6 Alternatives to Back Surgery

If you’ve suffered from a back injury and you’re living daily with back pain, having a back surgery operation may seem like your only choice to find relief. While back surgery can prove beneficial and treat back pain for many patients, many others may actually benefit more from one of the many alternatives to back surgery.

These alternatives tend to offer a wider range of health benefits, focusing on a holistic approach to wellness, and reduce the risk of additional complications. With an alternative to back surgery like yoga, chiropractic care, or weight loss, you may be able to treat the source of your back pain and boost your overall health. To help you better understand the options to dealing with back surgery, we’re taking a closer look at some of the most common—and effective—alternatives to back surgery. Read on to learn more about these effective options.

Perils of Back Surgery

While there can be many benefits to back surgery, many people fail to recognize the potential risks and perils associated with undergoing a back surgery procedure. Every back injury and source of back pain is, to a degree, unique to the individual, but you should never rush into such a major operation.

No matter the hospital or surgeon, an operation always runs the risk of infection, nerve damage, excessive bleeding, or additional complications. To avoid these perils, it only makes sense that people would look into alternative methods for treating pain. If the surgical operation is only intended to treat pain (unlike other types like reconstructive surgery or cosmetic surgery), then it only makes sense that you could look into other types of pain treatment. And if you get the chance to avoid a hospital visit and lengthy recovery time, who wouldn’t look into the alternatives to back surgery?

6 Alternatives

As you can see, there are many different risks inherent to undergoing surgery. Even after you leave the hospital, you run the risk of further medical complications or the end result that the surgery simply wasn’t effective at treating your pain. This is all why so many people are exploring other options when it comes to treating back pain.

Here’s a closer look at some of the most popular alternative to back surgery:

1. Chiropractic care.

One of the most popular and effective alternatives to back surgery is seeing a chiropractor. These specialized doctors can perform spinal adjustments and other advanced techniques to treat the source of your back pain. Additionally, chiropractic care has a host of other wellness benefits.

2. Practicing yoga.

Long viewed as an unreliable form of alternative medicine and wellness, recent research has proven amazing benefits for regularly practicing yoga. Yoga is a practice that involves stretching, posing, and light to moderate exercise that benefits both your body and mindset.

In fact, yoga is one of the most popular types of holistic self-care. Not only can yoga help provide relief for back pain, but it can also improve your strength, balance, and flexibility. Yoga also helps you relax, lowering your anxiety, blood pressure, and even reducing inflammation. Yoga can also help you manage stress and help you make connections with others.

3. Light to moderate exercise.

In addition to yoga, any type of light to moderate exercise can help ease the burden of back pain. You don’t need to hit the weights like Arnold Schwarzenegger to find relief. Just light to moderate exercise, such as jogging, walking, Tai Chi, or of course yoga can reduce back pain and lead to a myriad of additional health benefits. Focusing on your core strength in particular can improve your posture and strengthen the muscles in the middle of your body.

4. Acupuncture.

While additional medical research is needed to verify the efficacy of this treatment, countless people swear by the power of acupuncture. Commonly used by professional athletes, acupuncture is a technique that uses small needles to stimulate specific nerve points in the body. For many patients, this method has proved effective at treating point, aiding in recovery, and promoting a sense of calmness and relaxation.

5. Improve your diet.

There’s no end to what a healthy and balanced diet can do for your health. While it may not seem obvious as to how a diet can affect your back pain, an anti-inflammatory diet can actually be as effective at treating pain as your common anti-inflammatory drugs. Because inflammation is linked with pain, reducing one will inherently lead to a reduction in the other. Common anti-inflammatory foods include nuts, seeds, leafy green vegetables, fatty fish like salmon or sardines, and fruits and vegetables like blueberries, oranges, tomatoes, and carrots.

6. Stop smoking.

Similar to a healthy diet, it may seem unclear as to how smoking affects your back pain. But, in fact, it does. Smoking impacts your blood circulation throughout your body and makes it more difficult for your body to get the vital nutrients it needs to function. Over time, this can cause your spine and back muscles to become weaker. By quitting smoking, you can improve blood flow and help your entire body.

Parting Words

Living with back pain can rob you of the simplest joys. From taking part in sports, exercising regularly, or even just taking a short walk, chronic back pain can have a dramatic and long-lasting impact on your daily life. It makes sense then, of course, that you would seek a fast and effective treatment option to reduce the pain. While back surgery may seem like the best route, it isn’t always the best treatment option for everyone.

There are many alternatives to back surgery that can effectively address your pain and help you avoid the risks of surgery. Treatments like light chiropractic care, yoga, or regular exercise can reduce your pain over time and even improve your overall health. As holistic, non-invasive approaches to treatment, these alternatives are safer and can be just as effective—if not even more so.