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Bad Back? 6 Tips For Pain-Free Sex

By Connie Merk. Posted on Sep 11th 2012.

Your sex life doesn't have to suffer.

Join wellness coach Connie Merk on our Facebook page Thursday, September 13 at 2 p.m. EST to ask all of your questions about how your back pain affects your love life!

For people with lower back pain, just the thought of sexual activity can induce fear instead of excitement. Sex is supposed to be pleasurable, but when it's associated with physical pain, sexual activity stops. And when that happens, relationships suffer.

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The most important advice I can give, not only as someone who is working with back pain patients all the time, but also as someone who suffered from back pain for many years, is to be open with your partner. Communication prevents tension and misunderstandings.

Your partner needs to understand that you haven't lost your interest in him or her, but that you are afraid of aggravating your pain. Your partner needs to feel that you still love him. Otherwise, your condition could jeopardize your relationship. Are You Listening To Your Body?

Openness is key. Talk about what works for you and what doesn't — for both of you. It is not just the position that matters. Having sex is more than a performing act. Lovemaking is about closeness, sharing, understanding, pleasure, fun, and orgasm.

There are plenty of ways people can find sexual fulfillment besides penetration. If you've never experimented with oral sex, sex toys, different positions, now is the time! Get creative and explore. You may find that your sex life suddenly becomes much more interesting and fun.

Here are some more useful tips:

1. Prepare well. For many people, sex is something that happens spontaneously, and thus they believe that any kind of planning makes it less valuable or less enjoyable. But nothing could be further from the truth.

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When you are dealing with acute or chronic back pain, proper preparation for "the act" may be the only way to enjoy the experience. Nothing kills passion faster then a sudden onset of pain or the constant fear that the wrong movement will render you helpless on the bed. Read more.

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