Table of Contents
What’s this
It is a sudden pain which occurs at the level of the back without any warning pain and which suddenly prevents any movement and forces the body to a situation of impediment that sometimes extends even for a few days. The name is due to the fact that the pain has a sudden character and acute, like an arrow being shot or a sudden blow or a blow inflicted even from a distance by spell, as in the case of witches.
This acute low back pain affects the lower back (affects the square of the loin as the target muscle group) and the acute pain sometimes extends to one or both lower limbs. The condition that the witch’s stroke generates a real immediate immobility and any kind of movement often aggravates the state. Sometimes this pain originates from a mechanical cause given by a hernia that affects one of the lumbar and / or sacral discs and for this reason requires the investigation of the doctor, physiotherapist or other reference figure such as osteopath or chiropractor.
Between symptoms that highlight a possible approaching witch stroke we find exhaustion, a sense of weakness, incontinence problems, little strength in the pelvic floor area, rigid movements upon awakening, pain when getting out of the car, signs of strong soreness when loading a weight of any type from the ground.
The causes there are many: sedentary lifestyle, lack of movement, incorrect posture, imbalance between the muscle chains, little strength in the abdominal wall or in the paravertebral muscles, inadequate way of lifting weights, arthrosis or rheumatism. Among other causes, too much weight to manage that puts too much load on the spine. Ultimately, the psychological factor plays a fundamental role: the emotional burdens that one bears, the stress, the fear of changing direction or asserting oneself at work, anxiety can all be discharged in the area of reference.
How to get up
If you have to get up from a lying position, the ideal would be to lie on your stomach and leave your elbows on the ground, on the shoulder line. Slowly the spine extends and rises from this position (a sort of half cobra in yoga or Swan in Pilates). In this way you gradually reach the quadruped and then get up in an upright position. This step by step approach it returns a minimum of relief to the spine but it must be done very calmly and respecting one’s pain in order to slightly decompress the spine without going to exacerbate the suffering condition. In other cases, one moves to one side and then seeks the quadruped position. When you suffer from the witch’s stroke, your movements become rigid and jerky and the desire to move decreases, with the risk of entering a vicious circle of laziness. The first ingredient to love yourself and improve the situation? The I breathe, which brings internal movement and allows you to release a lot of tension and calm the mind.
How to sleep
There are two ways to rest when you are experiencing pain due to the witch’s stroke:
Supine position
Several pillows must be placed and must not be too high. One behind the neck, one below the knees and one also on the back to support the entire spine. In this position you must breathe very consciously and try to relax the whole trunk.
Fetal position
The whole body disposes itself on its side with her legs curled up and possibly a pillow between the two. A pillow should be placed under the head that leaves the head in a neutral position, so that it is in line with the rest of the spine.
Exercises
The exercises they always tend to relax the muscles and lengthen the posterior chain, when the pain is not significant enough to prevent the supine position. We remind you that the passive solution remains the first side, that is to bring the sacrum close to the wall and suspend both legs or place them, for example, on a Pilates ball while the back remains stretched. Even walking with free and loose legs, with the right shoes and not on the asphalt and without loads helps a lot. Let’s see the 3 basic exercises:
Leg stretch
From the supine position one leg is brought upwards. The leg should be kept upright for at least 30 seconds, before moving on to the other leg. The sacrum should not be raised and the muscles of the neck and shoulders should be relaxed. It should be repeated about 10 times, alternating the leg.
Relaxation of the back
From the lying position, legs bent and feet on the ground. It works with breathing by lifting and lowering the belly, trying to bring the breathing up to the chest. When doing full breathing, your back gets immediate relief.
Stretching of the posterior chain of the back
From the supine position, the knees are raised towards the chest. They go to hug the legs slowly, also bringing the head in concentration towards the center, up to bring the knees to the forehead. The position must be maintained for 20 seconds and repeated at least 4 times.
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