tasks, leading to depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions.
A new booklet has been published to help those affected by back pain, chronic or otherwise, written by Middlesex University nutritionist Yinka Thomas, focusing on how dietary changes can reduce physical inflammation and potentially reduce pain.
The Eating to Ease Back Pain guide covers everything from inflammation itself and nutrition basics to glycaemic indexes and loads, protein, carbs, insulin,, fats, intermittent fasting and how a healthy gut microbiome can potentially help support back health.
Aside from diet, there are plenty of other measures you can implement that will also help you look after your back through the years, as well as dealing with any pain you’re in as quickly as possible.
Staying as active as you can is important, carrying out your daily activities as you would normally – wherever possible. Anti-inflammatory medication like ibuprofen can also help if you’re in pain. If you’re experiencing stiffness in your joints or muscle spasms, consider heat therapy as a treatment option. Cold therapy can be beneficial for pain and swelling.
And, of course, physiotherapy can also prove particularly useful, helping to improve the movement and function of your joints and muscles. It can reduce lower back pain and encourage more normal movement once again, as well as reducing the risk of your back pain returning.
