Got Back Pain? Buckle up!

A 2008 report released by Statistics Canada paints a rather gloomy picture of Canadian back health—about 2 million Canadians between the ages of 12 and 44 admitted to having back problems.

Fortunately, there are a lot of things we can do to help our back pain become a thing of the past—and once of those things may be to spend some time at the local amusement park.

Wait … what?

Japanese researchers determined that their 23 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 46 had mild, chronic pain in their lower backs, and then released them in an amusement park. They measured the volunteers’ back pain at various times throughout the day, and found that the roller coasters and arcade games temporarily made the pain go away.

Why? Well, the volunteers’ experiences during the study may be related to what’s known as distraction therapy. Basically, the volunteers were concentrating on something other than the pain in their backs, so they stopped noticing it.

However, keep in mind that the volunteers in this study had been examined by researchers beforehand so make sure that amusement park rides and activities wouldn’t worsen their condition. If you do have chronic back pain, make sure to hit up your local health care practitioner’s office well before you hit up the local amusement park.

Get rid of back pain for good

While spending a day at the enjoying the rides might be a good way to keep our minds of our back pain for a few hours, making a few simply lifestyle changes might get rid of it for good.

Acupuncture has been shown to relieve back pain in a number of different studies. Yoga, meanwhile can both help get rid of back pain and prevent it from coming back. It relieves stress that causes tight backs and shoulders, while strengthening the muscles that promote good posture.