Does it hurt when you stand up? What about when you sit down? Does your back hurt then too? Or when you get out of bed in the morning? When you first lay down? How about when you get into your car? Out of your car? At work? At home? Yeah, mine too. Some days more than others, but every day it hurts. Some times the pain is excruciating, other times it’s only mild, but it’s almost always there. Like the stranger making a weird face in the background of a picture capturing a great moment between friends, the pain always seems to be there to ruin an otherwise enjoyable moment.

As I mentioned in my post, Some Goals for 2010, I have had enough and I’m going to fix my back pain. I have narrowed it down to sciatica for sure, and possibly a bulging or herniated disc. The technical terms are of little importance though, whatever it’s called I am going to fix it.

I know from experience that  one of the worst things you can do with a sore back is baby it and try not to move around much. To prevent even more severe pain it is good to move around and keep your back as loose as possible to avoid the potentially crippling pain. Obviously you don’t want to be doing any heavy lifting or putting any unnecessary stress on your back either, but sitting around like a bump on a log is definitely not going to fix the problem.

The doctor will give you his photocopy of the same old stretches we’ve all seen and tried a thousand times with little to no relief. I recently discovered one really good stretch for the sciatic nerve while browsing The Healthy Back Institute’s website in search of some reliable information on how to actually lose the back pain. That sciatic stretch is slightly painful while doing it but it makes a phenomenal difference afterwards. It helps with the pain, but does not prevent it completely. Other than that one stretch, I have found no other simple stretches that offer much in the way of lessening the pain.

Something that does seem to work, something that also causes mild pain while performing is yoga. Yoga can be effective in easing back pain and lengthening the spine as well as improving posture. If you’re going to try doing yoga to fix your back pain you must be careful. If anything is too painful or uncomfortable do not force it, and do not over do any of the movements! If you are careful with it, yoga can be very good therapy for back pain, but if you over do it you can cause even more problems, so please listen to your body and don’t hurt yourself. Most back pain is caused by an injury that healed incorrectly or never healed at all because of muscle imbalances. This is why yoga can be so beneficial. Yoga is focused on both flexibility and strength in nearly all areas of the body so it can help work out the kinks in problem areas and muscle groups by strengthening weak muscles and releasing tension in tight ones.

There are lots of different kinds of yoga and some of them are definitely not good for people with back pain. A good yoga to start with is hatha yoga because it can be done in a nice gentle way that is appropriate for people with back problems.

After thinking about how my back felt last year when I first tried yoga, I decided to renew my membership with My Yoga Online. I work full time 12 hour night shifts at my job so it’s hard to join any regular classes or gyms with my schedule, so I opted for the online approach. I also know that they have some great videos that deal specifically with lower back issues. Plus I love the internet and am a big promoter of using the internet to learn how to do anything, and one of the video instructors is my cousin. Since I have started doing some light yoga again my back has been just as sore as usual, but I have also had a few unusually rough days at work which may have caused some irritation. I’ve only been back at it for about 2 days so I don’t expect to be feeling a whole lot, other than sore, for a while yet, but I know that last time I had been doing yoga my back was starting to feel pretty good. The problem was that my computer at the time was too choppy to watch the videos so I cancelled my membership. Now that I have a better computer I am happy to renew my membership.

I also coughed up the cash today and finally ordered a Nubax Trio spinal decompression unit. I have read a lot of good reviews about it and it looks like heaven for the back. I am seriously looking forward to its arrival and will do a full product review once it arrives and I’ve had a chance to use it.