How to Use Water Exercises for Back Pain

Many people with back pain use water exercises for relief and relaxation. By reducing the amount of pressure on the intervertebral discs and joints, the muscles in your back are less likely to become inflamed and painful. When you exercise in a pool, the water helps to support your body weight while you work to increase the strength of the muscles in your back, preventing further stiffness and pain.

Warm up for at least 5 minutes before beginning to use water exercises to manage your back pain. Try to do the same type of movements included in the exercises you plan to perform but at a slower pace. Warming up will allow your body temperature, breathing pattern and heart rate to adjust to the levels needed for aerobic exercise.

Stay hydrated when exercising to reduce back pain. Even though you will be submerged in water the majority of the time, you still need to drink plenty of it before, during and after your workout to keep the muscles in your back from tightening.

Work out in warm water to keep your back as comfortable as possible. The temperature of your pool's water should be at least 80 degrees F when used for aerobic exercise.

Exercise your back muscles by standing against the wall in the shallow end of the pool and performing squats in sets of five. Place your feet shoulder-width apart and a few inches away from the wall, and then slowly crouch down, allowing your back to slide down the wall. Keep going until your knees are bent as if you are sitting down, rest for 5 seconds and then stand once more.

Walk or march in the water for intervals of 10 to 15 minutes without resting. This type of low-impact aerobic activity will strengthen the muscles in your back and abdominals, without putting stress on the discs and joints in your back.

Cool off by walking very slowly through the water for about 5 minutes. This will allow the muscles in your back to readjust to their normal resting states and should prevent any unnecessary soreness.

How to Cure Back Pain

Most of us will suffer from back pain sometime during our lives, probably more than once. Fortunately, the majority of us can cure our back pain at home with rest, over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and other simple remedies. For those who suffer from extreme, ongoing pain, doctors may prescribe prescription drugs and more intensive therapy. Surgery also remains an option for those who suffer from severe, ongoing back pain that does not respond to less drastic measures.

Things You'll Need

• Prescription drugs
• Heating pads
• Ice packs
• Pain medications

Take Steps to Cure Your Back Pain

1. Treat back pain conservatively. Surgery is a last resort to cure even severe, chronic back pain.

2. Avoid taking to your bed to cure back pain. Extended bed rest may make back pain worse, not better. One or 2 days at most is recommended for back pain from sprains or strains.

3. Medicate mild to moderate back pain with over-the-counter drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen.

4. Use heat or cold therapy to cure back pain. Alternating hot and cold dressings can be especially effective for back pain caused by sprains or strains.

5. Stretch your back to improve its condition. Stretching combined with mild exercise can also be helpful in relieving back pain.

6. Use prescription drugs to cure back pain only under the close and continued supervision of your doctor. NSAIDs and muscle relaxants are often prescribed for back pain relief. Doctors may prescribe very short-term use of **** or codeine to ease severe, chronic pain.

7. Consider doctor-supervised cortisone injections to cure back pain caused by pinched nerves or other sources of nerve inflammation.

8. Work with a massage therapist or a physical therapist to get relief from back pain. Therapies may include electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and ultrasound. Therapists will also train you in techniques to reduce flare ups of back pain and to avoid reinjuring your back.

9. Discuss surgery when other options to cure back pain have been exhausted, or when your doctor advises that surgery is needed for structural, nerve or soft tissue damage and/or disease.

Radiation Treatment for Back Pain

Radiation therapy, also called radiotherapy, is a popular treatment for treating and removing malignant and benign tumors. Back pain is a common condition in industrialized societies where sedentary lifestyles are the norm. Radiation therapy is not used to treat common back pains, such as slipped discs, a herniated back and other related ailments. There is only a particular kind of back pain in which radiation is used: back pain that is the result of a tumor.

Administering Radiation Therapy
Cancer can occur in the upper or lower back. Pain can be caused by spinal tumors located anywhere from the spine to the anal canal. In some cases, back pain can be a result of cancers associated with the urinary bladder. If a part of skin in the anterior part of the body is afflicted with cancer and is causing pain, that can also qualify as a case for radiation therapy.

Types of Radiation Therapy for Back Pain
There are a broad variety of radiotherapy options for removing or treating spinal tumors that cause back pain. These include external radiotherapy, which is administered from outside the body; internal radiotherapy, which delivers radiation to the affected part through sealed packets placed near the tumor; palliative radiotherapy, which is given to reduce pain and prevent the spread of the tumor, and prophylactic radiotherapy, which is given to non-cancerous areas to prevent them from becoming affected.

Radiation Therapy
The preferred outcome of radiation therapy is destruction, or at least weakening, of the spinal tumor. Depending on the severity and other factors that a qualified oncologist will determine, radiation therapy may be administered for any duration between one day and 10 weeks. Generally, most cases require treatment periods of five to seven weeks. A team of doctors is on hand to coordinate and carry out the radiation treatment. These include a neuroradiologist, a radiation oncologist, an angiographer, a dosimetrist who determines the input and number of times radiation is required, and a pathologist. This team makes a careful evaluation of the radiation therapy required based on several factors such as the patient's condition, age and symptoms. Spots in which radiation is needed are marked on the body, and radiation is passed through a linear accelerator. The entire procedure lasts barely five minutes and is painless.

Side effects of radiotherapy for the back are the same as those with radiation for any kind of cancer. These include vomiting; irritation on the locus of the therapy; hair loss and exhaustion.