Resources
Resources and information for patients about back pain and health.
Explaining Chronic Pain: The role of stress
Low back pain information (amazing animation)
Understanding pain: What to do about it in less than 5 minutes
Walking for health in Hampshire
Pilates and yoga
in Hampshire
Walking is healthy and can help ease back pain!
As a nation, we are becoming more sedentary and this is having a negative impact on our health. The easiest and most convenient way to get more active is to walk! It is recommended that we walk 10 000 steps a day. You can get a pedometer to measure how many steps you walk.
More about walking here.
So why not join some of the local community walking groups?
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Walking in Hampshire, free maps here
Where to get a pedometer:
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Free with a promotional package of a health & wellbeing company or from local community programmes
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Buy pedometers here
Yoga and pilates are great at improving flexibility, posture, body awareness and reducing stress. They can also be very helpful in reducing back pain.
Your GP might be able to refer you to a community health centre where they run classes.
Where to go for pilates and yoga:
Find more yoga classes at Yoga Nearby
Swimming and hydrotherapy
Swimming and hydrotherapy are beneficial for your joints as it takes the pressure off them. Swimming is also a great type of exercise
Where to go for swimming and hydrotherapy:
Health & Wellbeing apps
There are many health and wellbeing apps. This field surely is growing!
There is a list of apps on the NHS website here.
Videos
External resources
Stress and health: From molecules to societies
Meditation, Relaxation & Mindfulness
Relaxation practices can be extremely helpful for people in pain. When the body and mind are in pain, they are stressed and thi has several implications:
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Breathing becomes quicker and more shallow
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Heart rate increases
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Blood pressure shoots up
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Stress hormones increase
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More tension and pain if the body stay in stress for prolonged periods of time
Therefore, to counteract this and reverse the stress response, it is advised to do some sort or relaxation practice! This will make you feel calmer, your muscles will relax, you will take deeper slower breaths, your heart rate and blood pressure will reduce and the body will no longer be in danger mode. So it can help you feel less pain! There are many techniques and activites, which achieve the desired relaxation effect.
Meditation:
Meditation for beginners
Mindfulness:
Deep breathing exercises
3 Deep breathing exercises to reduce anxiety
Online programmes
Gardening
Gardening is a great outdoors activity. It promotes mental and physical well-being and can count as exercise if you are increasing your heart rate and moving a lot.
The calendar of events can be found here:
Hampshire Federation of Horticultural Societies
Online programes which are likely to help people who are in pain.
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Be Mindful Online:An online course for learning to practise mindfulness (MBCT) and reduce stress, anxiety and depression. Run in partnership with the Mental Health Foundation, a charity for everyone's mental health
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An online course for self-managing chronic or persistent pain. Run in partnership with the National Health Service.
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The Meditainment library of guided meditations that's sold over a million units on media and download formats. Its guided meditations for relaxation, sleep and stress management feature on the in-flight entertainment of Virgin Atlantic, Finnair, US Airways, Air Canada, SAS, China Airlines and Qantas.
An online self-management course run in partnership with Arthritis Care, a charity empowering people with arthritis.
