Deeper Understanding of Back Pain
Your life can be highly impacted when you suffer from chronic back pain. Not only does your career and social life get affected, your hobbies and family also tend to take a back seat. However, when you become an informed patient, you can cope up with the pain in a better manner.
Keeping that benefit in mind, some lesser known but important insights into your back pain that are mentioned below should help you when you start your treatment.
Remember what is good for your body is also good for your spine
When you religiously follow an overall healthy lifestyle, the health of your spine can also see a great improvement. For instance, when you quit smoking, your back will heal and you can be healthy. When you sleep well at night, you get more energy and have a positive outlook towards life. It is essential to follow a regular exercise program and you should do it at least thrice a week.
It is not always essential to do MRI scans
When disc degeneration is not unusual and the test results for imaging is not equivalent to a diagnosis, going for an MRI scan may not be essential. There are several health experts who can do a proper diagnosis and take a well-balanced treatment approach after doing your physical examination and a thorough check of your medical history.
Disc degeneration is not abnormal
As people start ageing, disc degeneration is a natural phenomenon in your body. When people grow older, they can experience certain changes in the discs. But everyone does not necessarily go through these painful symptoms. Though disc degeneration may deteriorate with old age, the pain associated with it may not become worse. Rather, it can get better with time.
Exercise and activity is key
When you are regularly into the right kind of stretches or exercises, it can do wonders for your back pain. After you go through a bout of back pain, you may not be willing to get up from your bed and roam around. However, after taking rest for a couple of days, when the worst is over this are a great help for the back pain. You can try out several low-impact exercises despite your back pain. Some of them include:
- Tai chi
- Walking
- Yoga
- Water therapy or swimming
Imaging tests are not equivalent to diagnosis
Though this statement may sound a bit baffling, nevertheless it is an important point to note. Any abnormality including a degenerative disc if observed in a CT scan or MRI may not be the actual reason for your back pain. The fact is that though many people may not have suffered from a back pain in their lives, the result of an imaging test could show the disc in a herniated or degenerated state.
The degree of pain that you may be experiencing might not be equal to any damage or injury
Everyone may not experience the same level of pain. An injury may cause almost no pain to someone while extremely painful to someone else. Back pain that lasts for at least six weeks or more than that is definitely intriguing. At times you may experience chronic pain even after your injury gets healed.
Book your online appointment with our providers today. Phoenix Family Medical has a full-range of family medicine services, including treating kids with ADHD, flu shots, joint pain management, bio-identical hormone therapy, and more.