1. Pay attention to your Mindset
Your mind is a powerful tool. When you use it to focus on the negative or painful parts of your life, that is where your energy flows. Constantly focusing on the pain can actually make it worse.
While pain is REAL and present for so many, I encourage using activities such as distraction, journaling, or focused deep breathing to help get your mind to focus on another subject matter, other than pain, for periods of time each day.
2. Add Movement as tolerated
I am always amazed by the fact that in the ‘old days’ post-injury, post-surgical, and even post-partum; patients were often bedridden for WEEKS. Recovery recommendations consisted of rest and decreased movement to avoid re-injury, pain, and to allow the body to heal. While there are some diagnoses, conditions, and surgical operations that ARE meant for patients to be bedridden afterward -- most are not.
In fact - nowadays - movement is often encouraged directly after surgery, delivery, or injury.
Adding simple movements as tolerated, such as walking or basic stretching can be vital to keeping the muscles loose and allow for blood flow to help with healing.
If you are searching for more information or inspiration to include basic stretches for the muscles surrounding your lower back, check out this short video: CLICK HERE
3. Clean up your Menu
I am not suggesting you have to go crazy and throw out your ketchup (although I have considered this - especially after reading the book ‘The Brain Maker’ by Dr. Perlmutter -- I highly recommend this book if you want to learn about your brain/gut connection) - but I want you to be aware of the food that enters your body -- which affects your whole being.
I have found that when I try to change my entire diet 180 degrees (typically on a Monday morning -- am I right ;) ) that I, and millions of others fail.
The best place to start is with small, smart choices and knowing that you are working to be better than you were yesterday (another piece of the Mindset aspect).
Cutting back on sugar and processed foods is a step in the right direction. An easy thing to remember: anything from a box or a bag will likely cause inflammation. Instead of choosing foods from your panty - work to incorporate some REAL food into your days by starting with adding 1-2 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables (the USDA actually recommends 5-13 servings/day dependent on various factors).
It can honestly start as simple as that :)
Mindset, Movement, & Menu are all vital pieces to taking the steps to decrease or eliminate your pain - which is why they are the main concepts in the Back 2 Bliss Back Pain Protocol.
Stay tuned for future updates and information regarding a release date for the protocol and be sure to invite your friends to subscribe to this blog if they are (or know someone who is) struggling with acute or chronic back pain.
~Helen
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