What can you do to provide protection to your back from discomfort, either if you have never had an attack or if you are searching for ways to avoid a recurrence of a long-standing problem?

The boundaries separating preventing and treating back pain is not fixed, and some techniques advised for prevention may also have a role in treatment. Most info in this article is just a loose guideline of practices, most of the information here is very easy to adapt to and the methods can be used anywhere. Some are more formal, such as the “back school” approach, in which any individual from office workers to nurses are taught proper posture.

Among the other lessons taught in these schools is the appropriate way to carry out many different activities that people perform in their every day lives and of work. Whether you want to put a stop to back pain all together, or you have had back pain in the past, it would be prudent for you to undertake a good posture.

When it comes to finding that sometimes elusive back pain relief, there are plenty of options for a DIY solution. Doctors don’t always know best when it comes to back pain. Generally you’re better off with the self help option. Just make sure you understand fully what you’re doing first.

Without good posture everything else falls flat

Be aware of your posture when standing and sitting. The wrong way to stand is standing slouched with your abdomen forward, and when you stand like this you are likely to have an exaggerated hump the the upper part of your back. This posture is inescapable if you are in the late stages of pregnancy or if you are constantly aching. It is especially important to try to correct your posture while you are still young, older people will have had incorrect posture for a multitude of years their bodies have adapted to the incorrect posture and they, and they are unable to change it. The best way to support your posture is by training your stomach and back muscles. Bad posture can easily lead to lower back pain. Well toned core muscles create a healthy posture. Muscles that are not up to the job can’t support your spine. Weak muscles sooner or later (usually sooner) lead to all sorts of health problems. Back pain being just one of them. What then makes matters worse is enduring the back pain as well as the pain associated with correcting a bad posture.

If you are fairly young (under middle age), you should really make yourself aware of your posture, and try very hard to correct it. Be mindful when you are making changes to your posture not to bend back to far. Standing in a way that military personnel call attention could also be damaging to your spine. This stance comprises of a super straight spine, your shoulders back and an exaggerated hollow in your lower back; it is hard on your spine and could cause pain in your spine, neck and shoulders.

What is the correct way to stand?

Implementing the right posture while standing is initially difficult, because you have been standing a certain way for so long, and any modification you make to your posture (even if it is for the better) is probably going to to feel peculiar in the beginning. Indeed, you may well not be able to make improvements to your posture unaided. If so, you might benefit from assistance from a physiotherapist, osteopath, or Alexander Technique teacher. Your back is a complex structure of muscles, bones and nerves, so when looking for solutions to your upper back pain, or lower back and especially neck pain, it’s always better to air on the side of caution. I’m not changing my stance on prefering a self help option, but a trip to a professional back specialist is a pretty good idea. My classification of “professional” includes physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors and even Chinese medicine practitioners.

A effective rule-of-thumb you should try and stick to, is to try and stay away from being in extreme positions or extreme stress for more than one hour at a time. Find out by experiment what suits you best. Keep an open mind. and try new things out while bearing in mind the basic shape of your back and how it functions.