Back pain is a widespread disease. Lack of exercise, long periods of sedentary work and incorrect movement sequences mean that every second German complains of regular or sporadic back pain.
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Treatment with massages
Many know the feeling: After a long day in the office, your back hurts, the batteries are empty.
Pain is a real drain of energy.
- A warm bath or a soothing massage helps acutely.
- Heat loosens the muscles and helps to relax – this is important, because the longer the pain lasts, the more the muscles harden due to the relieving posture adopted.
- Another way to loosen and relax muscles is to have a massage.
- Your partner can do this, or you can use a massage mat that also works with heat and pressure.
- One way to treat back pain is Shiatsu, for example. Shi (finger) and atsu (pressure) stand for finger pressure massage, which is applied to individual points.
In contrast to conventional massage, the tissue is not significantly moved or changed, but rather stimulated by pressure. Shiatsu comes from traditional Far Eastern medicine and works on the basis of energy channels, called meridians. Human energy, known as Qi, moves along the meridians.
If pain occurs, the energy balance is imbalanced – there is too much Qi in one place, while there is not enough in other places.
This should be resolved by finger or thumb pressure massage.
The Shiatsu massage is traditionally performed on the clothed body – while other massages require direct skin contact, this can also work without oil, a massage table and a masseur.
Since Shiatsu is a more holistic approach to massage therapy, it can also help with burnout and mental stress and put the recipient of the massage in a soothing relaxation for body and mind.
Apart from relaxing and working with acute pain, it is important that there is a fundamental change – especially with persistent back pain, there is no substitute for a visit to the doctor.
It should be clarified whether there is an orthopedic cause for the pain, such as a herniated disc or a misalignment of the spine, whether this can possibly be operated on or alleviated with specific exercises.
If this is not the case and the pain has a purely muscular cause, relaxation exercises and strengthening exercises in the shoulder and trunk area can help to prevent further pain.
Preventive exercises
The neck, shoulders and lower lumbar region are particularly prone to pain.
In front of the computer in particular, people often adopt an unhealthy posture without knowing it. This can be prevented with the help of strengthening exercises.
In addition, exercise in general helps. General endurance training such as jogging or swimming is a good way to relax the muscles. Cycling can also help.
The prerequisite is always that these types of sports are not performed in pain and in the correct posture – i.e. no hollow back, which can be prevented by permanently maintaining tension in the trunk, and a relaxed posture of the upper back, with shoulders not raised.
Yoga and Pilates are other types of sports that both relax and strengthen you, making them ideal for back pain.
Lower back
In the case of the lower back, the torso, not only the back muscles but also the abdominal muscles play an important role.
Only through targeted stability exercises can freedom from pain be achieved in these areas in the long term.
A basic stability exercise, for example, is the forearm plank, in which you lie flat on your stomach before performing it.
Legs are about shoulder-width apart, feet are on tiptoe.
Then the upper body is pushed up with the help of the arms and supported on the forearms.
The elbows should be under the shoulders, the forearms should be flat on the floor at a 90° angle to the upper arm.
The body is as stiff as a plank, the stomach pulled in and tense, as is the back. Due to the high intensity of body tension, this exercise quickly becomes very strenuous – at the beginning it is enough to hold it for 30 seconds and take a 30-second break – of which three repetitions.
Another exercise that stretches and relaxes as well as strengthens is the bridge.
To do this, lie flat on your back, bend your legs and place your feet hip-width apart. The arms are relaxed next to the body.
Then the pelvis is raised until the entire upper back is off the floor and the body forms a straight line from the knees to the shoulders.
Here again: tense your stomach, pinch your buttocks and keep tension.
This exercise can be held longer than the forearm plank. After one minute, you can take a 30-second break – repeat three times.
Neck and shoulder
In the case of the lower back, the torso, not only the back muscles but also the abdominal muscles play an important role.
Only through targeted stability exercises can freedom from pain be achieved in these areas in the long term.
A basic stability exercise, for example, is the forearm plank, in which you lie flat on your stomach before performing it.
Legs are about shoulder-width apart, feet are on tiptoe.
Then the upper body is pushed up with the help of the arms and supported on the forearms. The elbows should be under the shoulders, the forearms should be flat on the floor at a 90° angle to the upper arm.
The body is as stiff as a plank, the stomach pulled in and tense, as is the back.
Due to the high intensity of body tension, this exercise quickly becomes very strenuous – at the beginning it is enough to hold it for 30 seconds and take a 30-second break – of which three repetitions.
Another exercise that stretches and relaxes as well as strengthens is the bridge.
To do this, lie flat on your back, bend your legs and place your feet hip-width apart. The arms lie relaxed next to the body.
Then the pelvis is raised until the entire upper back is off the floor and the body forms a straight line from the knees to the shoulders.
Here again: tense your stomach, pinch your buttocks and keep tension.
This exercise can be held longer than the forearm plank. After one minute, you can take a 30-second break – repeat three times.
Further information is available at:
https://www.focus.de/gesundheit/videos/japanische-heilung-die-shiatsu-massage-gegen-burn-out_id_3460488.html
http://massagematte-test.de
https://www.ergotopia.de/blog/rueckenschmerzen-vorbeugen
https://hickeysolution.com/exercises-for-back-pain/
https://hickeysolution.com/exercises-for-the-neck/
