At some point in their lives, a large majority of people, both men and women, will suffer with back pain.
It can be completely debilitating when it strikes, and varies in severeness from mild stiffness to the kind of back pain that completely restricts your ability to move.
It can develop from not bending properly when lifting and moving heavy items, or once you've had back problems, it can re-occur with the slightest of activities such as simply bending to tie your shoelaces if you catch it wrong.
So, what can you do? I myself have suffered with quite severe back pain at various times in my life, although during the last two years I've been fortunate enough for it not to happen again.
Around the same time that I decided to lose weight and increase my fitness I realised that my back pain was not re-occurring.
Whether that is merely coincidence I do not know, but it does stand to reason that the less weight you are carrying around, the less stress you are putting on your back.
If you do get the kind of back pain which badly limits your movement, the worst thing you can do is to stop moving! This does sound counter-intuitive, but your back will eventually correct itself (unless of course it is something extremely severe such as a slipped disc), and you need to keep moving to allow this to happen.
I don't mean running or lifting heavy weights, but just keep walking and moving around as much as you can.
Do NOT take yourself to bed and lie flat for days on end as you will find this will only aggravate the situation and your mobility will worsen.
See your doctor and ask them to prescribe painkillers, and make sure you take them at regular intervals to keep the pain under control until you regain full mobility.
Once your back has returned to normal, do ensure you act sensibly when lifting anything, such as bending at your knees to make sure it doesn't happen again.
It can be completely debilitating when it strikes, and varies in severeness from mild stiffness to the kind of back pain that completely restricts your ability to move.
It can develop from not bending properly when lifting and moving heavy items, or once you've had back problems, it can re-occur with the slightest of activities such as simply bending to tie your shoelaces if you catch it wrong.
So, what can you do? I myself have suffered with quite severe back pain at various times in my life, although during the last two years I've been fortunate enough for it not to happen again.
Around the same time that I decided to lose weight and increase my fitness I realised that my back pain was not re-occurring.
Whether that is merely coincidence I do not know, but it does stand to reason that the less weight you are carrying around, the less stress you are putting on your back.
If you do get the kind of back pain which badly limits your movement, the worst thing you can do is to stop moving! This does sound counter-intuitive, but your back will eventually correct itself (unless of course it is something extremely severe such as a slipped disc), and you need to keep moving to allow this to happen.
I don't mean running or lifting heavy weights, but just keep walking and moving around as much as you can.
Do NOT take yourself to bed and lie flat for days on end as you will find this will only aggravate the situation and your mobility will worsen.
See your doctor and ask them to prescribe painkillers, and make sure you take them at regular intervals to keep the pain under control until you regain full mobility.
Once your back has returned to normal, do ensure you act sensibly when lifting anything, such as bending at your knees to make sure it doesn't happen again.