When Christmas baking causes back pain

Baking is an activity that channels the joy of Christmas. But for people with chronic back pain, it is also an activity that can worsen their symptoms. Standing or sitting for long periods of time contributes to stiffness in spinal joints and tension in the muscles. Not only that, but the ingredients in your hands are contributing to your back pain as well! Many of the ingredients involved in traditional Christmas recipes are incredibly inflammatory, the two worst suspects being sugar and saturated fat. 

Take steps to mitigate your back pain while baking 

Baking is supposed to be restorative for your spirit- by cooking the things you love with the people you love, you are fighting the stress of daily life. But there is a classic image of a stressed out baker, and this stress can be palpable during the holiday season. Focusing on keeping stress down is the first way you can fight back pain because stress and muscle tension go hand in hand. You can further keep back pain out of your holiday baking sessions by doing the following:

• Taking frequent breaks: gentle stretching, hydration and purposeful motion help break the monotony of baking for your spine. 
• Avoid bending to the oven frequently: bending is a motion that increases the pressure on your spine. Ask for a helping hand for any motion that exacerbates your back pain.
• Substitue non-inflammatory ingredients such as apple sauce for sugar and healthy fats for saturated ones.
• Avoid processed dairy products which are considered inflammatory for most people.

Keeping back pain out of your holiday plans

At Associates in Chiropractic, we want to help you leave back pain behind this holiday season. Using all-natural modalities such as spinal adjustment, trigger point therapy and deep tissue massage, we ensure that your spine is in a state of balance so that you can enjoy holiday festivities without worrying about back pain. Give our office in Hackensack a call and see how we can help you relieve back pain so you can focus on enjoying yourself this holiday season.