Recovering From A Back Injury

When you are suffering from a back injury, the only thing on your mind is recovery. Recovery processes for different back injuries will be vary.

General Injuries

Many people think that when they are suffering from a back injury they have to rest for a prolonged period of time to allow it to heal. Actually, the best way to handle your back pain is to remain active. For the first few days avoid physical activity, let any swelling go down, but after that health professionals encourage you to continue your normal, non-strenuous activities.

A lack of exercise makes the back become stiff and weak and will probably make your injury worse, not better. If you can, try to take regular breaks at work to go for a walk, and instead of crashing in front of the TV after a long day, try taking up yoga, pilates, or another form of gentle exercise that isn’t too strenuous, but will allow you to strengthen your back.

In the hours immediately after you sustain the injury, apply ice the area that is in pain. The first 48 hours ice should be applied, and after that heating the area will be beneficial. If the pain is too much for you to handle, take normal strength pain killers to take the edge off. Make sure you don’t do any heavy lifting, or other activities that will put stress on your back.

Slipped Discs

The discs in your back are the protective layers between the bones in your spine; sort of like shock absorbers for your spine. The discs don’t literally slip, rather they rupture or split, which causes them to leak a gel type substance into the tissue around them and put pressure on the spinal cord, causing pain. The majority of people will only require gentle exercise and a prescription of painkillers in order to recover from this injury.

Fractured Vertebrae

Just like any other bone in your body, the vertebrae in your spine can fracture. Not all vertebral fractures will cause you pain, but the area where the fracture is will most likely be sore to touch and stiff. It is also possible that there will be a visible bump on your spine where the injury is.

Although it sounds really serious to have a fractured vertebra in your spine, in most cases an injury like this will heal on its own, although exercise and refraining from strenuous activity will help the process along.