5 natural methods to treat back pain

With back pain, what helps one person doesn't necessarily work for the next. Here are some natural treatments that can ease painful spasms, reduce inflammation, and blunt the discomfort.

As soon as possible, get up and move around. The intense pain usually lets up in the first few hours, and there'll be steady improvement within the first two weeks. Apply cold packs on and off for 48 hours, and then heat. If you're like most Canadians with back pain, you've probably considered checking out a "natural" alternative — nearly half of us do.

Acupuncture is a popular choice. Based on the ancient Asian theory that pain occurs when the body’s natural flow of energy (or qi) is off balance, acupuncture involves a practitioner inserting 10 to 15 hair-thin needles in the back and other parts of the body to balance the body’s energy.

• How actual pain relief occurs is uncertain. Conventional doctors believe the needles prompt nerves to emit natural, pain-blocking chemicals (endorphins).
• Many people get real — if transient — pain relief.
• To enhance the effect, the needles may be charged with electricity, heated or periodically rotated.
• In a related therapy called acupressure, three to five minutes of continuous pressure and massage is applied to an acupuncture point, which also stimulates qi.

With straightforward therapeutic massage, tension in your back can melt away as the muscles are manipulated.

• The muscle movement overwhelms — at least temporarily — the pain signals that would otherwise get transmitted.
• In 2001, Seattle researchers reported that therapeutic massage provided long-lasting benefits in reducing chronic low back pain and disability.
• Always use a massage therapist who’s professionally trained and licensed.

To break a pattern that seems to be leading to chronic back pain, try learning relaxation techniques, such as yoga, tai chi, guided imagery and meditation.

• Your metabolic response to meditation — the opposite of its response to stress — is believed to unravel the ravages of stress on your body.

Another technique, biofeedback, can help you become aware of how you can relax your body most effectively.

• Electronic sensors measure different bodily functions — such as muscle tension, pulse rate and breathing pattern — while you practice various relaxation methods.
• In time, you'll learn to consciously regulate your body’s stress levels without the sensors.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy has proved quite useful for chronic back pain.

• This approach helps you gain insight into your emotions and provides tools for managing stress and effectively dealing with feelings of helplessness and depression.

Now you have an idea of some of the natural solutions to back pain. As always, consult a doctor is the pain is unmanageable or these remedies do not help -- you may have a serious problem that requires surgery or other medicla attention.