Do Back Braces Help With Your Back Pain?

June 28, 2020

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Back braces are also known as lumbar support devices. Research recommends that using back braces can provide short-term relief. Most people suffering from such back discomforts may feel mild to moderate pain. In some cases, they may become debilitating. Worse are the severe cases as you may feel like an electrified claw is clamping down on the lower part of your back, trying to tear into each nerve in that region of your body. As a result, even the smallest of movements, such as walking, coughing, or getting up from a chair, can feel like pure torture. Some individuals would describe their back pain as similar to having a stiff back identical to concrete or as sensitive as an exposed nerve.

Why Use A Back Brace? 

Back pain can be caused by disorders and injury, precisely due to bad posture and improper lifting. For this reason, wearing a back brace is a popular way to prevent back pain from happening and improve your posture.

Back braces can hold up your back in the best position possible while preventing strain when you’re standing or sitting. A back brace is excellent to wear while you’re doing the heavy lifting, working, exercising, and for a variety of other situations.

Back Braces According To Studies

A back brace or lumbar support device can provide back pain sufferers some short-term relief.  The Annals of Physical Rehabilitation Medicine journal published an analysis of 28 studies in their September 2016 issue. Their findings said, these devices won't cure the underlying condition, but they are simple and relatively inexpensive. 

In their 2016 meta-analysis, researchers reported that lumbar support devices are quite useful for reducing pain among people who suffer from subacute back pain. It means it's past the acute stage – saying it's sudden and short in duration – but not long-lasting enough to be considered chronic.

How Long Should You Wear Your Back Brace?

A back brace should not be worn more than 2 hours a day. Excessive use of a back brace can, in fact, lead to the weakening of your core and muscle atrophy.

It is crucial to get a back brace that:

  • Is comfortable
  • Fits you well
  • Has the right level of pain relief
  • Feels good and supportive

Back Braces Can Help Manage Several Back Conditions

Back braces offer no permanent cure for back pain. However, they can undeniably help manage the symptoms of many different back problems. These would include the following:

  • Back muscle sprains
  • Osteoporosis
  • Spinal cord injuries
  • Kyphosis
  • Ankylosing spondylitis
  • Spinal fractures
  • Whiplash
  • Spinal tumors
  • Scoliosis
  • Spondylolisthesis

All back problems are quite different, and each one requires varying levels of treatment. There are also many kinds of back braces, which means one type may benefit your current situation better than other braces. Before trying back bracing as a treatment, please discuss your options with your family doctor.

Benefits of Wearing a Back Brace

  • Improves Your Posture

A good posture means: the spine should be in an upright position, the chest up, the shoulders moved back, and your core tucked in. How many of us sit or stand properly in this position? Many of us continue to slouch while sitting, thus, curving our spine. Slouching not only results in bad posture, but it causes severe back pain. 

Frequently doing bad postures over time can cause spinal weakness and may even result in deformities. As a result, you become vulnerable to back injuries.

What’s the best way to ensure your spine is always in healthy alignment? A back brace will force your spine in a straightened position. 

  • Immobilization

Are you aware that immobilization is beneficial for your back and spine? Unnecessary movement can help prevent back injury and pain, especially if you just had spinal surgery or past back injury. In some situations, immobilization is essential for your back to heal properly. It is where a back brace comes into play effectively because it prevents significant movements in the back area. These movements include extension, flexion, and rotation. Therefore, this helps avoid moving your back to a full range of motion, preventing back pain and further injuries. Make sure you choose the right kind of back brace for this purpose.

  • Prevents Back Pain

Back pain can interfere with many important aspects of our lives. It can make exercising, working, and even doing simple daily functions become unbearable. A back brace keeps you from doing unnecessary movements that damage your back even more. This helps keep the proper alignment of your spine and make your back muscles stronger. As a result, it reduces your back pain. 

Correcting the Main Cause of Your Back Pain

Back braces can only offer temporary relief from back pain while upper cervical care, on the other hand, can give you long-term relief. Back braces can only deal with the symptoms, not the root cause of back pains. If your back pain is due to misalignment, upper cervical care has your back covered literally!

When your atlas vertebra is misaligned, it can influence how your back feels and functions. Over time, this will contribute to the onset of chronic back pains if left untreated. To achieve longer-lasting relief from your back pain, understanding, and getting to the leading cause of your particular problem is of utmost importance. 

Upper cervical practitioners help patients achieve back pain relief through precise, gentle, and long-lasting adjustments of the upper cervical spine (neck). This method is called upper cervical chiropractic. The optimal health of your entire spine is dependent on how perfectly positioned the uppermost vertebra is. 

Upper cervical chiropractic care's goal is not to track any stubborn back pain symptoms and compensations. Instead, it mainly focuses on approaching the root cause of your health issues to accomplish longer-term results. 

Use our search function to look for an upper cervical chiropractor for your back pain.

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