Ways to ease your back pain

When I blew my back out, I still had to work. I needed access to my laptop. I needed to sleep somehow, and I needed my sanity. The only way for me to be out of pain was to lay on my back on the floor with my feet up. You really can't do too much that way. Over time, I found several products that helped me.

ZERO Gravity Chair

This is a chair that reclines way back, keeps your legs above your heart, and places your body in a position that keeps your spine in a neutral position. Besides being extremely comfortable, it is the absolute fastest way to get out of pain when your back is killing you. I bought one after I herniated the second time, and I cannot begin to describe how I wished I had gotten it before. This chair became my best friend.

They range in price from a few hundred dollars to a couple thousand dollars. On the high end, you can get the Perfect Zero Gravity chair: for a couple thousand, and on the low end, you can get the Homedics AntiGravity chair for about $250.

I got the Homedics chair at Wal Mart: It is clearly not as nice as the more expensice chair, but it does the trick quite well.

Beds

If you are having back issues, probably the single most improtant thing you can do is get the right bed. Initially, I bought a Tempurpedic bed, and it was truly amazing. The problem was that after about a year, the bed started getting too soft, and my back started bothering me. Apparently, the memory foam mattresses break down a bit over time, so they can get too soft. Since I didn't want to buy a new bed every year, I decided to try a Select ComfortSleep Number bed. I wasn't crazy about it, so I decided to try adding a 3" memory foam topper on the Select Comfort bed. That was the trick. I won;t say that it is as comfortable as the memory foam bed initially was, but at least it stays firm enough that I no longer wake up in the morning with an aching back.

Pillows

If you are having back troubles, the only position you can sleep in is likely on your side in a semi-fetal position. Get a body pillow to place between your legs! It will help you more than you can imagine.

Lumbar Support

I bought a simple lumbar support cushion for my desk chair, and if I try to work even for an hour without it, my back kills me. The simple little pillow makes all the difference.

Working from the Zero Gravity Chair

I bought a Rolling laptop desk that can angle and lower to a level that allows me to use a laptop from the zero gravity chair. Had I bought this the first time I herniated, I would not have lost three months of work.