Massage Chairs for Relieving Lower Back Pain
Our backs take the majority of the weight of the body. The spine is designed to distribute the weight of the body evenly across the spine. However, some activities or even an injury can cause the weight to be concentrated on a small part of the spine. This is usually concentrated in the lower back. The muscles become tired with the weight and will tighten up causing discomfort and pain. Massage chairs are being used to help loosen these muscles and help to re-align the spine.
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 most common areas to correct are your standing posture, sitting positions and lifting techniques. These are areas of the highest probability of an injury. So if you are standing, hold your head up high and put your shoulders back. Try not to slouch forward. This creates concentration of pressure on your spinal column.
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.
Lifting is probably one of the most important activities to make sure you do properly. Lifting generally involves adding more weight and stress to your back. When lifting, you need to lift with your legs. These are some of the strongest muscles in the body. Do not lift by bending over and letting your back do the work. This is a sure way to cause a low back injury.
Another proactive method for back pain prevention is the periodic use of a massage chair. Massage chairs can be used to reduce low back pain, but also can be used as part of the warm up and warm down activities to prevent back pain. Massage chairs come with a variety of therapies to help the body. In addition to numerous massage therapies, massage chairs also have heating elements, traction systems and music players.
Relax your back with a soothing rolling massage from a massage chair. The rolling massage moves the rollers up and down the spine. The chair is usually reclined back so the weight of the body is used to help adjust each disc in the spinal column as the roller passes each one. This provides a stretching of the soft tissues which helps to keep them flexible and elastic.
A Shiatsu massage is a very relieving massage that can be delivered by a massage chair. The Shiatsu technique came from Japan and has been integrated into many massage chair programs. Shiatsu stimulates acupressure points throughout the back. The back is known to have over 100 such points. These points help induce full body relaxation. Additionally, chopping and kneading massages are used to relieve tension in the muscles.
One excellent feature of massage chairs is a stretching system. The stretching system is used to elongate different parts of the body. Some stretching systems target the lower body while others can do the arms and shoulders. The rolling massage provides for traction of the spine. In some cases, most of the body can be stretch with the functions of the massage chair providing needed relief.
Prevention of back pain is the best way to avoid low back pain. By taking some simple precautions, many types of injuries can be avoided. Massage chairs can be a great investment in this respect. Use a massage chair to warm up before activities and to warm down after activities. If you feel pain in a given area, you can target a massage for relief. A massage chair can be a versatile partner to keep your spine in top health.