Most people who experience back pain when lifting even moderately heavy items from the trunk of the car generally are standing too far away from the heavy item when they lift.
Try not to lean far over the trunk to lift an item out. Move the item toward you so you can let your legs help with the lifting.
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While lower back pain is the number one complaint to massage and physical therapists, upper back pain can be equally aggrevating. Many describe the feeling they have in their upper backs like having a brick between their shoulder blades.
This is because the muscles surrounding the spine in that area have become so tight that even crossing the arms over the chest can be painful.
Massage will target the small muscles surrounding the spine first, and then address the larger muscles out toward the shoulder blades to get rid of the brick, relieve pain and restore range of motion.
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While it may feel good to sink into a soft easy chair or sofa, it’s actually hard on the muscles in your back.
When you sit in a hard chair, your back muscles are supported, so they relax. In a soft chair, they must stay contracted to maintain your posture.
If you’re going to stretch out in a chair to watch TV or read a book, make sure you have good lumbar support.
Standing for 1-2 minutes for every 20 minutes in the chair will also help give your back muscles a break.
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While we mostly think of scoliosis in children, it can strike at any time and often goes undetected in adults.
As we grow older, disks and facet joints between the vertebrae can degenerate leading to a curvature of the spine.
Especially in the early stages, neuromuscular massage can identify and treat the overuse of muscles on one side if you have been self-splinting to prevent pain, and the underuse of muscles on the other.
As an ongoing therapy, strengthening core muscles is a key to keeping balance throughout your musculature.
Neuromuscular massage can help you reduce pain while returning to core body strength.
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If you’ve been injured, or have disabling pain in your lower back or elsewhere, or joints from arthritis, neuromuscular massage can help restore felxibility to the tissues, build strength in injured tissues, help your balance and coordination, and extend range of motion.
Physical therapy and neuromuscular massage are good complementary therapies.
Trigger points – highly irritable points that may refer pain to a different area of the body.
Nerve entrapment or compression – when a nerve gets pressed or compressed by surrounding muscule or tissue, it can cause chronic pain.
Postural distortion – If muscles are underdeveloped on one side due to self-splinting to avoid pain, those underdeveloped muscles can weaken causing your posture to alter.
Nutrition – Muscles require adequate nutrition to build and to heal. If a muscle lacks blood blow, it also lacks nutrition.
Ischemia – An injured muscle may get very little blood flow resulting in low amounts of oxygen and nutrients reaching the muscle which will greatly delay healing.
Stress – Stress plays havoc with how our nervous system and musculoskeletal systems work together.
A recent study conducted at Loyola University Medical Center showed that lower back injuries were the third most common injury in young (high school and college) athletes behind knee injuries and ankle injuries.
One place in particular that causes lower back pain in athletes is a trigger point located in the gluteus maximus—a thick extensor muscle necessary for stair climbing, power push offs and jumping. A developing trigger point in this large muscle may be perceived as lower back pain or hip pain and can be greatly relieved through neuromuscular massage.
Because repeated lower back injuries can lead to chronic back problems, sports massage is often used by colleges and some high schools to keep young athletes in top shape.
Massage is a non-invasive way to treat both acute and chronic back pain. Not only does massage relax the muscles and allow for more blood flow to the area which aids in healing, it also releases endorphins which help lessen the sensation of pain.
When back pain results from physical activity or soft tissue injury, massage will help increase blood flow to the area which will reduce muscle soreness. Massage also reduces tension in the muscles themselves which will improve flexibility. Often a lack of flexibility will cause pain with movement. The American Academy of Pain Management recognizes neuromuscular massage as an effective treatment for back pain caused by soft tissue injury.
For people with chronic back pain, the release of the chemical neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin eases anxiety along with reducing pain. This is especially helpful for people with chronic back pain who need movement to keep the muscles pliable and active.
While it might be easy to reach for a muscle relaxant if the muscles in your back are tight and causing pain, these drugs have side effects like sleepiness, dizziness or inability to focus. They’re not recommended if you need to drive, and you may find it difficult to participate in everyday activities while taking them. Neuromuscular massage offers an alternative to muscle relaxant drugs.
One added benefit of relieving back pain is better sleep. Patients with chronic back pain often report that they rest more comfortably and wake up fewer times during the night after having a massage to treat their back pain.
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