Salma Khattab 
One of the worst types of pains of all time is back pain. It can be caused by many reasons. Sometimes the nature of your daily work (e.g. always sitting on a chair or doing household chores all day) is what may cause it. Some other times, it's because of an injury caused by carrying a heavy weight in a wrong way for example. No matter what the reason may be, the following tips will help you ease such an annoying pain, enabling you to complete your daily activities normally:
1. Cold & hot therapy:
Use ice to apply regularly on the painful areas on your back. By 'regular' I mean several times a day in which the duration may be up to 20 minutes each time. Use a thin towel/piece of cloth to wrap the ice cubes/pack in order to protect your skin. Repeat this for 3-4 days then this is how you switch to heat: Warm-don't boil some water and pour it in a firm bottle or apply a heating pad on the same parts of your back that hurt. This will help relax your muscles, as well as increase the blood flow near the affected area. I also recommend warm baths, they contribute a lot to the relaxation of the body muscles.
Important note: Never sleep on a heating pad or a pack of ice, that may cause burns/further tissue damage.
2. Don't rest; exercise:
Yes! It's a common mistake that people do. Once anyone experiences back pain, they're immediately advised to rest in bed for days. Well, resting may be helpful for a day or two, however, prolonged rest is never recommended and can make your pain worse. Instead, try walking since it will increase the stability of your spine and stimulate the release of healing nutrients and oxygen in your body. If you're willing to take your exercise to the next level, make sure not to push yourself too hard specially if you are new to aerobic exercise. I advise you to start with a 5-7 minute exercise then you can slowly and prudently build up on that.
3. Avoid high heels:
Heels can actually make things a lot worse when it comes to your back. Imagine your spine being already in need of balance and stability, and you're not being any helpful, picking the most difficult pair of foot wear to walk in! Let's just thank the latest fashion trends that allowed us today to wear sneakers and flats almost on every outfits even evening ones! By such, you can pick a comfortable pair of shoes and still look fabulous. You don't have an excuse now!
4. Hands-on therapy:
If all the previous tips didn't work out well, I suggest you try having a professional back massage treatment. I would like to stress on 'professional' in reference to a licensed specialist. Recent studies showed that one weekly massage (over a 10 week period) helped improve pain and functioning especially for people who suffer chronic back pain. Back massage can help relieve structural problems of the spine as well as restore lost mobility if performed professionally.
Main Image Credits: Instagram @samanyahya
