Caregiver in Granite Bay CA
Being a family caregiver for your elderly parents is challenging. Managing their care tasks can be strenuous on your body, leaving you with an aching back. Nearly all adults will experience some degree of back pain throughout their lives, but if you are dealing with soreness on a daily basis or it is interfering with your ability manage your caregiver tasks effectively and safely, it is important to take steps to manage your existing pain and prevent worsening pain symptoms.
As a caregiver, you put yourself through a variety of physical demands every day. Handling these demands carefully and knowing how to recover can help you deal with your back pain and reduce it for an improved quality of life.
Try some of these tips for coping with your back pain:
• Ice acute pain. If you pull or strain your back helping your parents move or taking care of their home, do not immediately reach for the heat. Applying warmth to the area increases inflammation and can actually make the injury worse. Instead, ice the painful area for the first 24 to 48 hours. Do not apply ice directly to the skin as this can cause damage
• Soothe lingering pain. After 48 hours if the pain persists, or if you deal with lower back pain on a regular basis, soothe the pain and ease tightness in the muscles with heat. Relax in a warm bath, use a heating pad, or heat a sock full of dry rice and place it on the painful area for 20 minutes. As with ice, be sure not to allow extreme heat to touch the skin directly
• Do not stop moving. When you are in pain it is easy to want to pamper the area by staying sitting or in bed. While this may help you relax initially, prolonged periods of inactivity are actually bad for your spine health and can worsen chronic back pain. Your back is like any other part of your body – it wants to move. Keep going with your regular activities and as the pain eases, increase your physical exercise with gentle activities such as swimming or walking. Be careful not to overexert your back, however, as this could just injure your back again
• Acknowledge your limitations. The fastest way to cause back pain is to try to push yourself beyond your physical limitations. Be aware of your own strength, flexibility, and range of motion, and do not try to do things that are beyond these capabilities. If your parents require more physical assistance than you can handle, consider hiring an in home care provider who can offer help for care activities such as transferring, mobility assistance, bathing, and toileting
• Get stronger. As soon as your back feels better, start focusing on building your strength and range of motion to help prevent future episodes of pain. Work on building your core strength, which focuses on the abdominal, oblique, and back muscles. This supports your spine, improves posture, and allows for easier balance and range of motion. Stretch daily to increase flexibility so your body is prepared for all types of lifting, reaching, and bending activities with your seniors.
If you or an aging loved one needs caregiver services near Granite Bay, CA, remember Senior Home Care Services. Call us at (916) 514-7006 for more information.
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