These Common Mistakes Might Be Making Your Back Pain Worse

24 March 2015
 Categories: , Blog


Back pain is the second most common neurological ailment in the United States, with millions of Americans suffering from mild to severe soreness on a daily basis. Back pain can interfere with your ability to lead a happy, active life, and therefore most people attempt to do something to alleviate their pain.  Unfortunately, a lot of the methods people frequently use to reduce their back pain might be doing more harm than good. Are you making one of these common mistakes in an attempt to treat your back pain?

Mistake #1: Popping pain relievers.

Sure, you feel better for a couple of hours after you take an ibuprofen or aspirin, but these pain killers are not doing anything to fix the actual cause of your back pain.  In fact, they might be making it worse. When your back is numbed by pain killers, you might engage in behaviors that make the problem worse without knowing it.

Pain is your body's means of telling you "Don't do that, it will irritate the injury!" By eliminating pain with medications, you're turning off that voice. You risk turning the wrong way, walking too far, or sitting in a way that will irritate your back injury and cause the pain to linger for even longer. Since your back is numbed by drugs, you don't feel this damage until they wear off.

Mistake #2: Letting your friend "crack" your back.

It seems like cracking your back should be a solution for back pain. After all, that's what chiropractors do to relieve back pain, right? Well – sort of. Chiropractors have had years of training to determine exactly which joints to manipulate in the back in certain cases, and how to manipulate them safely. When you crack your own back, you are not able to be nearly as precise. As a result, you risk manipulating your spine in a way that makes back pain even worse in the long run.

Mistake #3: Going for a run to "offset" sitting all day.

It's no secret that sitting all day at work contributes to back pain in many patients, especially when poor posture is used. Many people assume that they can counteract the effects of sitting all day, and eliminate their back pain in the process, by making up for their sitting with plenty of exercise. This is not necessarily the case. You can't simply undo a day of poor posture by going for a 5-mile run at night. In fact, if your spine is out of alignment from repeatedly sitting incorrectly, running or other intense exercise will probably just make the problem worse since it will put strain on your imbalanced muscles.

So, if you shouldn't pop pain killers, crack your back, or run to reduce back pain, just how do you get rid of that nagging ache?

Visit your chiropractor. Not only will he or she adjust your spine to alleviate back pain, but a good chiropractor will also give you specific recommendations for adjustments you can make to your routine and posture to decrease your back pain in the future. Chiropractic adjustments are incredibly safe and effective, and most chiropractors offer very reasonable rates for their services. Many health insurance companies even cover chiropractic care for back pain. Contact a company like Smith Chiropractic to learn more.


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