There is nothing more disconcerting than to be moving normally one minute and the next – OUCH! Your back has gone into spasm.

Unfortunately this is something which can happen to most of us and when it does happen it can be quite frightening.

The reason why your back can suddenly ‘go’ can be put down to a multitude of different reasons, the majority of which can be fixed quite quickly.

The most important thing is not to panic.

 4 easy steps to try to ease the pain:

1- Keep moving! This will prevent the joints and muscles from seizing up too much.  You do not want to spend more than 30 minutes in one position.  Although this may be painful, gentle activity is unlikely to do the back any damage and will probably help.

2- Use either heat or icepacks, ideally a purpose designed heatpack or a gel based ice pack from the freezer. If you don’t have one of these a warm hot water bottle or a pack of peas can also do a good job.  All the evidence suggest both are equally good for short term pain relief.  You may need to wrap the pack in a tea towel and put it onto the sore area for 20 minutes.  Now leave it off for an hour and then repeat.

This can be done throughout the first 24 hours.

3- Over the counter pain relief. You may get some relief from taking an anti-inflammatory and a painkiller.  You should consult your GP or pharmacist if you need any more information about medication.

4- See a practitioner that understands backs. The quicker you get your pain problem looked at, the easier it is to help you get you up and about, find the cause of the problem and help to avoid any recurrences.

The above are the four simple steps to take if you suddenly find yourself with acute neck pain, acute low back pain or sciatica.   At the Aligned Health Care in Ayr  you will find experienced chiropractors to help.