There are plenty of great treatments for back pain in Houston. However, as the adage goes, prevention is better than cure.

Chronic back pain is a serious condition that can affect many other areas of your life. There are certain ways you can relieve back pain to avoid surgery or any other serious medical solutions.

Sleep Well

Sleep and physical health are inextricably linked. When you have back pain, you are unable to sleep and since you are unable to sleep, your back pain feels worse which creates a vicious negative cycle.

How you sleep can have a significant effect on your back pain. You need to have your spine in a neutral position for you to sleep well. Lying on your side is the best way to achieve a neutral spine.

You should ensure that you sleep on a firm mattress that can sustain your weight for 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep.

Change Your Posture

It is hard to believe that ignoring all your mother’s warnings about slouching may be the reason for your chronic back pain. Your posture will significantly affect your chronic back pain especially if you are sedentary for extended periods of time.

You should practice sitting upright with your shoulders relaxed and with back support. A pillow or any soft support structure on your lower back should also help with your posture.

Putting up reminders in your home or office not to slouch is also a good idea.

Strengthen Your Back

One sure way to reduce the amount of back pain you feel is to strengthen your back muscles. If your back muscles are strong, there is less chance of you experiencing back pain than if they are weak.

There are plenty of exercises you can use to strengthen your back both using your bodyweight and using weights. Such exercises include pull-ups, rows, and deadlifts among others. You should always ensure that you warm-up and stretch after every workout to strengthen your back even more.

A strongback will also help with your posture as your spine is bound to be better aligned when held up by strong muscles.

Ice and Heat

Whenever you experience back pain, there are two solutions that you can try which are icing and heating the painful area. The two should be done independently as they have different effects on the body.

Icing your back reduces the pain and inflammation you feel as a result of an injury. You should wrap up the ice pack in a towel or dry cloth to protect your skin. Ice your back several times a day for up to 20 minutes.

Applying heat to your back will help your muscles relax and increase blood flow. Both will help relieve the pain you feel in your back. Warm baths are one way to heat your back but dipping a cloth in warm water and pressing it against your back will also do the job.

The key here is to know when to cool and when to heat the muscles.