10 Daily Activities That May be Hurting Your Back

8. You Ignore the Pain

Trying to ignore the pain can only make it worse according to findings by the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. Instead take a more productive approach: consciously allow your body to experience the pain. Psychologists conducting a standard pain test had several dozen back pain sufferers place their feet into shockingly cold ice water (the things we do for science).

When these volunteers did as they were instructed a specific muscle in their back would, a key muscle, would tighten as they suppressed the feelings of pain. Oddly enough, the muscle did not react to the thought of pain; this proves that over time a particular muscles tension can intensify pain, according to the head researcher John W. Burns PhD.

Fix it: Accepting pain may be the best way to mentally cope. “Try thinking about the sensory details of the experience, not the negative emotions,” says Burns.

“If you have a back spasm, describe the pain to yourself—if it’s burning or throbbing—and remind yourself that it will pass.

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