Once you feel low back pain, you don’t want to experience it again. Back pain, though, is not typically a one and done condition, yet life marches forward and carries you with it. Pain lessens. You begin moving and doing what you did before. Your activities of daily life get done. On occasions, it takes a little longer to return to the activities and/or the way you do the activities. Back belts may come in handy with these residual issues of Southern New Hampshire back pain.
BACK BELTS FOR WORKERS WHO LIFT, BEND, TWIST
A study of material handlers with back pain assessed the use of extensible, non-extensible, and no belts in back pain patients and healthy control volunteers. The researchers checked for two outcomes: pain-related and biomechanical. As far as biomechanical outcomes go, both the belt types decreased lumbar spine range of motion equally in low back pain patients and in healthy volunteers doing small and deep trunk flexion motions. (Yay!) Both belts also decreased pain, the fear of pain, and the catastrophizing of pain in the back pain patients. (Another benefit!) Belts may permit for a slow return to physical work activities to avert disability or retain the motion of these activities after a low back pain event. (1) New Hampshire Spine and Sport appreciates these additions to the healing process.
BACK BELTS FOR OFFICE WORKERS
Another study of extensible, non-extensible, and no belt use in low back pain office workers was performed. Biomechanically, belt use in all the groups (those with back pain who wore either type of belt and those who were healthy office workers) benefitted sit-to-stand movement. For the back pain patients, belt use decreased pain intensity, pain-related anxiety, and pain catastrophizing. The researchers proposed that either type of belt may be beneficial in activities of daily living of patients with low back pain and of healthy office workers. (2) New Hampshire Spine and Sport favors the use of tools that keep our Southern New Hampshire back pain patients active and mobile and confident in their ability to be active and moving. We work with our patients to design a Southern New Hampshire chiropractic treatment plan that may or may not incorporate a back brace and watch its use so that it remains a beneficial tool and not a hindrance to healing.
USING A BACK BELT
We do not want you to fear using a back brace for a while. There is some controversy over belt use, but a back belt may also help as shown in these papers. Know that New Hampshire Spine and Sport will work with you and your specific condition as to whether back belt use may be beneficial. All of us just want pain relief and a return to activities that you like.
CONTACT New Hampshire Spine and Sport
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Nate McKee on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. He describes his use of the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for managing spinal stenosis and associated balance issues for which one test is the sit-to-stand test discussed in these papers.
Make your Southern New Hampshire chiropractic appointment today. Southern New Hampshire chiropractic care gets the desire to not ever feel back pain again. We want our Southern New Hampshire back pain patients to know that there is hope, there is help, and there is a return to life and its activities via tools like back belts integrated into a treatment plan alongside spinal manipulation, nutrition, exercise, etc.