Experiencing back pain while at work is an experience many can relate to – whether you’re on the tools or sitting at a desk, back pain can come to us all. So, how best to manage it? Like with all things pain, managing it is about effective treatment when it comes, and effective preventative measures to stop it from coming back.
Choosing the Best Method for Relieving Back Pain
If you’ve been overcome by back pain at work before, it’s likely to happen again. This is why you must prepare and ensure you have what you need to treat your back pain ready at hand wherever it is you work. So, what type of pain relief works best for you?
Consider how you’ll store it
To be prepared for pain, you need to have the treatment constantly with you, which makes the form that treatment comes in all important.
If you work in the trades, you can keep your chosen pain treatment in your car but be careful with the temperature of your car – some medication will lose effectiveness if not stored within a certain temperature range (make sure to read the label).
If you work in an office environment, you may be able to store what you need at your desk. However, if you share desks or have nowhere to keep your medication on your desk, it may be better to keep it in your work bag. If this is the case, you want to pick a treatment that doesn’t take up too much room in your bag.
Finally, if you work with children or animals, you want to make sure the place you keep your treatment is not somewhere the children or animals can get to it.
Consider how your movement is impacted
Back pain can limit your movement, this can be especially inconvenient if your work requires physical labour.
While taking a pill and remaining still until the medication takes effect may be a good option for someone whose work is sedentary, sitting back and waiting is not an option for all. This is where fast acting patches and creams can be a great option to get you moving again.
Consider how discreet you wish to be
Some pain treatments are more discreet than others. Pills and patches are great for when you don’t want to advertise to others that you’re currently in pain, while the smell of cream could tip your colleagues off.
Another thing to think about in terms of discretion is the process of receiving the treatment – oral pills are certainly the quickest and easiest, while patches and creams will need you to lift your shirt.
Consider how effective it is
Some forms of pain relief will work better for you than others, when you’re at work you need the pain relief to work well every time. No matter the other considerations, the need for the pain relief to work comes above all else – always choose the option that works best for you.
How to Prevent Back Pain
Methods for preventing back pain before it happens will change depending on where you work! This is because back pain has different causes for people who sit most of the day versus people who are always on their feet.
Back pain in office jobs
When working in an office, the main culprit of back pain is often poor posture and remaining sedentary. At a desk job, poor posture can be the result of your desk and screen not being at the right hight and/or your chair not providing lumbar support. Being sedentary is another issue inherent in office jobs as your job requires you to be chained to your desk. Fix these problems and you’ll find your back pain becoming considerably less frequent. You may also want to invest in a standing desk, being able to stand up every now and then may also help prevent pain.
Correct height for your desk and screen
You can help prevent back pain by changing the way you sit at your desk! When adjusting the height of your monitor, make sure your eye level is at the top of the screen. To look at the middle of the screen, you should be looking down slightly. Your monitor should sit arm's length away from you, if you’ve got a bigger screen then it should be further away!
Chairs with lumbar support
Your lower back must be supported by your desk chair, this will help you sit up correctly – humans tend to slouch forward when sitting, this is not good for our back! Ergonomic chairs are great for jobs that require a lot of sitting as they’re designed to support your back and promote good posture.
Back pains in physical labour jobs
Much like office jobs, the back pain you develop while working more physical jobs due to poor posture. However, the poor posture has less to do with sitting and more to do with how you lift and carry heavy items.
You’ve heard it before, but we’ll say it again: always lift with your knees! You should also take regular breaks to give your muscles time to rest, pushing yourself too hard can lead to injury.
Choosing the Right Treatment for You
At Deep Heat, we have what you need to help make your back pain a thing of the past. Whether you’re wanting oral pain relief, heat creams, patches, or gels, Deep Heat is what you need. You can find all our products at a reasonable price today, find your closest stockist.
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