4 Mistakes People Make When They Have Neck or Back Pain

Avoid doing these and learn to naturally and effectively treat neck and back pain.

At a certain point, most of us have suffered from serious pain, originating from the spine. Neck and back pains are amongst the most common health complaints all people have and, unfortunately, for many this is an ongoing problem that causes them a great deal of discomfort in their daily lives.

When you’re in pain, it’s easy to understand how you might resort to almost anything to get rid of it.  If you’ve ever shared your problem, you were probably surprised to learn that every person has a somewhat different “treatment” or solution to offer you.

However, not every treatment will prove successful or efficient – moreover, some might actually harm you in the long-term.  I want to go over some of the most common mistakes people make when in pain and not necessarily able to think about the long-term consequences.

1. Medications

When one is in pain, the first thing they’ll reach for is usually medicine.  Over-the-counter drugs such as Tylenol and Advil, as well as prescription such as pain pills or muscle relaxers are commonly used as a way to relieve back or neck pain.  However, all medicine, including over-the-counter drugs, have side effects.  The adverse effects can greatly outweigh the potential benefits.  In addition, pain-relief drugs will target the symptoms, rather than address the real problem, thus causing more harm than good, especially in the long-term.

If you’re not entirely convinced, just check out any list of potential adverse effects. All drug companies are required to include such by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).

As I already mentioned, the side effects are not the only thing that’s wrong with taking medication.  Drugs don’t actually solve the real problem but can rather mask important symptoms.  Pain is the warning sign our body has designed to alert us that there is something wrong, a problem that needs to be addressed in the best possible way.  So, what pain medication does is not actually fixing the problem and addressing the cause but merely covering up an important warning.  You can see how ignoring can actually lead to a more serious health issue that can even cause permanent damage.

2. Do nothing

It’s quite ironic, actually – when people suffer from back or neck pain, there are two things they usually do:  either take medicine, or ignore the problem entirely.  Often people would decide to do nothing, because they’re aware of the dangers, associated with taking medications and want to avoid these risks.  Often, they might even think that eventually, the pain will go away on its own.

As we already established, the pain is part of your body’s alarm system.  When your home security alarm goes off, ignoring it would not fix the problem but might result in potentially a greater danger and the same is true for your health. It’s common for pain to come and go in any condition but unless the true source of the problem is discovered and treated, the pain is likely to get more serious and harder to treat.  If you leave the problem untreated, it’s only going to exacerbate and the pain will return stronger, longer-lasting and the things that you’ve taken to provide relief (talking about pain medication) will no longer help.

3. Apply heat packs

If you had a friend or a relative with a chronic condition, perhaps you’ve been advised to apply heat packs to the injured area to relieve the pain.  However, using heat is usually prescribed specifically to chronic conditions with no recent increase in inflammation.  Using heat within the first few days after an injury or a flare-up can have more negative effects and is likely to cause an increase in inflammation.

There are some situations in which applying a moist heat pack is not ill-advised, for instance, if you’re dealing with muscle spasms, myalgia, fibromyalgia or bursitis.  For new injuries or flare-ups, an ice pack is the most reasonable solution – and also the one that will provide pain relief.

4. Not Seeking Chiropractic Care

One of the biggest problems of our generation is that doctors prescribe medication too easily, especially for problems that can be treated in a more natural way.

Let’s return to our analogy with the home alarm system.  Instead of wondering how to turn it off and return to sleep, isn’t it better to address the real problem and finally regain our peace of mind?  Finding an effective, natural and long-term solution to your back and neck pain is what you should be focusing on, rather than relying on drugs and over-the-counter medicine that can do you more harm, than good.

If you’re suffering from back or neck pain, perhaps it’s time to ask not how to hide the symptoms, but how to finally get rid of the cause.  The chiropractic care we use is a safe, natural and efficient technique for managing the pain and treating the cause of your symptoms.