Free Muscle Building & Health

Everyone, including those who weight lift will probably come up against some sort of back strain. You can easily strain your back muscles by lifting and bending incorrectly and this will lead to lower back pain that can then seem to affect all body movement. Even if you are someone in good shape it's important that you take good care of this kind of a strain. Below are steps in which you can do so.

Most important is rest. You need to rest your back up to 48 hours after the injury. This is going to help reduce pain, inflammation as well as back spasms. This means you will need to avoid all kind of weight bearing activities or any activity that requires a lot of bending. Always try to avoid any position or posture that seems to cause pain or even a little discomfort. When you go to bed to sleep you should try to lie on your side with a pillow in between your legs. If you prefer sleeping on your back then put a rolled up towel or pillow under your knees instead.

The next thing you should do is to apply ice and a compress to the injured area to help to reduce your pain and swelling this is usually the best when you do it within the first 24 hours after the injury occurred. Getting the swelling and inflammation under control is not only going to help with pain but it's going to help the healing process. You should apply the ice for 20 minutes at a time and you should do this every few hours in the first 72 hours. Applying heat is not recommended.

Make sure to start doing things very carefully and gradually. It's true that prolonged immobility can weaken your muscles and decrease flexibility and further injury so as soon as you can tolerate exercise you should do so. But, you will need to stop any activity that causes any kind of discomfort right from the start. You should wait about three weeks before you begin to bring exercise back into your routine.

The entire time that you are healing you really need to avoid all kinds of strenuous movements by going back to lifting heavy objects. You also need to avoid any kind of twisting when you are healing and don't over reach or bend from your waist. When you do lift make sure you keep your back as straight as possible and bend the knees and use your buttock and your leg muscles. Then you need to lift very slowly and hold the object very close to your body. Simply don't bend over and pick the object up. When you sit you should try to keep the knees bent and your feet flat on the floor and use a back cushion. However, don't sit in one spot for too long of periods.

Make sure that you keep in touch with your care provider and follow all of their advice such as wearing the right kind of shoes, wearing a back brace or back support, sitting on special cushions for support and anything else he or she might suggest. Ask your doctor what you need to do to be able to return to regular activities before you even attempt to do so on your own.

Note: Don't try to be the hero or anything, if you hurt you hurt, so get someone else to help you do the heavy lifting or work that takes some bending to do. Do your best to break down your household activities into smaller segments and do several trips when you are doing something that requires any kind of bending, picking up and carrying.