In the past, when prescribing bed rest for chronic lower back pain treatment, doctors used to advise patients to rest until the pain eased. However, it is now known that this advice was not helpful. You are more likely to develop even more chronic back pain if you stay in bed for more than a few hours. Here is a rule of thumb for you to follow: just as soon as you can move around in bed without severe pain, former back sufferers suggest, try walking for a few minutes. You’ll feel achy, but if there’s no substantial increase in your chronic back pain, you’re on your way. Carry out your normal activities as far as possible. You may not be able to do this at first if the pain is severe. However, you should try to get back into normal activities as soon as you can. As a rule, it’s best not to do anything that causes a lot of pain (for obvious reasons). Gradual increments are the key.
The next time you’re up, don’t walk until you drop. If you do too much right away, you risk a serious setback and aggravate your chronic back pain even more. However, you will have to accept some degree of discomfort when you are trying to keep active. Try setting a new goal each day. For example, you could try walking around the house on one day, a walk to the shops the next, and so on.
Here is a brief case history showing how one chronic lower back pain sufferer dealt with the difficult question ‘How long should I stay in bed?’
A piano tuner awoke one morning barely able to move. The episode was like many he had experienced in the past. It took him 15 minutes to get out of bed. A hot shower loosened up his back enough to keep him going. From experience, he knew that lying in bed, or remaining motionless for long, would just make him worse. And he was right. He made it through the day and his chronic lower back pain was gone in a week.
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I myself am active. I bike play tennis play other sports. Yet my back pains come and go. Ever since my highschool days of kickboxing, football, and weightlifting I have had lower back pains. The thing I have seen help me the most are daily stretches, some yoga helps allot and what you sleep in. The best thing I ever slept on was a Memory Foam mattress. Stretching is also a good daily practice and I’ve also noticed acupuncture does wonders for long periods of time.
Exercise is the best thing but if your job requires sitting for prolonged hours, you can still end up with some back pain. Have you tried bean bag chairs? They give you great support for the lumbar area. I use mine when I am reading or watching TV. Sometimes, I take my laptop, sit on it, and work a little less stressed.
As a medical spine expert I would agree that being mobile is best. Prolonged bed rest will weaken your back muscles. For office workers I have a rule: For every 1 hour of sitting please stand up and stretch for one minute. Drink lots of water to hydrate your muscles. This does reduce muscle tension.
Yes, absolutely , prolonged bed rest will make the complication still worse. Best practice is to have some sort of flexible, healthy muscle movements now & then.