Non-surgical Relief of Low Back Pain

I had just come home from work one evening and was sitting on my bed as I changed clothes. When I stood up, I immediately went to the floor in agonizing pain. The pain was so severe that I was unable to stand up straight.

After a few days the pain had not subsided, my only relief was in a seated position, but standing back up simply re-aggravated the condition. I eventually went to see my doctor who did a series of x-rays, but only found an aging compression fracture that was developing the onset of arthritis. I went through 3 months of physical therapy 4 days per week. I never had extreme relief from the pain, but did regain my mobility.

A few months later, I went moved to Pennsylvania, where my wife went to work for a Chiropractor. In my visits with the Chiropractor, I found two very simple things that gave me the greatest relief and mobility. The first was traction, using a Cox Table. The idea, behind the Cox Table is simple. The legs are strapped to one end of the table, which is allowed to free float and drop. At the same time the Chiropractor would put pressure on my spine moving in the opposite direction. The principle of the Cox Table is traction. Spacing out the disks of the spine, relieves pressure along the spine.

I learned that I could recreate this treatment at home with the help of my wife. When I start to have pain in my lower back, I have her help me with a simple exercise. I lie on my back with my arms beside me. She grabs my feet by the heels and takes my legs straight up and back. When I begin to feel my lower back pulling, I have her hold that position until the muscles begin to release. Then I have her move my feet back a little further until my back is loosened up once again.

If you don't have a spouse as helpful as mine, you might want to use some type of inversion therapy, using an inversion table or inversion boots. Inversion uses the weight of your body to accomplish the traction work.

The other simple home remedy is cold therapy. An ice pack used in 20 minute intervals will cause inflammation and swelling to decrease. When my back is really messed up, you can see the muscles bulge out on my lower back along my waistline. This ice pack therapy brings the swelling down and reduces pain very quickly.

If you are suffering from back pain, but don't want to go through surgery or can't continue to spend large amounts of money on doctors and therapy, I would encourage you to give these solutions a try.