Are some of the popular remedies for back pain just useless?

What do you do when back pain strikes you unexpectedly? If you take adequate rest and maintain a proper sitting posture it usually disappears within a day or a two. Sometimes the excruciating pain persists in spite of doing everything. Has it got to do something with some of the remedies that you try out? Well, maybe. At least according to a recent article in the Daily Mail, some of the popular remedies are not just useless, they are dangerous.

There is bad news especially for those who seek recourse to osteopathy for their back pain. The article mentions: “The latest research suggests that spinal manipulation techniques used by chiropractors and osteopaths can cause serious, potentially fatal, problems when used on the upper spine. Yet lower spine manipulation has been widely shown to assist a speedy recovery and can be an effective alternative to drugs or surgery for many people.” Acupuncture, Shiatsu massage, gentle yoga have been given the green signal. Pilates performed with a poor technique is also ineffective according to Stuart McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics and chair of the kinesiology department at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

Now for the most intriguing and surprising of all the revelations. All these days we all were under the impression that sleeping on hard mattresses is good for the back. The article however states otherwise. Quoting:

“Sleeping on a hard mattress has long been recommended by medical experts as an antidote to back pain. But according to the results of a study in the Lancet, orthopaedic specialists found that softer mattresses offered back pain sufferers the most relief. Softer mattresses may put less pressure on the shoulders and hips, allowing people to sleep more naturally, the researchers found.” Somehow, I’m finding it difficult to digest this bit of news. I’ve had always suffered from back pain whenever I slept on mattresses that were too soft. But I must admit that a very hard one is also very uncomfortable, a moderately hard one is the one which I feel is the best for my back.

Comments

Anonymous10:45 AM
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