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How to Alleviate Lower Back Pain While Sitting, Standing and Sleeping

How to Alleviate Lower Back Pain While Sitting, Standing and Sleeping
“Today, we frequently bend over, rounding our backs, to pick things up off of the floor. Through hours of sitting, our hips have tightened, and we have lost the ability to squat deeply to the floor,” says Makayla McIntosh, a OneFirelight Certified Pilates Instructor… “As someone who suffered from an acute low back injury from dancing that turned into chronic back pain, I learned that much of our back pain could be improved or eliminated just by changing how we sit, stand, and sleep,”

Back pain is one of the most common types of pain among adults in the United States. Such pain can be caused by strained muscles or ligaments, excess weight, poor posture, psychological problems, or ordinary activities, such as sitting and bending. Nearly 40% of adults in the U.S. suffer from back pain according to a 2019 National Health Survey. It is also the leading cause of disability among U.S. adults.

The modern design of chairs, both in cars and for desk, emphasize “comfort and cushion” over balancing the pelvis to reduce strain on the low back. Bending over a computer or texting on a smartphone, as well as sitting for long hours has led to many people struggling with acute or chronic low back pain. 

OneFirelight is a newly introduced inspirational online wellness platform that promotes unity, strength and a sense of balance through a diverse catalog of hundreds of one-of-a-kind streaming fitness classes.  To provide a mind, body spirit vibe to wellness, most of the classes are exquisitely filmed in nature and choreographed to the licensed soul-nurturing music and unifying expressions of global icon Bob Marley, grandson Skip Marley, as well as other conscious musicians from the Blue Mountain Music Catalog. The music produces a spiritual enrichment and the beautiful settings of water and greenery induce a meditative state of mind.

Makayla’s 45-Minute Workout for lower back pain on the OneFirelight fitness platform will guide you through the exercises designed to alleviate pressure on the low back and strengthen the core,” concludes Makayla.

It’s through these positions that we can help our ideal alignment and activate the musculature that helps support our spine, or we can add significant stress to it. Here are some of Makayla’s favorite tips for alleviating pressure on the low back: 

When sitting: 

  • Make sure your feet fully touch the ground and you can put weight into them. This can be accomplished by either getting a lower chair or using a box or books to bring the ground to your feet. 
  • Balance your weight evenly between your pubic bone and sitz bones. This helps you distribute your weight evenly on your spine, so you are in a neutral spine and not rounded or arched. 
  • Use the muscles in your legs and keep your legs active by occasionally stretching them out, pointing and flexing your toes, circulating your foot outward then inward. This keeps your body more active and absorbs the energy into your legs instead of stress on your low back. 

When standing:

  • Don’t lock out your legs – Keep a soft bend to your knees so they stay active, and you use the muscles of your leg. By keeping your legs soft, this will help you achieve a neutral pelvis 
  • Don’t allow your ribs to protrude – Think about knitting the fronts of your ribs together to help maintain a neutral spine. 
  • Keep your pelvis neutral – One of the main reasons for back pain while standing, is either sticking your tailbone out, which causes extra stress on the low-back, or locking out your legs and your shoulders end up further behind your hips (which land in a tuck) which also causes extra stress on the low back. 

When sleeping: 

  • For back sleepers – Keep a pillow or towel underneath your knees. There’s a reason massage therapists and physical therapists place a pillow underneath your knees when lying on your back. It takes stress and pressure off. 
  • For side sleepers – Use three pillows. One pillow goes underneath your head, all the way to your shoulders to support your neck. One pillow goes beside you to prop up your arm to keep your rib cage stacked. One pillow goes between your knees to keep your pelvis stacked. You can also slide a towel into the lift on your side, around the belly button area to also support the low back. 
  • Don’t sleep in positions that destabilize the pelvis, as this leads to more long-term issues and trouble walking. 

OneFirelight brings a mind, body, spirit modality to the fitness space by combining the restorative effects of yoga practice, strength building of cardio/kickboxing, healing of sound meditation, and joyfulness of dance, OneFirelight results in calming the mind, strengthening the body, and uplifting the spirit. The unique and one-of-a-kind platform offerings are carefully curated to promote expressions of love, peace and unity.

To try OneFirelight with free 3-day guest pass, go to www.onefirelight.com

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