Does back pain plague you, but you cannot go to the doctor for every little muscle spasm? There are ways to treat minor back pain at home. Back pain can be caused by stress at work, running after kids, or just over working your body. Here are a few home remedies for muscle pain in your back.
Do not just lie down and rest. Common sense may say to lie down and rest for a few days when your back has taken you out of the game. The thing is, when you lay down, your back is not necessarily in the right position to heal. If you lay on your stomach, you have to turn your head, which can cause neck pain. If you do have to lay down because of the pain, lay on your back and put a few pillows under your knees. Do not lay down for several days though. Throughout the day, get up and walk around. Water your plants, wash dishes, and get a little work done as you can to keep the muscles from locking into one position.
Use ice! Using an ice pack shortly after minor injury can keep the swelling down, which will ease your pain because the nerves will not be able to get pinched up in your tight muscles. The ice also dulls the ability of the nerves to send signals to your brain, so you will be in less pain anyway. Put a handful or two of small ice cubes in a zipper baggie then wrap it in a kitchen towel. Lean back onto the ice pack for 20 minutes or so then take it off for a half hour. Repeat this a few times each day.
A hot bath can help you after the first day or so. A hot bath or a hot shower will loosen up the muscles in your back, releasing the nerves and taking the stress off other parts of your body. If you are pregnant, you should not sit in a hot bath for too long a time because it does raise your body temperature a little too high. That can cause birth defects or miscarriage. If you are worried about this, just consult your doctor who can give you the best advice. For those not pregnant, 20 to 30 minutes in a hot tub should do it. If you are in a hurry, use your massaging shower head for about 15 minutes concentrating on your trouble spots. This home remedy may be just the thing to help.
If you have an old, soft mattress, none of these things may work. You may just need to get a new mattress. If you cannot afford that, stick a thick piece of plywood between your mattress and box spring or put both of them in a water bed frame to firm things up a little. Some people find that waterbeds help, but others find they make things worse, so approach actual water beds with some caution. Home remedies for back pain are pretty easy though, so try some things and see what works.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.massagebyben.com/articles/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites 