20 Jul How to relieve lower back pain
Summary:
- Lower back pain is very common and the cause is usually not serious.
- Pain management techniques like yoga, posture exercises, sleep and anti-inflammatory medicines can aid back pain.
- Some studies suggest that CBD may help relieve inflammation, which is often a factor in back pain.
- A mixture of pain management techniques and Naturecan CBD products may be able to reduce back pain.
Table of Contents
What is back pain & what are the possible causes?
Lower back pain is a very common sensation to experience, with almost two-in-three people having lower back pain at some point in their life. The cause of this pain isn’t ordinarily serious and there are various ways to manage the pain yourself. However, for some people, seeking advice from your doctor is important.
Your ‘lower back’ (also called the lumbar region) is a term used to describe the area from the bottom of your ribs, to the top of your legs. Lower back pain can come from any of the structures that make up your back, including bones, muscles, joints, nerves, ligaments and tendons.
Your spine supports your back and is made up of 24 separate bones known as vertebrae which are stacked together. The lower section of your spine is called the lumbar spine. Thus, you may hear lower back pain referred to as ‘lumbosacral pain’.
Cartilage discs sit between each vertebra as shock absorbers, allowing your spine to curve and bend. Some lower back pain can be linked to these discs. If nerves at the base of your spine become inflamed, this can cause sciatica – a type of pain that starts in your back or buttocks and spreads down your leg.
It can be difficult to pinpoint what’s causing lower back pain, as there are so many different parts of your back. This is where X-rays and MRIs step in. So if you are dealing with persistent lower back pain, it may be best to bring this up with your doctor.
How to relieve lower back pain
Whether you’re dealing with lower back pain when walking, lower back pain when lying down, lower back pain breathing or anything in between, there are some steps you can take to potentially reduce your pain including our CBD Oils, CBD Capsules, CBD Muscle Balm and CBD Joint Balms at Naturecan. Keep reading to find out more.
1. Yoga
Yoga is a mind-body therapy that’s often recommended as a lower back pain relief exercise.
Practising yoga for ten minutes a day could aid in lower back pain relief and help you to gain an awareness of your body. This allows you to notice where you hold tension. Therefore, this awareness can bring balance and alignment. Wondering how to relieve lower back pain? Yoga is an excellent exercise for this. Some Yoga poses you can try are:
Cat-cow
- Get on all fours
- Place your wrists underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips
- Balance your weight evenly
- Look up and lift your chest forward with your stomach releasing down toward the floor
- Exhale as you tuck your chin into your chest, draw your navel toward your spine and arch your spine toward the ceiling
- Focus on releasing tension in the back of your body
- Continue this fluid movement with your breath for at least 1 minute.
Downward-facing dog
- Get on all fours
- Place your hands in alignment under your shoulders and your knees under your hips
- Press into your hands and lift up your knees
- Extend your sitting bones up toward the ceiling
- Keep a soft bend in your knees if you have tight hamstrings and lengthen your spine
- Press down into the back of the legs and release your heels towards the floor.
- Press firmly into your hands with your fingers spread
- Distribute your weight between both sides of your body
- Keep your head in line with your upper arms or with your chin tucked in slightly
- Hold this pose for up to 1 minute.
Extended triangle
- From standing, walk your feet about 4 feet apart
- Turn your right toes to face forward
- Lift your arms parallel to the floor
- Tilt forward in alignment with your right hip with your left arm and torso
- Bring your hand to your leg, a yoga block, or onto the floor
- Extend your left arm up
- Look up, forward, or down whatever feels comfortable to your neck
- Hold this pose for up to 1 minute
- Repeat on the opposite side
2. Exercising
Let’s get physical! Staying fit and active may be the most effective way to soothe or prevent lower back pain. Whether you’re walking your dog, weight lifting or as previously mentioned, doing yoga, one of the best forms of exercise to decrease back pain is stretching. So, here are a few stretches you can do before your workout to reduce lower back pain:
Knee-to-chest
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor
- Using both hands, grab hold of your right leg and interlock your fingers around the back of the thigh
- Gently lift your right knee up to your chest until you feel a stretch in your lower back
- Hold your right knee against your chest for 30–60 seconds, making sure to relax your legs, hips, and lower back
- Release your right knee and return to the starting position
- Repeat steps 2–4 with your left leg
- Repeat three times for each leg
Trunk rotation
- Lie on your back and bring your knees up toward your chest
- Extend your arms out to the sides with your palms face-down on the floor
- Keeping your knees together and hands on the floor, gently roll both knees over to your right side and hold for 15–20 seconds
- Return to the start position and repeat step 3 on your left side
- Repeat 5–10 times on each side
Pelvic tilt
- Lie on your back with knees bent, feet flat, and arms by your sides
- Gently arch your lower back and stretch your stomach out
- Hold for 5–10 seconds, then relax
- Push your pelvis slightly up toward the ceiling (your pelvis should not leave the floor) while tightening your abdominal muscles.
- Hold for 5–10 seconds, then relax
- Start with 10–15 repetitions daily, building up to 25–30.
3. Posture: Lower back pain when lying down
If you deal with lower back pain, especially lower back pain when lying down, there are many sleeping postures that you can try to potentially improve your pain and posture overall.
Since the average person spends 26 years of their life sleeping, it’s really important that your sleeping posture is adequate. So if you have lower back pain from sleeping, here are some postures you can try out:
- Sleep on your side with a pillow between your knees
- Sleep on your side in the foetal position
- Sleep on your stomach with a pillow under your abdomen
- Sleep on your back with a pillow under your knees
- Sleep on your back in a reclined position using support for your head
Remember to keep a proper spinal alignment. You can do this by aligning your ears, shoulders and hips.
Your pillow can also make a big difference. Wondering which one you should choose? Don’t worry, we have you covered. Click here to learn more.
Should I be worried about lower back pain? CBD studies
As discussed, back pain can result from several health conditions, from slight discomfort to chronic pain. In a 2020 study, researchers found that using CBD oil for several days may potentially contribute to reduced back pain.
Furthermore, researchers found that CBD may have a positive effect on the quality of our sleep, along with reducing the sensitivity to your back allowing the body to relax and release tension in the back.
The effects of CBD have also potentially been found to help with stress which will allow the body to relax and relieve tightness in the muscles of the back.
All these potential benefits, due to how CBD can influence the endocannabinoid system.
This system regulates the body’s perception of pain. Recent animal studies show that CBD may interact with our pain-sensing (nociceptive) system, influencing how we experience pain levels.
Thus, lower back pain isn’t always something you should worry about. Back pain can have many causes, but if you notice persistent back pain which does not go away with exercise, movement or self-treatment options, it’s best to speak to your doctor.
Takeaway: How to relieve lower back pain
Overall, lower back pain is a very common sensation to experience and the cause of this pain isn’t normally serious, with various ways of managing the pain yourself. These pain management techniques include yoga, exercise, posture exercises, and many more options. Furthermore, studies indicate that CBD can potentially help to reduce symptoms of back pain thanks to the way CBD may work with our inflammatory systems in the body and pain receptors. . Therefore, picking up our CBD oil for beginners may be a good place to start to potentially reduce back pain.
References:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25703248/
- https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/yoga-what-you-need-to-know
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7204604/#B55
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31120284/
- https://uk.naturecan.com/a/blog/cbd/cbd-oil-effects/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6277878/
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6277878/
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