Back Pain Home Remedies:
Home remedies for back pain are used with more safety compared to drugs, particularly pregnant women. Following are some remedies for backache:

Massaging: Massage the affected area with the herbal oils using knuckles and slowly increase the pressure. You will feel better after a few minutes. This helps to relieve tension and also relaxes the muscles.

St. John’s Wort: Application of St. John’s wort oil gives relief from the pain.

Eucalyptus oil: This is another beneficial remedy for back pain. Massage the affected area with eucalyptus oil. You can also use mustard oil for massaging.

Basil: Take a cup of water and boil 10 basil leaves in it. Boil the decoction until it reduces to half the quantity. Let it cool and later add salt to it. Drink this mixture every day. If you have severe back pain, drink it twice a day.

Garlic: Another effective home remedy is garlic. Include garlic in your diet.

Guggulu: Every day eat half a tablespoon of guggulu after having meals. This must be taken twice a day with the warm water.

Ice: Ice also helps in reducing the inflammation of the back pain. Switch to hot packs after a few days.

Diet: Include lettuce, cucumber, cabbage, carrot, tomato and also include two lightly cooked vegetables like carrot, spinach and cauliflower in your diet.

Exercising: Exercise regularly for about 30 minutes.

Honey: Add a tablespoon of honey to a glass of warm water and drink it. This soothes the back pain.

Vitamin C: In some cases, vitamin C deficiency can also lead to backache. Hence, increase vitamin C intake in the diet.

Reduce weight: If you are overweight, first reduce weight, as spine cannot bear the extra pressure.

Tips to Prevent Back Pain:
Bend Knees: While lifting heavy objects, first bend your knees. This prevents the tension in lower back which results in the damage of spinal cord and back muscles.

Do not twist: While lifting objects, do not twist. This will have bad impact on the vertebrae.

During pregnancy: During the last couple of months of your pregnancy, do not lift heavy objects.

asanas for back pain

? These asanas are found to be very effective in curing back pains in a natural way without the harmful chemicals and side effects of prescription drugs. So, checkout these 6 simple asanas for back pain relief.

Yoga postures for back pain relief

1. Savasana (The corpse posture)
   

   Let us begin with the simplest. This is a posture which helps you relieve tension and pain from your back muscles. This also calms your mind and brings peace to it.

   How to do it

   :
   - Lie on your back freely with both of your arms by your side. Keep your palms facing up.
   - Close your eyes and allow all your muscles to rest and relax.
   - Inhale and exhale deeply and stay in this position till you find yourself completely relaxed.
   - Do this asana regularly for 5-10 minutes.

2. Matsyasana (The fish posture)

   As the name suggests, you will be taking a posture of a fish.

   How to do it

   :
   - Lie flat on the floor and inhale.
   - Tilt your head slowly backwards until your back arches and you touch the crown of your head to the floor.
   - You can use your elbows and forearms to take support.
   - Be in this position for 2-5 minutes while breathing deeply and evenly.

3. Shalabhasana (The locust posture)

   How to do it

   :
   - Lie on floor with your stomach and forehead touching the ground. Keep your hands by your side and your chin should be touching the floor.
   - Keep the toes and heels together. Inhale slowly, then lift both your legs up by applying pressure on your fists.
   - Stay in this position for a few seconds while slowly exhaling.

4. Bhujangasana (The cobra pose)

   How to do it

   :
   - Lie down on the floor on your stomach. Keep your palms below your shoulder blade with your elbows touching the mid part of your body.
   - Keep both your heels together with your toes flat on the floor while breathing normally.
   - Tilt your entire upper part of your neck backward. While inhaling slowly, raise your chest and head (your upper body) upwards.
   - Tighten your lower body and legs all the way down to your toes.
   - Hold your breath and maintain this position for 6-8 seconds.
   - Now, exhale and slowly lower down your head towards the floor.
   - Relax your body with either your left or right cheek on the floor for a few seconds.

5. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (The Bridge pose)

   How to do it

   :
   - Lie on your back and bend your knees. Bring both your soles parallel to the mat and close to your buttocks.
   - Now, exhale and lift your hips upwards towards the ceiling. Keep both your arms firmly on the ground pressing them against the mat.
   - Lift your hip higher and while keeping the chin as it is, draw your chest towards your chin.
   - Be in this position for about 30 seconds. Now slowly bring your upper, middle and lower back down in that order.

6. Utthan padasana (Raised feet posture)

   How to do it

   :
   - Lie down with your back on the floor. Keep both your arms beside you with your palms facing down.
   - Keep your legs and heels together. Keep your body straight and breath normally.
   - Now, inhaling slowly stretch both your toes as much as as possible.
   - Holding your breath, raise both your legs, 10-12 inches from the ground. Hold this position for up to 10 seconds.
   - Now, start exhaling slowly while slowly bringing down both your legs back towards the ground. By the time you bring both your legs towards the ground, complete exhaling.
   - Take a rest for few seconds and repeat it again.

Caution!!

A few of these

asanas for back pain

may put certain amount of strain on certain body parts. You should take care when you are doing these exercises especially if your suffering from any ailments. Consult a good yoga practitioner before you do these asanas.

Back pain afflicts most of us at some point of time. In this article, we reveal simple and useful tips on

how to cure back pain.

Apply Heat or Ice

An effective remedy is applying ice and/or heat on the affected area. Wrap ice packs in a towel and apply for not more than 10 minutes. Ensure the ice pack is not applied directly on the skin to prevent frostbite and freezing. Also, do not lie directly on the ice pack. Moist heat such as a hot water bottle, tub bath or hot shower can also help. Do not prolong the heat application for more than 20 minutes. Ensure the heat is moderate as excessive heat can tire and drain you out.

Massage to Cure Back Pain

A massage on your painful back can be helpful as it increases blood flow to the muscles and helps them to relax. Ensure you get the massage from a trained and experienced masseur.

Medications

You can also try painkillers like aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen for relief. But beware, because some painkillers cause side effects like stomach irritation. Read the label and adhere to the recommendations regarding time schedules and dosage.

Rest to Cure Back Pain

Take adequate rest by lying comfortably on a supportive mattress. For a bad back, the best position is to lie on one side with knees bent. You can place a pillow in between your knees for additional comfort. Or, simply lie on your back and place a pillow below the knees. It is not recommended to lie down on the stomach.

Exercise for Back Pain

If your back pain subsides to tolerable levels, you can start doing exercises. Avoiding workouts will weaken and stiffen your muscles, which could cause future problems. But, if you feel pain during the workout, stop immediately. Gradually, you can increase the intensity of the workouts.

Manage Tension and Stress to Cure Back Pain

Mental stress and tension are often the reasons behind back pain. To avoid these psychological issues, you can try guided imagery, meditation, yoga and pranayama to keep your mind sound and free from worries. Listening to soothing music can also provide relaxation to a stressed mind and body.

Recreational Activities

You can stretch and tone your back muscles by indulging in water walking, brisk walking and swimming. If your back is still sore, avoid sporting activities such as aerobics, diving, racquetball, bowling, golf and tennis.

Yoga to Cure Back Pain

Research reveals that practicing yoga poses and meditation could be the best remedy for back pain. A study conducted at the University of Washington found that yoga cures lower back pain more quickly than other exercises. Yoga practice is all about stretching and deep breathing, which improves strength and promotes relaxation. Thus, yoga comprehensively alleviates the physical and emotional triggers that cause back pain.

Yoga Poses for Back Pain

Corpse Pose (Shavasana)

This relaxation pose eases tension and relieves pain in the back muscles. This pose gives complete rest to the body and puts the mind at peace.

Tadasana (Mountain Pose)

This pose stretches the spine and is good for the muscles in the neck, shoulders and arms. Tension in the back muscles is soothed and eased.

Fish Pose (Matsyasana)

Fish pose relieves neck stiffness and is good for the cervical vertebrae.

Locust Pose (Shalabhasana)

The back muscles are targeted by this pose and it also soothes nerve tension.

Diet to Cure Back Pain

Along with the above mentioned cures for back pain, you should also consume a healthy diet. Avoid too much processed foods and caffeine. Include lots of fruits, vegetables, lean meat, fish, chicken, seeds and nuts, soy and whole grains in your daily diet.

SUMMARY

We hope this article has provided you the required information on

how to cure back pain.

Follow the recommendations to recover from back pain and adopt preventive measures to reduce the chances of re-occurrence. If you feel the problem is serious, do not hesitate to consult your doctor at the earliest.

causes of hip pain

.

What Causes Hip Pain?

Often hip pain is related with some problems of hip joint structure. Problems in the tendons, bones, ligaments and muscles are primarily responsible for hip pain. Following are the most common causes of hip pain:

Arthritis:

Severe hip pain is triggered by several arthritis forms. Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory disease that gives burning pain in hip associated with fever. Osteoarthritis is a health condition which result in degeneration of hip joint after a period of time. People who do exercises excessively are more prone to this arthritis form. Joint replacement therapy is used for treating arthritis.

Hip fractures:

Hip fractures are the most common causes of hip pain. Fractures occur because of some bone injuries triggered by a bad fall or some trauma. Older people who are suffering from osteoporosis are more susceptible to hip fractures due to degeneration of bones. Hip pain has severe impact on life as it restricts body movements. Many a times, patients cannot return to the normal life. It also results in complications. It may result in the formation of blood clots in leg that if moves towards lungs may cause a life threatening condition.

Muscle strain:

If any hip muscles and the nearby areas may get strained and results in pain in the muscle. Strains are small tears in muscles. This develops due to excess exertion or due to improper lifting methods. Hamstrings and groin pulls are the two hip muscles which are prone to this type of strain.

Tendonitis:

Tendons are the connective tissues which connect joints and muscles. Because of the excessive use of hip joint, tendons may get inflamed and cause hip pain.

Avascular Necrosis:

This is a health condition that occurs because of insufficient blood flow to the bones. This is caused by the usage of cortisone injections for long period. Organ transplantation, injury, sickle cell anemia, etc are other avascular necrosis causes.

The spinal cord is divided into several discs that are present between the spine bones and also the protective shock absorbing pads. In some cases, these discs rub against each other, which causes to gel to flow out, resulting in pain. This condition is referred to as herniated disc or spinal disc herniation. Often, spinal disc herniation is called slipped disc or slip disc, but the terms are misleading because the discs are tightly packed between the 2 vertebrae. It is impossible to slip these discs from their place. It may get injured only. Below lines give information on the slipped disc symptoms.

Slipped Disc Causes:

There are several factors that lead to a slipped disc. However, slip disc symptoms and back problems are caused by an injury which are triggered by degeneration of elasticity, putting too much pressure while lifting heavy objects, wrong bending positions and wrong way of turning or twisting.

Slipped Disc Symptoms:

Following are some of the symptoms of slipped disc.

• Most of the patients experience numbness and tingling sensation in the spinal cord region. Also, you may experience severe pins and needles sensation or major electric shocks which are very painful.
• People suffering from slip discs often experience electric shock pains. This occurs due to disc compression. If slipped disc occurs in neck, electric shocks may occur in arms and if it occurs in lower back, shocks are experienced in the legs.
• Some people experience bladder and bowel problems that comes out due to slipped disc.
• You may experience weakness and intense muscle pain which is caused by the nerve irritation. If nerves don’t function properly, the reflexes in your body are afflicted.
• Numbness and mild or severe pain in hands, shoulder and neck can be experienced by a person with slipped disc in the neck.
• Apart from numbness, other symptoms that you can notice are chronic pain in the legs, feet and buttocks.
• You may experience pain for every small movement such as sneezing, coughing or while raising legs.
• You may not have any feeling in the thigh or in the rectum area. You may also have paralysis attacks.
• You may not have any sensation in legs.

Too much demand on a weak muscle can cause it to spasm. Sometimes a group of muscles gets into the act, contracting in pain and immobilizing the injured area. You experience that contraction as pain. As these contracted muscles tighten, the small blood vessels in them narrow, and that means less oxygen and nutrition from the blood get carried into the muscle cells and more wastes remain. Chronic tension caused by emotion can create the same constricted circulation.

Other times, the problems concerns the relationship of the vertebrae to each other and to the disks. A prolapsed or slipped disk can pinch a peripheral nerve. That pinched nerve may cause problems elsewhere in the body. A disk can become so badly squeezed that part of it is forced out from between the vertebrae. If the disk in question is pressing on the sciatic nerve, a major nerve in the body with branches throughout the lower body and legs, you have sciatica.

1. There are several hand held massagers which can be used easily by you on the affected muscles to get relief from pain.
2. Therapy cane (made of metal rod with wooden balls), available at medical supply stores is an excellent self-massage tool.
3. Tennis balls in an old sock, is another popular do-it-yourself back pain massage technique. Place two tennis balls inside a sock and knot the open end. Lie on your back and roll the ball. The socks should be placed such that the balls are on either sides of the spine. Keep the balls rolling up and down your back. Increase the pressure gradually.
4. Hot bath shower is also very helpful.

• Use ice compress to reduce pain and inflammation in the injured area. Do not use ice for more than 5 minutes. After compression with ice, switch over to heat.
• Applying raw potato is an excellent remedy for back pain. It reduces pain in the lower back.
• Take 2-3 cloves of garlic every morning. For best results, rub oil prepared from garlic on your back. The oil is prepared by adding 10-15 cloves of garlic to boiling mustard oil or coconut oil. Allow the oil to remain for 3-4 hours and then bathe in warm water.
• Lemon juice mixed with salt taken twice daily will give great relief from back pain.
• Prepare tea with ginger, pepper and clove and drink at least twice a day.
• Sleep on your back on a firm mattress.
• In the morning drink glucose or honey in warm water.
• Vitamin C is very helpful in curing severe backaches.
• While sitting or lying down, change your positions as often a possible.
• Massaging the back with turpentine oil is also beneficial.
• Boil cabbage leaves in milk, when a jelly is formed, spread on a cloth and apply hot on the back and leave overnight.

There are certain yogasanas also that are very helpful in the treatment of back pain. 

Halasana:

Halasana or the plough pose helps strengthen your spine and abdominal muscles. It increases the flexibility of the spine and nourishes the 31 pairs of spinal nerves.

1. Lie on your back with your legs straight and eyes closed. Let you hands lie on your sides with palms facing the ground.
2. Slowly raise your legs without bending the knees. First raise them to 30 degrees and then further to 90 degrees.
3. Press your hands for support and bring your legs towards your head.
4. Stretch and bend your legs as far as possible and let your toes touch the ground. If you are not able to make your toes touch the ground, then do not force your leg.
5. Stretch them as far as possible.
6. Slowly come back to the initial position.

This pose can cause injury if not performed properly. Those suffering from cervical spondilitis should perform it very carefully. So it is advisable to consult a good yoga instructor before you attempt this pose.

Shoulder stand (Sarvangasana)

1. Lie on the back, arms on your sides and palms turned down.
2. Slowly raise the legs, trunk and hips in a vertical position perpendicular to the ground.
3. Rest your elbows firmly on the floor supporting your back.
4. Push the chest forward towards the chin.
5. Don’t allow the body to shake.

Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose)

1. Cobra posture strengthens and increases the flexibility of your spine.
2. Lie on your stomach facing down. Stretch your legs back keeping the top part of your feet touching the floor. Bend your elbows and keep your hands on the floor below your shoulders.
3. As you inhale, lift your head, neck and chest off the floor to form an arch.
4. Maintain the pose for 15 seconds.
5. While exhaling, come back to the initial position.