You will not appreciate your back until it is injured. United Kingdom residents do not tend to worry about their back and its muscles until they suffer from a back injury and end up lying flat on their back and missing the days in which movement was easy and pain free. Once injured, most people take steps to ensure that their backs stay as healthy as possible. The most frustrating part of injuring a back muscle is the knowledge that a few simple precautions could have kept the injury from happening altogether. Here are some suggestions to keep back injuries from happening.
1. Instead of using your back to sit up when you wake up each morning, use your hips to lean forward. Do not arch your back. Instead use your elbows as levers to raise your upper body up off of the bed and then balance your weight on your hands as you let your legs carry your body around and into a sitting position.
2. Keep your legs slightly bent or put a pillow beneath your knees to support the weight of your legs if you sleep on your back. This helps to relieve the strain that would otherwise be put on your back muscles.
3. You should avoid sleeping on your stomach if at all possible. It is terrible for your back.
4. You might like the soft cushion of a springy mattress, but a firm mattress is much better for your back. If you have a back disorder, ask your doctor what kind of mattress you should invest in.
5. Rotate the top mattress on your bed every three months or so and flip it over at least once every six months.
6. Lift with your knees instead of with your back. This might feel clich but it is still true. Let your hips and your knees bear the weight of whatever it is that you are trying to lift. If lifting it above shoulder level, try not to arch your back.
7. Instead of slumping in your chair or leaning over your desk, sit up straight! Maintaining perfect posture will feel unnatural at first, but it takes the strain of supporting your upper body weight off of your spine. It also looks quite a bit better than slouching or slumping.
8. When it comes time to get out of the car, do not arch your back. Let the momentum from swinging your legs out of the car turn your upper body as well. Place your hands on the sides of the seat and push yourself up and out of the car or grab hold of the door frame and pull yourself out of the car. Use your hips and knees to bend.
The content of this page is informed by feedback from practices in Scotland and also clinics in Exeter. Further input was received from osteopaths in the Edinburgh area and osteopathic practitioners in Southampton. Finally a contribution was made by a practitioner in Cambridge.