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Natural Back Pain Relief 

Natural back pain relief may sound too simple to work. But I urge you to give it a try.  This treatment can give you the immediate back pain help you need.  Other  back pain remedies are better suited for long term relief, like strengthening and exercises for lower back pain to prevent future injuries. 

Generally, ice and heat, stretching and rest are all most back pain treatments need, this is even effective for chronic back pain relief.  A word of caution .... If your back pain is affecting bladder or bowel function, seek medical help immediately.

I speak from experience....

A few months after having my third child, I was diagnosed with a "bulging disc" of the lower back. The pain was almost unbearable, I couldn't sit, the only comfortable position was lying on my stomach. I had to hire help to care for my children.

Back then I wasn't even thinking about natural back pain remedies, so I did the usual routine ... testing (MRI, EMG), pain medications and physical therapy. I eventually got better, but it took 3 months out of my life.

Since then I have had other back problems, especially with pain in my lower back. But over the years I've learned more about the ways to get natural back pain relief.

Thankfully, I don't have much back pain these days, except when I over do it in the yard .... that weeding is a killer on the back! And when the weeding gets the best of me, I'm still in need of a fast lower back pain remedy.   So I always use the ice as my first type of back pain treatment.  

I do think that doing exercises for lower back pain has helped to strengthen my back.

Ice and Heat

Ice is probably the single most effective thing you can use for natural back pain relief and even most other injuries. When the body is injured or inflamed, it responds by sending massive amounts of various body fluids to the affected area. The body then sends out a distress signal which we know as pain. There is usually swelling, heat, redness or tightness in the injured area. So putting ice on the area calms down that inflammatory response. The cold helps to slow everything down, dull the nerve endings, etc.  I feel it's the most important thing you can do to get fast and natural back pain relief, and it's totally safe.

Here's what I was taught on the the correct way to apply ice:

Place piece of paper towel over your skin, then place the ice pack on the paper towel. Leave on until you feel a slight numbing of the skin.  This means you can feel pressure when the area is touched, but you can't feel the tickle of a feather.  This usually takes about 20 minutes or so, unless you're using something thicker than a paper towel.  You should begin to feel some relief soon.  The nerve endings calm down and the inflammatory response is somewhat dulled by the cold.

You can do this off and on all day if you need to in order to keep your pain at a tolerable level.  BUT, you must let your skin come back to a normal temperature, warm to the touch, before you re-apply the ice. The more you keep that area calmed down, the faster the inflammation will resolve and your body can begin to heal. 

Make Your Own Ice Bag 

Nobody plans to get a back ache, so be prepared for when it happens. You can make your own ice bag by mixing 3 parts water with 1 part rubbing alcohol in a large gallon size ziplock bag and then freeze it.

It will be kind of slushy when frozen which makes it helpful to mold it around the muscle. You might want to double bag it, sometimes they can leak a bit. I would recommend making two of them, so you'll have another one ready to go while the other one is re-freezing.  In a pinch, you can always use a frozen bag of peas or corn. 

If I need extra relief, sometimes I will alternate icing with heat. You could use a moist heating pad or one of those rice bags that you warm in the microwave for a minute or so.

I always get cold when I'm icing so I like to wrap my self in a blanket so the rest of my body stays warm.  Icing and heat provide a fast and safe way to get natural back pain relief.  Sounds simple, but I think you'll find that they are very effective.

Causes of Chronic Back Pain

Managing Lower Back Pain Symptoms

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