I wear a corset for back pain and no...it's not paiful

 I wear a corset for back pain and no...it's not painful

It's no secret that I have many a medical health problem, I mean, they're the whole reason that Abigail's Anxieties exists in the first place, and one of those medical health problems is fibromyalgia.

There are so many things about fibromyalgia that unless you have it you may not know about it, but one of the more widely known symptoms of this is widespread pain in the body with certain "tender points" being worse than the rest.

For me, one of my worse tender points is my lower back. Sometimes the muscles in my lower back go into overdrive and spams, many times for hours on end and then sometimes it just decides to stop working and I'm stuck sitting/lying wherever I happen to be at the time.

While I have taken medication in the past to try and help with it, and often find myself using deep heat/heat therapy on my back, I can't go around my everyday life putting on deep heat every hour or so, and large, plugin heat pads just aren't practical for when you have to do something such as leaving the house for any reason at all. 

So another solution had to be thought of, but what could that solution be?

Well, I'm assuming that you read the title of this post and by process of elimination you've worked out that the solution is a corset. 

Said corset is a simple, black underbust corset with the classic busk at the front and strong lacing at the back. 

Now, when I'm wearing it under clothing, it's almost impossible to tell that I'm even wearing it, and I'm also very lucky that this is my natural body shape so very often people in my life can't tell when I'm wearing it or not.

People close to me were a little shocked at first when they found out that I'm wearing it for back pain rather than as shapewear but as soon as I explained to them the benefits that I shall soon explain to you, as well as seeing the improvements it made to my mobility then they were all on board with the corset.

But when acquaintances or even strangers overhearing me talk about it to anyone I'm travelling with hear that I'm wearing a corset I get bombarded with comments, the main and sometimes more "interesting" comments being the following:

1) "You must be in so much pain! Why would you do that to yourself?!"

Nope, no pain. In fact, I'm in less pain than I would be if I weren't wearing the corset. That's why I'm "doing this to myself"...

2) "You shouldn't feel the pressure to have a perfect hourglass body, I'm sure you look great without it"

Firstly, thank you, I think? But in the future, you may want to not make unsolicited comments about a strangers body, if its "perfect" or not and about how I would look without a certain item of clothing. It makes me uncommon, it makes whomever I may traveling with uncomfortable, and it makes others around us uncomfortable. You never know why someone is wearing something, be it for a practical use or because it just makes them feel good, so just...no...just no.

3) "There's a reason they aren't part of everyday clothing anymore. I mean, women died because of them on the past just in order to look skinny!"

Actually that's untrue. Many women wore the corset because it was their equivalent to a bra, as in a garment used to provide bust support and for the majority of women in domestic service, back support. The waist only looked extremely small because of the fashions of the Victorian and part of the Edwardian eras, where the hips and chest were made to look larger with hip pads and bust bodices. By making these look larger, the waist is naturally going to look smaller. It's also worth noting that alot of the documents from the time about corsetry was written by men; the people who weren't actually wearing them.

I'm case you're interested in this topic, I have linked a video by fashion historian and YouTuber Bernadette Banner, that you can watch after reading this, who is highly informed on this topic and is able to make the points far better than me: 

Bernadette Banner: I Grew Up in a Corset. Time to Bust Some Myths. (Ft. Actually Research)

My back pain is caused by two main reasons, my fibromyalgia being the main culprit but being a large chested woman has also made it a little harder as well because gravity makes my body want to naturally slouch forward and the frontal weight makes it harder for me to make my posture straight and maintain it without some additional help.

In terms of helping with my back pain as a whole, the corset makes my posture much better and stops me from slouching by not allowing my upper body to bend forward. This lack of slouching distributes the weight of my torso evenly throughout my spine rather than having it all concentrated at the bottom.

Since I stared using it, I have noticed that my pain levels in back are the lowest they've been in years, and I'm even feeling the benefits after I take it off for the day as my body develops muscle memory and is used to having straight posture that if I find myself slouching now it feels alien and I adjust my posture immediately.

If anyone after reading this thinks that they may want to try corsetry for their back pain then feel free to leave any questions you may have about it in the comments, but for now I shall leave you with a few pieces of advice about corsetry:

-make sure that you get the best possible corset that you can afford to ensure high quality and that the corset will last longer

-double check, triple check and quadruple check that if getting an off the rack/readymade corset that you are getting on that is the correct size. This involves taking the correct bust, waist and hip measurements. If you a brand that has the right bust and waist measurements but the hip measurement doesn't work for your body, they walk away and find another brand that can cater to your needs.

-make sure you get the right style for you. I personally went for an overhip underbust as I have to be careful with my chest because of costcondritis but I also wanted some support for my hips as I get pain there too. However you can get corsets which are just for the waist (so underbust and no hip coverings), corsets which hold up the bust, offer the waist support and leave the hips allow, and even ones where your bust is held up, the waist is supported and hips are covered. Think about what you want your corset to do and make your decision from there.

-once you have your corset, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you don't make it as tight as possible on your first wearing and to not wear it for long periods of time at the beginning. You want to wear in or "season" your corset to allow your body to get used to it. Slowly make it a little tighter of you think it's too loose, always loosen of it starts to feel too tight and if you start feeling pain then just take it off and try again in a day or two. Just don't over do it in the beginning.

I'm only a year or so into my corset journey, but believe me when I say that I know this journey won't be ending anytime soon.

Be happy, be healthy, from Abbie x

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