Home Remedies for What To Do When You’re Herniated Disc, Neck Or Back Pain Flairs Up At Home And You Need Relief

Chronic sufferers of spinal pain may have periods of feeling better ….. and feeling a lot worse.  There’s a few things you can do (and things you should NOT do) at home for those bad days:

• Get immediate application of ice packs to the area in pain.  You can also ice the area where the pain is radiating such as if your neck pain is going into the shoulder or upper back, the ice both the neck and upper back area.
• Gel packs are better than ice cubes in a plastic bag as the gel pack will contour to the natural curves of the body and are more comfortable to use.
• Keep the ice on 15 to 20 minutes per application and no more.  It will have the reverse
• affect if left on too long.
• Repeat these applications hourly.  You can do this on and off procedure all day without harm.  Repetition is key to reducing inflammation.
• Keep a thin towel over the ice.  Don’t take it so cold so as to burn the skin.

DO  NOT   APPLY  HEAT   IN   ANY     FORM

• Get off your feet.    The least “compressive” or stressful position to the disc and joints of the the spine is recumbent.   There is no ONE correct way to be positioned.  The one that is most comfortable for you is telling your body it is correct.

Most low back sufferers seem to feel better face up with a few firm pillows under the knees whereby the thighs are 45 to 90 degrees to the surface upon which you are lying

• Do NOT try to exercise the pain away.  Exercise is compressive and damaging to the disc.  While quite important in a comprehensive spine rehab program, exercise should not be done in the inflammatory stage and certainly not for acute flare ups.
• Medication:    OTC ant- inflammatories such as Alleve may “take the edge”   off.  However, any drug may be harmful to the liver or kidney if overused.   Keep it to a minimum where possible.

Special Note:  Drugs may artificially “fool” the body that your are healed.  Many will overdue it with activity and ignore the underlying damage as these drugs mask the pain and further damage the discs and underlying joints (much more on  this in another posting)

This should be helpful for short term relief during those rough times.   If you’re pain continues, seek professional consultation from a non surgical decompression specialist.

Til next time.

Dr. Dave Podell, DC

Want to find out if you’re a candidate. Give us a call at  Waterfront Spine Institute for a no charge consultation  201-840-1980 or go to  www.waterfrontspinerehab.com for more info

Thank you so much for visiting my site. I encourage you to leave your questions and comments below. And for more information on Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression please fill out the form to the right or give us a call at 201-840-1980

About Dr. Podell, DC: Dr. Dave Podell, DC has been in active practice for over 25 years and has seen countless numbers of the most difficult and previously failed cases.   As the clinic director of the Waterfront Spine Institute in Edgewater, New Jersey, just minutes from the GW Bridge, Lincoln Tunnel and midtown Manhattan, Dr. Podell, DC runs one of the Northeast’s most advanced and evolutionary multi-disciplinary clinics for the treatment of disc herniation and associated ailments. Dr. Podell sits on the advisory board of Spinal Aid Centers Of America and trains other health care providers in the science and art of non surgical spinal decompression in his Edgewater facility. He continues to train and advance his clinic’s state of the art spinal rehabilitation programs and is known nationwide in his field.  He is additionally certified in neurodiagnostic evaluations, Spinal Manipulation Under Anesthesia and Disability Impairment rating. In addition to NSSD, he had received advanced training in Spinal Chiropractic Biophysics, Active Therapeutic Techniques, MedX and Spine Force Spinal Rehabilitation, Extremity manipulation, orthopedics and neurology.