Massage Chairs Mollify Lower Back Spasms
Did you know that low back pain affects hundreds of thousands of people each year? We all know the symptoms. One wrong twist or turn and our back makes a twang and ouch! Sometimes, it happens fast, while other times its a gradual process. Symptoms develop through times perhaps starting with stiffness and progressing on to soreness. At some point in our lifetime, we will experience low back pain. As someone that has lower back pain, I found that a massage chair has helped in many ways.
First off, we know that prevention should be our first and foremost goal. So I will present some quick items to consider. Preventing low back pain means taking positive action to improve your overall health as well as your back health. First realize that you must protect your back in your activities. This means learning the correct ways of lifting, sitting and standing.
The first areas of prevention are making sure you use correct posture when standing, sitting and lifting. These 3 activities constitute the highest percentage of injuries to the lower back. If you stand, for example, you should hold your head up high and your shoulders should be back. No slouching. If you slouch then the weight is being concentrated in the lower back which fatigues the muscles.
How good is your sitting posture? Do you slouch or do you sit upright? If you slouch, then you make your upper body compensate for the uneven distribution of weight. This will begin to fatigue those muscles as they have to take more than their normal share of your body weight. Try sitting up straight and put your shoulders back. If you sit right, it actually feels better.
Another area to monitor proactively is lifting. Lifting involves additional weight and movement. Because of the extra weight, using proper lifting techniques is very important. The main change that is needed is to let your legs do the lifting and not your back. Most people bend over and let their lower back take the brunt of the weight. The proper way is to bend your knees and pick up the object by extending your legs straight again.
Massage chairs help relieve lower back pain by massage treatments. There are a variety of programs I have used to reduce soreness and discomfort. A rolling massage helps to adjust the vertebrae. You can use a shiatsu massage to relieve soreness and to revitalize your muscles. I have even used some of the traction features of the newer massage chairs to stretch my lower body.
To take some pressure off my lower back, you can select a rolling massage. The massage chair uses rollers to go up and down your spine. You can recline the chair to find the pressure you want applied. The rollers move slowly up and down the spine. As it passes each cervical disc, it will give it a gentle press. This action helps to loosen the soft tissue around the cervical discs.
One excellent therapeutic program on many massage chairs is the Shiatsu massage program. The Shiatsu technique originally comes from Japan and uses acupressure points as well as certain pressure techniques to relax the body. This massage is invigorating and provides soothing relief for the whole body.
Some of the more advanced massage chairs have a traction system. The massage chair will actually hold your feet. It raises the leg rest to the horizontal position. With you in a seated position, the leg rest starts to move downward to 3 successively lower positions. This stretches out the lower body. All this while you are getting your massage treatment!
If you have back pain, then a massage chair may be an important compliment to your overall health and wellness plan. Prevention is certainly the best medicine. However, if you are affected by low back pain, then finding the right treatments is paramount to proper recovery. A massage chair can help you both on the prevention side and on the recovery side.