Back pain ain’t fun. I should know; I’ve had several problems with various parts of my back over the past several years. Mostly from doing stupid things my gut was telling me not to do. You may have back pain because you were in a car accident, had a fall, or because your back can no longer support the weight on your front.
In a few cases, the only way to relieve the pain or prevent the pain from getting worse is back surgery. However, back surgery is notorious for causing more problems than it solves, and studies have found that as few as two percent of people with back problems truly benefit from surgery. And those cases most often involve traumatic injury or tumors.
Most Americans suffering from back pain at any one time have not experienced trauma or have a tumor. They either have a herniated disk, a muscle strain, or some other acute injury. A while back, I read the book Back Sense: A Revolutionary Approach to Halting the Cycle of Chronic Back Pain
But if you’ve ever had any kind of pain in your back, you probably agree that a month is much too long too wait. Whether you’re a mother of young children, do a lot of heavy lifting on your job, or have to be on your feet most of the day, you’d like for the pain to go away as fast as possible and as permanently as possible. Following are some of the more effective non-surgical treatments for back pain.
1. Chiropractic treatment. I can tell you from personal experience that chiropractic works. I’ve gone in for an adjustment several times and felt better immediately afterward. A couple days later, the pain was gone. However, I prefer and recommend chiropractors who use gentle techniques, rather than the traditional “bone-crunching.”
2. Cold packs and heating pads. Applying cold, then heat, is the most basic non-surgical treatment for back pain. For the first few days following a back injury, lying on an ice pack for about twenty minutes two or three times a day will help relieve pain by slowing the blood flow to the area and causing the muscles to constrict, aiding with healing. After three days of ice packs, using a heating pad for about the same amount of time will help increase the blood flow to the area and thus promote healing.
3. Pain relief creams. For minor injuries, homeopathic creams such as Arniflora Arnica Gel 
4. Magnet therapy. As I mention in this article, magnet therapy, despite the controversy surrounding it, has helped relieve pain and even aid in healing for many people. I can vouch for the fact that magnetic mattress pads
5. Exercise. Here’s a non-surgical treatment for back pain you can do yourself for only the price of a book. In Back Sense, the authors provide strength training exercises specifically targeted to strengthening the back muscles, thus promoting healing and lessening the chance of injury recurrence. Physical therapist Peggy Brill, in her book Instant Relief: Tell Me Where It Hurts and I’ll Tell You What to Do
If you are one who has frequent back problems, or has tried all the traditional methods of back pain relief and come up short, you may be interested in the Lose the Back Pain e-book. The folks at The Healthy Back Institute have come up with a system by which you assess your exact problem and then use techniques specifically designed to help that particular problem.
As I finish up this article, I’m looking forward to seeing my chiropractor in a couple of hours for another one of those “stupid things” I do to my back every once in a while. I’m looking forward to it because I know I’ll come home with less back pain, and well on my way to healing.
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