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Back pain can put a major wrench in your day, keeping you from feeling good, enjoying your planned activities and family, and making it difficult for you to stay active. If you took a bad fall or bent your back the wrong way, that sudden inability to move freely can make you worry.

Because of how your body is made, it’s not easy to avoid developing back pain – at some point, you may experience a bout of pain, so it’s best to know how it can happen and how to cope with it.

Regardless of how you hurt your back, you only know that you want the pain to stop and go away – forever. Depending on what caused your pain, you may be able to take steps that lead to permanent relief – or you may only be able to get the pain to subside so you can go about your life.

Ways of healing back pain include:

• Movement
• Ice
• Exercising once the pain has resolved
• Good posture
• Weight control
• Over-the-counter pain medication
• Medical intervention

Don’t take to your bed. Your spine is made for movement. Keep up with your regular routine, as much as you can. As your pain begins to go down, begin resuming gentle exercising, but don’t overdo it.

Make up an ice pack and apply it every couple of hours for 20 minutes at a time for 24 to 48 hours after getting hurt. After 48 hours, you can introduce moist heat.

After your back pain goes down, resume gentle exercising, by working your lower back muscles. Strengthening these muscles helps with spinal alignment.

Stand straight, allowing your back to support your bodily weight. Don’t re-injure your back by bending from the waist and lifting.

Keep your weight under control. This reduces stress on your spine.

Take an OTC medication such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen. This helps reduce your back pain in the first days.

Get medical attention if your pain doesn’t start to go away after a few days. You may need back therapy.