Good Health

10 Ways to Indulge Your Spine on World Spine Day

October 16, 2009
by: Sylvia Marten

The strength, durability and flexibility of the spine can often go unnoticed, that is until a patient develops back pain or neck pain. Well, ensuring a healthy spine shall not be neglected until pain develops, especially with today being World Spine Day and October National Spinal Health Month.

A global, multi-disciplined initiative designated by the International Bone and Joint Decade, World Spine Day stresses awareness of musculoskeletal conditions like back pain and ensuring a healthier spine. For our part in this celebration, Spine-health is proud to provide patients with the following tips on how they can keep their spine healthy and happy, starting today.

Make Exercise a Daily Ritual

Exercising the stomach and back muscles that help support the spine is a major point of emphasis on World Spine Day; with that said, it often seems counterintuitive to patients with back pain to exercise out of fear that such activities will exacerbate pain.

However, the spine was built for movement, and simple exercise programs that focus on stretching and strengthening the back, hamstrings and abdominals can go a long way towards distributing nutrients into the spinal discs and soft tissues, accelerating the healing process, and keeping the discs, muscles, ligaments and joints healthy.

For more information, visit our Exercise Health Center.

Maintain Good Posture while Sitting

The spine is naturally built to curve, but slouching in a chair for eight hours a day at work can lead to muscle tension and lower back pain and leg pain (sciatica).

As the discs in the lumbar spine (lower back) are already loaded three times more while sitting than standing, why make things even more difficult? Be sure to have an ergonomically-friendly office chair setup and to get up and stretch every 30 minutes or so.

For more information on preventing bad posture from becoming a habit and incorporating the right posture while not only sitting but walking, driving, standing and lifting, see these Guidelines to Improve Posture.

Choose and Use Shoes Wisely

The benefits of walking for the spine are plentiful, including strengthening the muscles that keep the body upright, nourishing spinal structures with necessary nutrients, improving flexibility and strengthening the bones.

While walking, it’s important to have a flexible, comfortable pair of shoes that also serves as a stable base for the spine to stay in alignment. Here are some guidelines for buying walking shoes.

Be a Warm Friend

Given the many responsibilities of the spine, it is quite natural for the neck and/or back to feel sore at the end of the day. Applying heat therapy is a great way not only to soothe such spinal discomfort but to kick back and relax prior to going to sleep.

Heat can be applied via heating pads, wraps, warm gel packs, hot water bottles or a bath/shower, and offers many benefits when done safely and correctly. Learn how to apply heat therapy.

Sleep on a Supportive Mattress and Pillow

In ideal circumstances, nearly a 1/3 of the day is spent sleeping, which also serves as a time for the spine to rest after a hard day’s work. Still, an insufficient mattress can make rest a stressful time on the spine, and lead to some patients complaining of a stiff neck or back ache in the morning.

While sleep comfort is a matter of personal preference, taking into consideration a mattress that allows for correct support and sleeping positions can go a long way towards avoiding pain in the back and neck (cervical spine).

For patients with lower back pain or neck pain, see Choosing the Best Mattress and Pillow Support and Comfort.

Try It: A Balanced Diet and Nutrition

Considering that the bones, muscles and other structures in the spine help support the body and perform many other functions, it’s pretty clear just how important eating the right types of meals three times a day is to maintaining good health.

Focusing on foods that are high in calcium (for bone strength and mass) and other nutrients and vitamins can help prevent osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and other conditions in the future. Similarly, maintaining a proper weight can reduce pressure on the spine and minimize back pain.

For more information, visit our health center on Nutrition, Diet and Weight Loss.
Take a Dip in a Pool

Water therapy offers several advantages for the spine that are not attainable via land-based exercise and physical therapy programs.

Buoyancy provides both mild resistance and support, thus reducing the risk of injury and allowing neck pain patients to perform strengthening movements that are painless in the water as opposed to painful in other situations. Additionally, cold water therapy can be used to soothe joint inflammation, while hot water can stimulate circulation for stiff muscles and healing for minor muscle sprains or strains.

For more information, get immersed in the following Water Therapy Exercise Program.

Literally Treat Yourself to a Massage

A massage is more than a way to break free from daily stress and is now a recognized form of treatment for patients with back pain and neck pain.

Massages offer several benefits, including improving blood circulation for the recovery of sore muscles, restoring spinal range of motion, helping with insomnia, and upping endorphins, the body’s natural chemicals that make patients feel good.

Read on at Massage Therapy for Lower Back Pain.

Put Out Those Cigarettes

Certainly easier said than done, quitting smoking reduces the likelihood of lower back pain, which is reportedly 300 percent more likely in smokers than non-smokers.

According to one study, smoking leads to degenerative spinal disorders and back pain as a result of damaging the vascular structures of spinal discs and joints.

See why quitting smoking is a must-do for the spine in the following video: Stop Smoking!

Lift Up Your Spine

Improperly lifting heavy items can put the lower back muscles in abnormal positions that can produce painful muscle strains, and even cause the spinal joints to lock and the spinal discs to rupture.

Correct lifting is more than involving the knees, and should incorporate keeping the chest forward and the weight close to the body, and leading with the hips rather than the shoulders.

Do you practice the right lifting techniques?