How to lower your back pain due tu disc degeneration
Health & Food

How to ease Degenerative Disc Disease Pain Naturally

Degenerative disc disease or disc desiccation is a symptom of lower back and neck pain. This occurs when your spinal disc tears and wears from dehydration as the vertebral discs should be full of fluid to keep them flexible and strong. Losing the discs’ fluid makes your back feel stiff, weak, tingling, numb, and especially painful. Of course, there are many causes behind this disease. If you were wondering if there are any solutions to ease the pain, continue reading because we are going to show you 3 easy ways to naturally alleviate disc disease pain.

What are the Causes of Degenerative Disc Disease?

There are many causes of disc desiccation, but the main one is the desiccation of your spinal discs which usually happens with aging. Another reason is extreme activities, like doing hard work or lifting heavyweights. Those could indeed lead to a high risk of being afflicted with this disease because you repeatedly strain your backs. Going through trauma from accidents such as a fall, a car accident, and sports injury can also cause disc desiccation. And finally, it is well-known that heavy smokers are more likely to be affected by this disease.

#1 Using Cold or Heated compresses

It is a common method to use hot or cold compresses when you feel pain in your body. You can simply use ice or hot compresses on the area where you feel pain. The heat will help to boost the blood flow and vice versa. Additionally, using cold will reduce the swelling and pain while using hot helps to ease stiffness. You can choose either of them, but it is recommended to use a hot compress in the morning or before you have to do any activities to get the best result.

Here are some suggested items you can use to release the pain:

  • A bag of ice
  • A bag of frozen vegetables
  • A gel pack that can be frozen
  • A small towel soaked in hot or cold water

No matter what you use, note that you can protect your skin by using a thin towel to wrap around the hot or cold item. Whenever you feel pain, just use a compress on the affected area for about 15-20 minutes.

#2 Appropriate Posture when sitting

As you may already know, your sitting posture is very significant when it comes to back and neck pain. Sitting in the wrong position can worsen the pain. If you’re bending your back while sitting, try to straighten your back right away. As your back is straight, make sure your shoulders are relaxed and your stomach is contracted a little. This will keep your lower back perfectly curved as your abdominal muscles are pulled in. Furthermore, having your knees higher than the level of your hip and your feet flat on the floor will help you sit in the correct position.

For standing posture, there are a couple of things to be aware of. First, you want to contribute your weight equally on both feet. Try not to put your weight on only one of your legs, and relax your knees. And of course, another thing you should avoid: high heels. According to Dr. Baskin, High heels directly affect your spine because of the shock wave they can create. The wave starts from your feet and finally goes to your spine. If you already suffer from disc desiccation, it is always best to avoid them.

#3 Change your Diet

Food plays a very important part in our body. Eating healthy not only makes you stronger and healthier, but it also helps prevent diseases. There is a lot of recommended food that you can eat to reduce back and neck pain, so let’s take a look at them below:

Turmeric

Turmeric is one of the best anti-inflammatory foods. This is because natural chemicals like curcumin in turmeric help reduce inflammation and back pain. If you ingest it regularly, the spice root of turmeric will reduce the occurrence of inflammation.

Red Grapes

Red grapes restrict the elements that cause pain in your body. You may wonder if drinking wine counts as a benefit of reducing the pain? Indeed, it helps since the process of fermentation does not get rid of the anti-inflammatory chemicals in grapes.

Cherries

Cherries help prevent back and neck pain as the antioxidants in cherries prevent cell damage and inflammatory proteins. Note that you can consume cherries the way you like them, there is no better nor worse. You can eat them fresh, or you can drink cherry juice, yummy!

These are only some of the examples that can help you with this disease. There are actually a lot more, such as ginger, coffee, olive oil, and salmon. Anyhow, there are also a couple of things you should avoid if you are suffering from back pain. For example, food high in saturated fats, all processed foods, and vegetable oils such as sunflower and corn should all be avoided at all costs, at least for a while.

Finally, your health is the most important thing in your life, and you should take care of it because you were only born with one body. With this article, we hope you will find these natural ways helpful with the pain you are going through. If you are facing severe pain, we suggest you seek medical aid immediately.

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