Skip to Article Content Living With Low Back Pain Understanding Back Pain A visual guide to help you understand back pain and how it is treated. Tips for Coping With Low Back Pain Easy solutions to minimize back pain and take take care of your back. Back Pain: Are You Losing Sleep? No more restless nights due to chronic back pain. Get tips for a restful sleep. Get Through the Day With Back Pain Back pain can take its toll day-to-day. How to cope and get through the day. What Causes Low Back Pain? What causes low back pain and what can be done to treat it? Manage Back Pain at Home Low back pain can affect your home life, too. Tips to manage back pain at home. Medication Treatment for Back Pain Understand your medication options to help ease low back pain. Dealing With Low Back Pain and Sex Not in the mood due to nagging back pain? Back Health: What You Should Know Practical ways to protect your back and keep discomfort to a minimum. Emotional Aspects of Back Pain Back pain can be emotionally disabling.
Find out how to cope with the condition. Back Pain: When to Call Your Doctor Is low back pain getting worse? When it's time to call your doctor for help. Sleeping Well With Low Back Pain If you have low back pain, pain doesn't stop when you go to bed at night. There's a vicious cycle of back pain and sleep problems that contribute to each other. It can be difficult to sleep well if your back hurts. And sometimes your back hurts more because you're not sleeping well. Here are some simple steps you can take to get a better night's rest, even when you have low back pain symptoms. Support Your Low Back While in Bed Do you often wake up with low back pain? Do you sleep better on a hotel mattress? Does your mattress show signs of wear? The Better Sleep Council recommends that you evaluate your mattress about every 5 to 7 years. You may need a change for optimal comfort and support. In a Journal of Applied Ergonomics study, nearly 63% reported significant improvements in low back pain after switching to a new sleep system.
If your budget allows for buying a new mattress, don’t be afraid to "test drive" a few options. When in the store, take off your shoes, lie down in your favorite sleeping position, and spend a few minutes resting. Make sure the mattress supports you well enough to maintain your spine in the position you have with good standing posture. A firm or medium-firm mattress is usually best. Here are some other things to try for better sleep: If buying a new bed is not an option right now, try adding plywood supports between the mattress and its base. Or as a temporary solution, have someone move your mattress onto the floor. Put a pillow under your knees when lying on your back and between your knees when lying on your side. To help maintain the curve in your back while sleeping, try a rolled-up towel, wrapped around your waist and tied in front. Get In and Out of Bed Safely When getting in and out of bed, never jerk yourself up from a lying position. To get into bed, sit on the side of the bed.
Supporting yourself with your hands, bend your knees, and lie down onto your side. To get out of bed, roll onto your side, bend both knees, and push yourself up with your hands, while swinging your legs over the side of the bed. Avoid bending forward at the waist, which can put strain on your back.Can I put a mattress directly onto the floor without issue? July 19, 2009 SubscribeThere are several reasons why having a mattress on the floor may be worse for your health.1) Dust gathers on the floor and it tends to get swept around by drafts. The consequence is that you will likely breathe in more dust by sleeping very near the floor. /about_554105...2) Another issue is bed bugs. /bedbugvide...This article says you even want anything hanging off the bed to touch the floor:http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/en...3) There is some concern that mold and mildew could become an issue when the mattress is on the floor because the mattress is not adequately ventilated. //175387...4) If you live in a cold environment, it will be colder closer, to the floor, so that may be a concern.
Of course, if you live in a hot environment, the reverse may be a concern.5) There is some concern that there are more drafts near the floor. Cold air falls and if cold air is coming in some where, it will form a draft near the floor. The Japanese -- among many others -- have been sleeping on mats or cushions on the floor for centuries, if not millennia. In general, no, but there are some situations where it is important.We should start by defining what a "bed" is. A bed is the frame that supports your mattress and / or your box spring.While you can certainly put a mattress on the floor there are reasons you might not want to. It's dirtier, the mattress doesn't breath as well, it can be more difficult to get and out of bed, among others.If what you are really trying to avoid is using a boxspring you could consider a platform bed (IKEA has lots of inexpensive ones) or perhaps a steel frame / boxspring combo (you can find these on Amazon).In most cases it is best to use a boxspring or platform bed.
This improves the longevity of the mattress, allows it better airflow, and will ensure your mattress warranty stays intact. Note: many mattress warranties will be voided if the mattress is not supported by a boxspring / frame or platform bed.I just wrote a new guide on my blog about boxsprings and their use (or lack thereof). You can find it here: Do You Need a Boxspring?There is nothing wrong with putting a mattress and boxspring directly on the floor as long as you have a quality mattress. However, boxsprings are not the standard anymore. Foundations are better than boxsprings because they don't squeak or make any noise. they have excellent luxury mattresses for reasonable prices and you can get a foundation from them to put directly on the floor if that's what you want to do.Here's a stat to make chills go down your spine: You have a 50-50 chance of being sidelined by back pain within a year. Lack of exercise and excess weight contribute to the problem, but experts say the wrong household setup worsens your odds.
"Back pain can be chronic unless you adjust your environment and lifestyle," explains Jeffrey Katz, MD, codirector of Boston's Brigham and Women's Spine Center. Here, the most common pain-causing culprits in your house, and the quick, wallet-friendly fixes—as well as long-term investments—that will help you stay ache free. Poorly placed tp holder If reaching the toilet paper roll from the porcelain throne requires contortions, you're not doing your spine any favors. Plus, can you think of a more mortifying moment to throw out your back? Cheap fix: Gather supplies ahead of time. Your toilet paper holder is far from the seat? Unspool some tissue before you sit down. If you forget, reach gingerly—spine straight and abs tight. Money well spent: A freestanding holder. If there's no good place on the wall, a freestanding holder—available at home stores—is a simple and attractive alternative. Cleaning high windows or tub corners can be murder on your back.
"Bending, reaching, and twisting all at once is the worst thing you can do," says Ann Brinkley, DC, a holistic chiropractor in San Francisco; it can actually herniate a disk. Cheap fix: Think of chores as a sport. “Spend a few minutes warming up beforehand to protect against injury," suggests Gerald Silverman, DC, a chiropractor in New York City. Then, use proper form. To lift heavy objects, bend at the knees rather than at the waist. Push furniture with your entire body; don't pull with just your back and arms. And when vacuuming, step forward and back instead of using your upper body to move the machine. Money well spent: Gadgets that take the strain off. Work in a more relaxed position with extralong handles, telescoping arms, or handle extenders for mops, window squeegees, and the like, available at home improvement stores. Pick up some furniture sliders (small padded disks that slip under large pieces) when the urge to reposition the sofa strikes; they make moving large objects a breeze.
Hiring a cleaning person—even once a month—can also cut down on back strain. More from Prevention: The Busy Woman's Guide To Cleaning A pillow (or stack of pillows) that's too high or too flat leaves your neck at an awkward angle. Cheap fix: Strategic pillow placement. The aim is to keep your ear, shoulder, and hip in a straight line, no matter what position you're in. If you're a back sleeper, tuck an extra pillow under your knees and a smaller one under your lower back. Side sleepers, wedge a flat pillow between your knees; stomach snoozers, under your hips. And when you read in bed, sit up straight with pillows behind your back, under your knees, and on your lap to bring your book closer to your face and prevent neck strain, suggests Brinkley. Money well spent: A custom sleep aid. If a few weeks of pillow shuffling doesn't help, consider a cervical pillow ($20 and up; medical supply stores) or one made of memory foam; both are specially contoured to support the neck.
Throwing an arm and a leg over an extra long body pillow ($30 and up; bedding stores) can also help keep the spine in line. Try these 20 tips to sleep better every night.) Surfaces with no give—like ceramic tile or hardwood flooring—can make each step stressful for your lower back. Cheap fix: Cushion yourself. Position thick, nonskid rugs or rubber mats where you frequently stand, like in front of the sink, stove, washer, and dryer. This absorbs shock and reduces stress, says Silverman. When standing in place for a while—washing dishes, for example—rest one foot on a low stool or the shelf under the sink. Switch legs every 5 minutes. It'll take the strain off your lower back and help relax tense muscles. Money well spent: Install softer surfaces. Think about replacing troublesome materials with carpet, cork, linoleum, or "floating" floors (laminate or wood laid over a soft foam pad). More from Prevention: The Oddest Pain Relief Strategies That Work Soft, fluffy furniture may seem relaxing, but sofas and chairs without back support encourage slouching.
And many studies show this can triple the pressure on the disks in your spine, says Katz. Cheap fix: Use props. Tuck a throw pillow, lumbar roll, or even a rolled-up towel behind the small of your back to help you sit up straight. Rest feet on a small footstool, and keep your chin up, rather than tucked against your chest, while you lounge. Money well spent: Back-friendly furniture. Look for models that encourage good posture: feet on the floor, thighs parallel to the ground, head centered over shoulders, and back supported. Shopping for a recliner? Make sure its back is snug against your lower spine and cradles your shoulders and neck, says Katz. Logging onto your laptop Sure, you can surf the web from bed and draft PowerPoint presentations on the couch, but you'll pay for it. "I want to throw laptops right out the window," Brinkley says. They force you to tuck in your neck, hunch over, and type with arms akimbo, which can lead to back and neck strain and repetitive stress injuries, she explains.
Cheap fix: A laptop tray. When you must do your computing at the kitchen table or in front of the tube, a portable laptop desk (hard-top lap cushions, available at office supply stores) will raise the computer slightly, improving ergonomics and comfort. Better yet, reserve your laptop for on-the-road use, and stick with a desktop model at home. A handy tip for using your laptop on the plane: fold up the airplane blanket and put it under your laptop to raise it up. Money well spent: An at-home workstation. If you use your laptop a lot at home, re-jigger it for comfort: Elevate its screen to eye level, which will help keep your back and neck straight. Make sure to have the screen about an arm's length away from your head, and tilt the screen for the best possible visibility to lesson eye strain. Then plug in a full-sized keyboard and mouse (or hook up wireless models) to use on a surface where you can keep wrists straight and elbows bent at a comfortable 90-degree angle. Make sure your home office includes a chair that has good lumbar support, but most importantly, sit all the way back in the chair so that your lower back touches it completely.
Then make sure to bring the chair as close as possible to your desk so that you can comfortably reach your keyboard and mouse. And then consider the most back-friendly computing solution of all: Save the work for the office, and get moving instead. We spend a third of our lives in bed. But a mattress that's too soft or firm won't support your spine properly. Here's how to fix—or upgrade—yours so you prevent pain and sleep better every night. Cheap fix: Firm up a squishy bed. For quick relief, slide a sheet of ¾-inch plywood (at home improvement stores) between the mattress and box spring. Money well spent: Spring for a new one. If you wake up sore every day, or if your mattress is saggy, lumpy, or more than 7 years old, it's time to invest in a new one. Lie in your preferred position for about 10 minutes on each mattress. You should feel comfortable and supported and your back muscles should be relaxed. Choose a coil count of at least 400 for a queen mattress, 480 for a king (models without springs can vary widely, so research them carefully).