It’s self-care month from 24th June to 24th July each year. In this blog, we take a look at how self-care practices can help us be active agents in our own healthcare, plus give recommendations on our top self-care tips to help reduce back pain.
What is self-care?
Although the concept of self-care has become a big buzzword in recent years, it’s actually been around since the 1960’s. But what exactly is it? According to the World Health Organization (WHO), ‘self-care actions are habits, practices and lifestyle choices – things that we can do to help look after ourselves and lead a healthier life’.
These could include taking regular physical activity, eating a healthier diet, avoiding unhealthy lifestyle habits and taking actions to look after our mental health for example: spending time in nature and outdoors; talking to family and friends; managing stress and limiting ‘high-risk’ situations; and seeking help when needed.
Self-care and healthcare
Self-care empowers us to take our health and wellbeing into our own hands, with the incentive to do so being the chance to improve our quality of life. It does not replace the healthcare system, but instead provides additional choices and options for healthcare. It can also play a key role in the prevention of certain conditions and improve recovery times where total prevention fails. All in all, it’s a critical part of well-being at all stages of life.
Some of the best ways you can be an active agents in your own health and healthcare from a self-care perspective include:
- Self-recognition of symptoms – assessing and addressing symptoms, in partnership with a healthcare professional where necessary
- Self-monitoring – checking for signs of deterioration or improvement
- Self-management – managing symptoms of a disease or condition, either alone, alongside other people with the same health condition or in partnership with healthcare professionals.
Self-care tips to reduce back pain
One of the key services our chiropractors and osteopaths provide at our south Bristol clinic is helping our patients self-manage their various musculoskeletal conditions, through exercise, lifestyle and nutrition advice and more. Here we share some of our top self-care tips to help you reduce back pain symptoms:
1. Get up, get moving
Exercise and physical activity have been proven to not only improve your mood, but also to build and maintain strength and flexibility, improve posture and protect you from pain. And the good news is that you don’t have to do a full work out to feel the benefits. Little and often can work wonders too. Try and move around every 20-30 minutes, whether at home or at work. If you don’t want to or can’t go full throttle with high endurance-based activities, look for smaller opportunities to exercise during the day. Why not walk to the shop instead of getting the bus, or go out on your lunch break instead of eating at your desk? Another top tip is to always stand up when you take a phone call and use hands-free technology when you can.
2. Start small
Our daily routines can be exhausting and the thought of adding exercise in can become even more overwhelming. Our top tip is to start by incorporating movement into your day in smaller, bitesize chunks. Many of us often set unmanageable goals for exercise. When we don’t achieve these goals, which are far reaching to start with, this then impacts our motivation, making us less likely to create new positive habits for our wellbeing. It’s great to set longer term intentions but start small. Over time this will become almost an automatic habit and you can build it up from there! For more advice on how to create healthy habits, check out our habit stacking blog.
3. Stretch
Stretching is a simple self-care technique which can deliver great results. It loosens tight muscles and increases blood flow to the back, which can help the healing process and reduce back pain. For a quick and easy daily stretching routine designed to improve posture and help prevent back pain by promoting balance, strength and flexibility in the spine, check out the British Chiropractic Association’s Straighten Up UK exercises.
4. Relax in the bath
Taking a warm bath is a wonderful way to de-stress and soothe aching muscles. It is particularly useful for easing back pain as it relaxes stiff muscles, reduces the severity of muscles spasms, and reduces the perceived severity of pain. Throw in a bit of extra self-care by reading a book in the bath too!
5. Get a great night’s sleep
One of the most important predictors for pain intensity is the number of hours slept the night before, so if you get a good night’s sleep it will have a positive impact on your pain. For tips on how to get a better night’s sleep, watch this video.
6. Seek out support
If your symptoms of back or joint pain last more than two weeks, or prevent you from carrying out your daily routines, see a chiropractor, osteopath or GP for advice.