Since many of the low back pain disorders such as lumbar muscle strain, lumbar ligament strain, lumbar degeneration, and lumbar disc herniation are difficult to cure in a short period of time, a long-term health care strategy must be developed for these low back pain patients. These health care strategies include the patient’s living habits, work posture and exercise routine. If patients with low back pain can consistently implement these health care strategies, they can avoid the recurrence of low back pain and greatly improve their quality of life.
I. Self-care of lumbar muscle strain.
Lumbar muscle strain is a common type of lumbar pain patients, clinical soreness of the lumbar back and unfavorable prostration are the main symptoms, often due to long-term bending or sitting position so that the lumbar muscles are not relaxed, or the lumbar region is regularly overloaded and overworked, or the posture is incorrect at work, or there is a physiological defect of the lumbar region, resulting in sterile inflammation around the lumbar muscles, which leads to the occurrence of soreness and pain. There are also acute injuries to the lumbar region that are not properly treated or treated in a timely manner, or repeated injuries that are left chronic. In addition to various treatments, it is necessary to actively take self-care measures.
Self-care for this disease is based on eliminating the causes of strain, strengthening the exercise of the lumbar back muscles, strengthening labor protection, and correcting poor daily posture.
1. Eliminate the causes of strain injury
We should actively avoid bending and weight-bearing, prolonged bending work, and prolonged sitting and standing, and should lie down on a hard bed to rest. When lifting and carrying heavy objects, try to make the waist and chest straight, hip and knee flexion, get up should be based on lower limb force, stand still and then step, lifting and carrying heavy objects should take a semi-squatting position, so that the object as close to the body.
2, strengthen the lumbar back muscle exercise
prone position, both legs straight, both hands against the side of the body, while lifting the head back, both arms back, both lower limbs straight leg back, so that the waist as far back as possible.
3.Strengthen labor protection
When carrying, lifting, carrying and lifting heavy objects, the use of lumbar girth should be advocated. They should be removed promptly at rest and appropriate lumbar activities should be done to adjust the balance of tension in the lumbar muscles.
4.Correcting daily poor posture
(1) Sitting training: the patient sits on a chair with a backrest, with both hips and knees bent at 90°, and the lumbar vertebrae and the backrest are as close as possible to each other, leaving no space to reduce the forward flexion of the lumbar vertebrae.
(2) standing position training: the patient’s lumbar back against the wall upright, in order to reach between the lumbar spine and the wall does not enter the hand as degree, and then gradually bend the hip and knee squat. This is the second step of training based on the sitting position.
(3) walking training: on the basis of the sitting and standing position training, lumbar spine posture training when walking. This is done by holding a notebook or other object that slides down easily on the head and stepping forward while keeping the lumbar spine vertical and trying not to let the object fall down on the head.
Self-care of supraspinous ligament strain.
Supraspinatus ligament strain is also known as supraspinatus ligamentitis. It is the most common chronic strain disorder of the ligaments. The supraspinatus ligament is composed of the lumbar dorsal fascia, the latissimus dorsi muscle, and the extension of the multifidus muscle. It is attached to each spinous process from top to bottom and its fibers are closely connected to the spinous process bone. When the spine is flexed, the sacrospinous muscle relaxes and the ligaments of the lumbar back carry the weight, and the supraspinous ligament is in the outermost layer, which bears the most tension and is therefore most vulnerable to injury. The main clinical manifestation is a history of chronic bending strain. Low back pain has been for weeks or months, mostly soreness, radiating to the neck or buttocks, increasing after bending or exertion, and decreasing after rest or bed rest. On physical examination, the painful points are often fixed in 1~2 spinous processes, and the pressure pain is extremely superficial and confined to the tip of the spinous processes, with no local redness or swelling and no pressure pain in the paravertebral muscles on both sides.
Self-care for this disease mainly lies in avoiding lumbar strain, paying attention to lumbar warmth and strengthening lumbar back muscle exercise.
1.Avoid lumbar strain
Good posture of sitting, standing, standing and walking should be cultivated in work and life. The correct standing posture is the body’s center of gravity falls on the heel, the upper body is slightly bent forward, the two knees or one of the knee joints slightly flexed. This posture can reduce the burden on the lower back. The correct walking posture is that the body’s center of gravity should be shifted forward with the lower limbs, the chest should be straight and avoid hunching over. For women with low back pain, more attention should be paid to not wearing or less wearing high heels as much as possible. The correct sitting posture is the knee and hip joints in a horizontal position, or slightly higher than the hip joint, waist straight, the upper body slightly forward, two elbows on the table, so as to avoid the lumbar vertebrae protrusion, reduce the pressure within the intervertebral discs, after sitting for a long time, can be properly stretched lumbar back muscles, to promote the lumbar back muscle blood circulation faster, conducive to muscle fatigue recovery.
2, pay attention to the waist warmth
Chinese medicine believes that wind, cold, moisture and other evil is an important external cause of the onset of lumbago. Modern medicine also believes that cold and damp environment can affect the local blood circulation of the lumbar back, thus leading to lumbar strain and aseptic inflammation of the lumbar back muscle fascia and ligaments. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to lumbar warmth to prevent the occurrence of lumbago. The content includes diligent drying of clothes and quilts, avoiding or minimizing cold baths, avoiding sleeping and lying when the wind is blowing, craving for cold, and avoiding long periods of time in the wetlands.
3.Strengthen the exercise of lumbar back muscle
See self-care of lumbar muscle strain.
Lumbar triple transverse process syndrome is a chronic lumbago characterized by obvious pressure pain in the transverse process of the 3rd lumbar vertebra. The lumbar transverse processes are located on both sides of the lumbar vertebrae and are not protected by bony tissue, of which the 3rd lumbar transverse process is the longest and resides in the center of the whole lumbar vertebrae, with high mobility and high stress resistance, so there are many opportunities for strain injury, which can easily cause inflammatory swelling, congestion, exudation, hyperplasia and adhesion of local tissues and stimulate the local posterior branch of the lumbar spinal nerve, thus producing lumbago and hip pain. The disease can be caused by chronic strain injury, or by acute lumbar sprain failure or improper treatment.
The main clinical manifestation of this disease is lumbago or diffuse pain in the lumbar and hip areas, which may also radiate to the posterior thighs to above the plane of the slapping fossa, and the pain increases in the morning or when bending over, and sometimes it is difficult to turn over and walk. On physical examination, there may be limited pressure pain at the tip of the transverse process of the 3rd lumbar vertebra at the outer edge of the sacrospinous muscle, and sometimes a fibrous soft tissue nodule may be palpated, often causing reflex pain in the ipsilateral lower extremity, and the straight leg raising test may be positive, but the strengthening test is negative.
The self-care of this disease is to eliminate the cause of strain, strengthen the exercise of low back muscle, strengthen labor protection, and correct the daily bad posture.
1. Eliminate the causes of strain injury
We should actively avoid bending and weight-bearing, prolonged bending work, and prolonged sitting and standing, and should rest on a hard bed. When lifting and carrying heavy objects, try to keep the waist and chest straight, hip and knee flexion, get up with lower limb force, stand firmly and then step, carry and lift heavy objects in a semi-squatting position, so that the object is as close to the body as possible.
2, strengthen the lumbar back muscle exercise
prone position, both legs straight, both hands against the side of the body, while lifting the head back, both arms back, both lower limbs straight leg back, so that the waist as far back as possible.
3.Strengthen labor protection
When carrying, lifting, carrying and lifting heavy objects, the use of lumbar girth should be advocated. They should be removed promptly at rest and appropriate lumbar activities should be done to adjust the balance of tension in the lumbar muscles.
4.Correct daily poor posture.
(1) Sitting training
The patient sits on a chair with a backrest, with both hips and knees bent at 90°, and the lumbar vertebrae and the backrest are as close as possible to each other, leaving no space to reduce the forward flexion of the lumbar vertebrae.
(2) Standing position training
The patient’s lumbar back against the wall upright, in order to reach between the lumbar spine and the wall does not enter the hand as degree, and then gradually bend the hip and knee squat. This is the second step of training based on the sitting position.
(3) walking training
On the basis of the sitting and standing position training, the lumbar spine posture training when walking. The method is: a notebook or other items that can easily slide down on the head, step forward under the premise of keeping the lumbar spine vertical and trying not to make the items on the head fall down.
Second, self-care of lumbar disc herniation.
Lumbar intervertebral disc herniation is a lesion characterized by degenerative changes of the lumbar intervertebral disc, after which the fibrous ring ruptures under the action of external forces and the nucleus pulposus protrudes to stimulate or compress the nerve roots, blood vessels or spinal cord and other tissues, and is accompanied by symptoms such as radiating pain in the sciatic nerve. It is more common in young adults aged 20 to 30 years old, with more men than women.
The clinical manifestations of this disease are low back pain often confined to the vicinity of the lumbosacral region, with limited deep pressure pain in the lumbar vertebrae 4~5, lumbar 5~sacral 1 or between the spinous processes of the lumbar vertebrae 3~4, and radiating to the affected lower limbs, radiating downward along the posterior side of the affected thigh to the lateral calf, heel or lateral dorsum of the foot. Coughing, sneezing, and straining to defecate can aggravate the symptoms, and walking, bending, knee extension, and other movements that pull on the nerve root can also aggravate the pain. The pain is relieved when resting in bed with the hip and knee flexed. If the disease has a long duration, the local skin of the affected lower limb may feel numb.
Self-care of this disease mainly includes the following.
1.Acute phase health care
Bed rest is an important element of the acute attack, but long-term bed rest brings certain problems to the human physiological metabolism, so that the body’s immune function and physical fitness decline. The room should be frequently opened for ventilation, pay attention to dietary adjustments, eat more vegetables and fruits to ensure adequate vitamin intake, drink more boiled water, keep the bowels open, and, within the limits of physical strength, perform activities such as spreading the arms and expanding the chest in the supine position to enhance blood circulation and myocardial function and maintain normal physical fitness, and pay attention to changes in body temperature, blood pressure and various aspects of the body from time to time to avoid other diseases caused by bed rest. diseases caused by bed rest.
2.Relief period health care
It is best to wear a lumbar brace for protection to prevent the natural activities of the waist from affecting the treated intervertebral disc. And pay attention to avoid lumbar activities, and do not consciously move the waist to try its painful situation.
3.Recovery period health care
During this period, excessive and strenuous exercise and heavy lifting should be avoided. Due to the lack of muscle strength can not adapt to the strong muscle pulling exercise, can carry out adaptive back and leg natural activities exercise. With the recovery of tissues, the strengthening of muscle strength, joint stability, can gradually carry out stronger waist and leg motor function and muscle strength training.
4.Simple waist circumference self-production
First, measure the circumference of the patient’s waist with a leather ruler, and then add 10cm to the length of the waist circumference. Then fold the raw material (usually leather) in half with a long axis and cut it into a shape that is slightly narrower at both ends and gradually widens in the middle arc. The semi-finished product after cutting and processing is placed on the waist to try it on, and after modifying it to fit, a jacket is made of a more breathable and soft gauze or flannel. And sew on the two ends of the buckle. This way a simple waist circumference is completed.
5, wear waist circumference points to note
As a kind of lumbar back brace, waist circumference is widely used in lumbar disc herniation, and the following points should be noted when using it: First of all, the specification of the waist circumference should be adapted to oneself, and its upper edge should reach the lower edge of the rib arch and the lower edge should reach below the hip crack. The posterior side of the lumbar girth should be flat or slightly convex forward. Secondly, in the case of severe lumbar symptoms, if there is no special discomfort, it should be worn for a long period of time with traction, physiotherapy, tui-na and other therapies. In milder cases, it can be worn when sitting or standing for a long time and lifted during rest or sleep. When the symptoms are eliminated, the lumbar girth should be removed in time and functional exercises for the lumbar back muscles should be carried out sequentially. Once again, during the period of wearing the waist brace, excessive activities of the waist should still be reduced.
III. Life guidance for male patients with chronic low back pain.
1.General guidance
Whenever possible, sit down and make the knee flexion higher than the hip flexion, preferably with both feet on a footstool, or if not using a footstool, in a straight-legged sitting position.
2, sleep
Use a hard mattress, if the mattress is soft, then use a hard board placed under the mat, lying position using the side lying position flexion of the hip and knee.
3.Sitting posture
The general principle is to sit with the spine as far as possible in line with the physiological curvature, in line with the principles of mechanics, such as violation of the above principles of sitting are incorrect. Such as sitting in a chair at work, should try to use the advantages of the backrest, pull the chair to the edge of the table, in “sitting upright” on the basis of as close as possible to the waist and lean on the back of the chair, so that the lumbosacral muscles can be completely relaxed. When driving a car, the driver’s seat should be flexed at the hip and knee joints as much as possible, and when riding a motorcycle, a pillow should be placed behind the seat and then the hip and knee joints should be flexed. At any time in the day, you should use the position of bending the knees above the hip flexion, the so-called “lazy boy” sitting position.
4, from a sitting position to stand up
This is important, do not arch your back from a sitting position, move from a chair or stand up, should keep the back straight position, when necessary, with your hands to help stand up.
5.Standing
The best standing position is to take such a posture: one foot on the floor, the other foot flexed in a higher place, when standing must not be kept in the waist forward bending position.
6.Up lifting
Your back has symptoms when extracting heavy objects not more than 7, 5 kg, after 6 months not more than 25 kg, sometimes must extract items from the floor, should make the hip and knee flexion, while maintaining the lumbar spine straight position.
7.Holding objects
IV. Life guidance for female patients with chronic low back pain.
1.General guidance
Should sit down whenever possible, sitting position should be higher than hip flexion, preferably in the sitting position with both feet on the footstool, if there is no footstool, take the cross-legged position, never take the sitting position with straightened lower limbs.
2, sleep
Use a hard mattress, if the mattress is soft, should be placed under the mattress a hard board, side lying position should be flexed hip and knee.
3.Sitting posture
The general principle is to make the sitter minimize lumbosacral strain injury and fit the requirements of labor protection. If you have to sit for a long time, you should stretch after sitting for a while, or stand up and rotate the waist, kick the legs, and even dance around, which is not only conducive to maintaining the physiological function of the lumbar spine, but also play a protective role for other parts of the body. In daily life, you sit down when the knee flexion should be higher than the plane of the hip joint, also known as the “lazy boy” sitting position.
4.Rise from a sitting position
Do not arch your back when standing up from a sitting position, this is important, move to the front of the chair or stand, should keep the back straight position, if necessary, with your hands to assist.
5.Standing
It is best to use the common standing posture of hotel attendants: one foot on the floor, the other foot on the crossbar, or on any higher position, never continuously standing in a forward leaning position.
6.Holding objects
7.Housekeeping
Never take things from a high shelf, your cooking supplies must be organized, the application of items placed on a shelf equivalent to waist level or higher, when you must stand for any length of time (ironing or chef work), one foot should be placed on a 20-30 cm high wooden box, the application of this box for the platform foot can reach out to take things above the level of the shoulder joint. When you take something below the level of the cupboard, bend your hip and knee joints, squatting to keep your back straight position;.
Five, office workers to prevent back pain measures
When office workers work, the load on the lumbar spine is much smaller than that of manual workers. But the incidence of low back pain in office workers is not lower than that of manual workers, what is the reason? The reason for this situation is multifaceted, sitting equipment is not appropriate or sitting equipment and desk height ratio is not coordinated, their own posture is too long, the lack of back exercise, etc., can become a factor that triggers the office workers lumbago. So, in order to prevent low back pain should take what measures?
1, the choice of office desks and chairs
Office workers should choose a better desk and chair. Here the “better”, not to pay attention to luxury, to choose leather swivel chairs and other high-end office appliances, but to choose a table and chairs in line with the principles of human biomechanics. Specifically, according to the previously introduced requirements for sitting office staff to choose, if possible, you can choose a chair with armrests in order to play a supporting role. In addition, you can also put an object under the desk that can cushion the feet.
2, strengthen their own protection
For office workers, the most important measure to prevent back pain is to strengthen their own protection.
3, reasonable use of air conditioning
Should be brought to the attention of office staff is that many offices are now equipped with air conditioning, which undoubtedly creates a cool working environment for office workers in the hot summer, but if sitting in such a room for a long time, the cool air will increase the chances of back pain in the office staff. Therefore, in the use of air conditioning to pay attention to this issue.
Six, long-term standing staff to prevent back pain measures
In many workplaces, some staff need to stand for a long time, like salesmen, hairdressers, surgical staff, etc. need to work in a standing position for a longer period of time. If you do not pay attention to the standing posture, long-term in a bad position, these people engaged in a standing position occupation is very easy to produce back pain. For example, hairdressers are more likely to work for a long time the weight of the body on one foot, this work posture will make one side of the lumbar joints bear too much pressure for too long, and sometimes hairdressers have to work in a twisted body posture, which adds to the burden of the intervertebral joints.
1.Standing posture at work
In order to avoid back pain caused by long-term standing, people engaged in standing occupations should first pay attention to the posture when standing, try to avoid bad posture, in order to reduce the pressure on the lumbar joints. Specific methods can refer to the correct standing posture introduced earlier, or often do some low back activities and exercise gymnastics to loosen the strength of the supporting weight muscles. Another is that after a period of standing work, you should do some lumbar back extension exercise, left and right rotation exercise and lower limb kicking, squatting and other exercises. These preventive measures should be carried out regularly and persistently.
2.Avoid overworking the waist after work
People who work in a standing position for a long time should pay attention to the prevention of low back pain at work, but after work, they should also pay close attention to various actions in their daily lives at home to avoid overworking the waist and increasing the burden. As long as you pay good attention to it and actively take preventive measures, even if you stand for a long time, the incidence of low back pain can be reduced.
Seven, car drivers to prevent low back pain measures
Car drivers have a high incidence of low back pain, which is mainly due to the poor posture of the waist when driving and the lumbosacral region is subject to long-term up and down vibration. There are many drivers in driving, especially when driving a long distance, in order to reduce fatigue, always used to seat backward, cushion to move back, so that the body becomes half lying posture, straight leg driving. However, with this posture driving, although the beginning can have a sense of ease, but with the passage of time, it will not feel easy, because this will make the lumbar spine and lumbar back muscle burden increases, it is easy to make the lumbar back fatigue. Ben wanted to relax, but instead adopted a posture that is most likely to fatigue. So, what kind of countermeasures can car drivers take in order to prevent low back pain?
1, pay attention to the seat tilt
Do not make the seat tilt, on the contrary, should be the seat premise, the cushion properly moved to the steering wheel, so that the steering wheel as close to the chest; at the same time knee flexion, and make it more than the height of the hip joint. Such a posture, even if out of the car for a long time, it is not easy to cause back pain. In addition, the cushion should choose a hard one.
2, avoid continuous long drive
To try to avoid driving continuously for more than one hour. When you need to drive for a long time, stop in the middle to rest 5 to 10 minutes, and preferably out of the cab, outside a little activity, do some lumbar activity gymnastics. In order to prevent neck fatigue, you can also do some neck activity gymnastics at the same time, these activities gymnastics can also largely avoid or reduce the back pain involved due to neck fatigue.
Eight, maternal measures to prevent low back pain
General measures for the prevention of low back pain in pregnant women
After pregnancy, the abdomen gradually increases with the increase of pregnancy months, especially in the middle and late pregnancy, on the one hand, due to the increase of the weight of the abdomen and the extension of the force arm from the central lumbar intervertebral disc, thus increasing the lumbar load, the increase of this lumbar load is proportional to the volume of the enlarged part of the abdomen; on the other hand, due to the muscle relaxation and weakness of the abdomen during pregnancy and cannot support the viscera normally, resulting in the support of the viscera On the other hand, the lumbar spine, which supports the internal organs, is burdened with increased load due to the relaxation and weakness of abdominal muscles during pregnancy. These two factors cause a significant change in the physiological curvature of the lumbar spine, i.e., hyperextension. On this basis, pregnant women will suffer from low back pain if they lose their balance slightly, and sometimes this pain will also radiate to the lower limbs, causing pain in one or both lower limbs. The general measures to prevent low back pain in pregnant women are as follows.
1, the better way is to rest, adequate rest can largely reduce the burden on the waist. When resting, soft objects such as pillows and cushions can be placed under the nest to make yourself feel more comfortable.
2, sleep can be used side lying, legs flexed lying position to reduce the load on the waist.
3, should pay attention to the body posture, avoid bending and other excessive lumbar or excessive activities.
4.Shoes should be soft and lightweight flat-soled shoes.
For women, it may be difficult to avoid back pain during pregnancy, but if good attention is paid to it, most pregnant women can still reduce back pain to a minimum and get through the pregnancy period successfully.
Gymnastics to prevent back pain in pregnant women
To prevent low back pain in pregnant women, you can perform some gymnastics to improve low back pain in pregnant women. The methods are as follows.
Section 1: Preparatory posture: pregnant women lie on their backs with bilateral knees flexed. Action: slowly exhale, while slowly sinking the waist toward the mattress, insist on 5 seconds. Return. This action is repeated 5 times.
Section 2: preparatory position: pregnant women lying on all fours in a kneeling position. Action: Slowly arch the back of the waist upward and insist for 5 seconds. Return to the original. This action is repeated 5 times.
Section 3: preparatory posture: pregnant women stand with their backs against the wall, about 30 cm away, holding their heads with both hands. Action: exhale slowly while holding the lower back as close to the wall as possible, and hold for 5 seconds. Return. This action is repeated 5 times.
Section 4: preparatory position: pregnant women lying on their backs. Action: one knee is first flexed, then go up to a higher platform and straighten, insist for 3 seconds. Return. The other side of the action as before. This action alternates between the left and right side to repeat each 5 times.
Nine, the prevention of low back pain correct standing posture
Poor standing posture, especially the spine is not correct, is the hidden root cause of low back pain. One of the worst standing posture is the nest chest hanging shoulders, chin protrusion, this standing posture will inevitably lead to lumbar vertebrae bending, become a “rickety chest convex belly” state. In addition, standing left and right skewed, leaning east and west is also a bad posture. These often exist bad posture, it is possible to make the left and right, front and rear sides of the original mutually coordinated muscle a tight a loose and unbalanced, so that the ligaments and other soft tissue stress is also unbalanced, long-term so will make muscle strain, become chronic lumbago. For example, if the lumbar lordosis increases, it is possible that the lumbar dorsal extension muscle group will gradually relax and then contracture, and this can lead to lumbago due to strain on the synovial joints. Once the force is improper, such as twisting, flash, contusion, etc., it is more likely to cause acute lumbar injury. To avoid these adverse consequences, it is necessary to take the correct standing posture.
The correct standing posture should be two eyes flat, jaw slightly inward, chest up, waist and back straight, calves slightly closed, legs upright, the distance between the two feet is about the same as the width of the pelvis. So that the entire pelvis will be tilted forward, so that the whole body’s gravity evenly from the spine, pelvis to the lower extremities, and then from the two lower extremities to the foot, in order to become a true “feet on the ground. At this time, the body’s gravity line is through the lumbar vertebral body or the rear of the intervertebral disc, rather than through the synovial joints. In addition, when standing, the lower extremities should be natural, to avoid knee stiffness or excessive force. This is because long-term fatigue of the lower extremities and improper posture of the knee joints are likely to occur.
The better standing position to be taken during labor is: slight flexion of the knee joint, mild contraction of the gluteus maximus and natural contraction of the abdominal muscles. This position is similar to the standard standing position, which can make the pelvis slightly backward, lumbar vertebrae mildly straighten, reduce the angle of the lumbosacral angle, increase the support of the spine, so that the intervertebral discs and other soft tissues are not damaged or less damaged.
Of course, a long time standing in one position is not durable. This can be changed to “rest” posture, that is, one foot half a step forward, so that the weight on one lower limb, and the other lower limb to rest a little, the feet can be swapped. In addition, standing should not be too long, standing for a while can be appropriate for some in situ activities, especially the activities of the lumbar back area, in order to eliminate the fatigue of the lumbar back muscles.
Ten, the correct sitting posture to prevent low back pain
The correct sitting posture should be straight upper body, tuck in the abdomen, jaw slightly tucked, and both lower limbs together. If possible, a foot or footstool under the feet, so that the knee is slightly higher than the hip, which can make the back more straight and less likely to bend. This sitting posture because the lumbosacral ligaments and muscles are not overly stretched, so it can keep the lumbar spine and even the entire spine straight, and the body consumes less energy. When sitting in a chair with a backrest, should be based on the above posture, try to put the lumbar back close to and lean on the back of the chair, so that the lumbosacral muscles are not too fatigued.
Sitting in a good posture should also often move around. For example, after sitting for a long time, people often like to put one foot on the other foot, constantly exchange, in fact, this is a better activity. This can make the lower limb part of the muscle alternately get relaxed. In addition, the sedentary should often straighten the waist plate, two shoulders back to expand a little, side to side, in order to remedy the defects of a long time bending forward
Eleven, the correct sleeping posture to prevent back pain
The previous has talked about standing and sitting should pay attention to good posture, so sleep is also about posture? Admittedly, we are not like the Shaolin disciples generally “stand like a pine, sitting like a bell, lying like a bow”, but from a biomechanical point of view, we should also pay attention to sleep posture. If the sleep posture is improper, not only can induce lumbago, and can cause cervical spondylosis. The ancients were very concerned about the posture of sleep. Song Cai Jitong in his “Sleep Tips” proposed: “sleep on the side and flex, sleep and stretch.” Meaning that side sleep should be slightly flexed body, supine sleep should stretch the body. Doing so can make the muscles, especially the lumbar back muscles in a relaxed state, not only conducive to sleep and sleep, but also to relieve or prevent back pain.
The human sleep position can be roughly supine, side lying, prone 3 ways. Supine position, as long as the appropriate lying equipment, limbs to maintain a natural extension, will not cause too much change in the physiological curvature of the spine. Side lying, some people believe that the right side is better, the reason is that the right side of lying does not compress the heart, and does not affect the gastrointestinal motility, which may have certain benefits for people with cardiovascular or digestive system diseases. But for the general public, do not have to be too careful to take the left or right side, because people in sleep always turn over (20 to 45 times a night), the purpose of turning over is mainly to get a comfortable position, otherwise maintain a posture for a long time, will make a part of the muscle relaxation at the same time, relatively make some other muscles in a state of tension, and will also make contact with the sleeper that A part of the body due to pressure and blood flow is not smooth, nerve pressure and numbness. So whether to take the right side of the lying position, for normal people seems to be irrelevant. In the prone position, the head is tilted to the side, the chest is compressed, and the lumbar lordosis is increased, making it easy to produce discomfort in many ways. Although, in the United States often let the baby prone position, and think that this helps the baby’s growth, breathing, etc., but for patients with low back pain, this position is generally not appropriate to take.
From the above, it is easy to see that the sleep position is better in the supine and lateral position, because it can make people feel comfortable and relaxed. For patients with low back pain or other disorders, the sleep position should have some special requirements.
How to prevent low back pain when getting up
There are many patients with low back pain or caused by inattention when getting up, or due to improper movements to get up and aggravate the symptoms; there are also some patients with low back pain caused by rheumatism (such as patients with ankylosing spondylitis) or elderly patients will find that their bodies are stiff when they get up in the early morning, in this stiff state to get up, how can it not aggravate the symptoms of low back pain?
So, what should patients do to reduce or avoid back pain when waking up? Just as when driving a car, after the switch has been issued, the car can only start smoothly after the switch has been warmed up and the lubricant has been able to play its full role, so the human body must do some warm-up exercises before getting up after a night of rest. For patients with low back pain, this can not only prevent the possible symptoms of low back pain, but also play a very important role in whether the waist can maintain a better function throughout the day.
Therefore, patients with low back pain wake up in bed early in the morning to do some lumbar medical gymnastics activities, such as first doing some abdominal breathing, so that the abdominal muscles a relaxation and a contraction, and then do double hip and knee flexion, hands on the knee movement and lumbar twisting action. After about 10 minutes of lumbar activity in bed, shift from supine position to lateral position, and then get up slowly with hands to support the upper body. In other words, when you get up in the morning, do not get up directly from the supine position with the strength of the waist, but with the strength of the hands and feet to get up, so that the chances of getting up with back pain can be greatly reduced.
Thirteen, low back pain patients should not wear high heels
In addition to women, there are many people who like to wear high heels. The lowest height of high heels is about 4 cm, the higher about 6 cm, and even a little higher. After wearing high heels, the height of the heel makes the body’s center of gravity move forward accordingly. In order to stabilize the body due to the change in center of gravity and the loss of the original balance, the muscle tone of the body, especially the muscle tone of the lower back, will be readjusted to maintain the new balance.
The main changes that occur in the low back due to wearing high heels are: after wearing high heels, because of the enhanced anterior tilt of the pelvis, the line of gravity passes through the back of the pelvis, causing the lumbar region to increase its burden in order to support the weight, and then the posterior extension is enhanced. This excessive lumbar posterior extension can make the joint capsule connecting the intervertebral joints in a state of tension, long-term persistence, it will cause excessive contraction of the lumbar back muscles and lead to back pain. If the height of the heel increases by 1 cm, the posterior extension of the lumbar vertebrae and the contraction of the lumbar back muscles will increase exponentially, so that the chances of low back pain will also increase greatly.
Therefore, it is inappropriate for people with low back pain to wear high heels. In order to prevent low back pain, the general public should also not wear high heels often. Once in a while, after wearing them after doing some gymnastics to prevent low back pain, such as squatting with hands holding the knees in a jumping motion or supine double hip and knee flexion, hands holding the knees movement, can eliminate the muscle pain caused by the anterior pelvic tilt and excessive back extension of the waist.
So, what kind of shoes are better for low back pain patients? Are flat shoes better? In fact, flat shoes are not necessarily beneficial, and a more appropriate heel height of about 3 cm is ideal. Patients with low back pain may wish to change their shoes and choose a pair of shoes with the right height may ease the symptoms of low back pain.
XIV. Sexual life care for patients with low back pain
Low back pain patients in the acute phase of low back pain, heavy symptoms, waist activity is restricted, sexual desire is reduced, a period of time to reduce or terminate sex is conducive to physical recovery, chronic phase or mild back pain patients will not affect sexual life. For female patients, it is better to adopt hip and knee flexion position to have sex, and for male patients to have sex, the relative position can be changed, with the female on top and the male on the bottom, also taking the hip and knee flexion position.
A few male patients with central lumbar disc herniation may experience impotence, and female patients may experience dull sensation of the labia and clitoris and decreased sexual pleasure, which must be promptly treated with surgery. Certain pain-relieving drugs, such as Protaxone and Finasteride, can inhibit sperm formation when taken for a long time and have an effect on reproductive function. Female patients of childbearing age should not become pregnant until one year after lumbar spine surgery.