Three Reasons Why You Should Not Treat Back Pain With Rest

With many injuries, a doctor will tell you to rest. While this may be applicable to some injuries, it is not always applicable to experiences with pain. For example, back pain treatment does not frequently include rest unless there has been a substantial injury. If all you are experiencing is back pain, rest may be the very last thing you should be doing. Here are three reasons why.

Your Back Muscles Are Tight and Need to Loosen Up

One major cause of back pain is tight muscles or muscles that are spasming. While it may be incredibly painful to move right now, not moving could cause the muscles to tighten even further or cause more spasms from lack of use. The nerves that connect to these muscles register immobility, and as such the brain may try to signal the muscles to get them to move, which are the pains and twitches you feel. If you move your back more, the muscles loosen up and the nerves register to the brain that the muscles are functional, thereby eliminating some of the pain and pausing the spasms.

You Have Some Inflammation That the Body Is Trying to Reduce

Your body knows when there is a problem internally, including infection and inflammation. It responds by trying to get you to do certain things, such as drink lots of water to bring down the fever that accompanies an infection or getting you to move an inflamed body part to eliminate the waste fluids causing the inflammation. If there is some inflammation in the soft tissues in your back, moving more can help push the lymph and blood through these areas to remove the toxins causing the inflammation. If you feel you really cannot move at all, a massage can have similar effects because it can help move muscles you feel you cannot.

Your Mattress Could Make It Even Worse

Most people who choose to rest their backs because of pain do so on mattresses that are not the least bit helpful. When you do not have a very good and supportive mattress, you will find that you have even more pain and stiffness trying to rest your back than if you just got up and tried to move around. Since most chairs, sofas and love seats are not meant for people to sleep on either, opting to rest and sleep on one of these pieces of furniture to avoid a not-so-good-for-you mattress is an even worse idea. Instead, take a walk to ease back pain and speed healing, and replace your mattress for those times when you absolutely need to rest your back and sleep.

Contact a medical professional like Isaacson Wayne MD for more information on back pain treatment.