Mary Franz - Mar 12th, 2011
When your back hurts, it's tempting to avoid any sort of movement that makes it feel worse, and certainly, you should take it easy with some movements. Heavy lifting, for example, especially when done improperly, will likely worsen your back pain. However, in a recent study, staying active appeared to offer better results than resting.
The study was conducted with Japanese workers suffering from low back strain. The epidemiological study consisted of 475 people who suffered low back strain in the past year and who responded to the survey at the end of the year. The numbers were whittled down by the 255 who sought medical care for the injury and divided into groups by the number who were advised to rest (68) and those who were advised to stay active (32).
After adjusting for certain factors (age, gender, history of low back strain, type of physical activity at work, and severity of low back pain), the resting group was found to be more likely to have reoccurrence of low back pain; furthermore, it appeared that the rest group had a higher likelihood that their pain would become chronic.
Though these results are not completely conclusive, the study suggests that activity is more beneficial to resolving low back pain than bed rest. A chiropractor can help you find the cause of your low back pain and determine whether rest or activity will be more beneficial in your individual case.
Matsudaira K, Hara N, Arisaka M, Isomura T: Comparison of Physician's Advice for Non-specific Acute Low Back Pain in Japanese Workers: Advice to Rest Versus Advice to Stay Active. Industrial Health. 2010 Dec 16.
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