The spine is one of the most important parts of your body; however, in terms of health, it’s also one of the most overlooked parts of the body. In fact, back pain is one of the most common reasons for visits to the doctor’s office. Nearly 65 million Americans report having recent back pain, and more than 8% of all adults will experience chronic back pain at some point in their lives.
Whether it’s walking, standing, or lifting, the back provides the stability we need to perform the majority of our daily activities and is pivotal in bodily performance. While this applies to anyone, it’s especially true for active adults. This is why it’s important to maintain a healthy spine.
Even if you think you’re proactively taking care of your spinal health, there may be underlying conditions that have yet to manifest symptoms. With these spine health tips, you can prevent these conditions from occurring in the first place.
Why is a Healthy Spine Important?
Because the spine is involved in almost every action our bodies perform, maintaining a healthy spine is crucial. The spine is the body’s main support structure and primary shock absorber. It also directly influences the function of the central nervous system.
Without a healthy spine, the majority of the activities we perform daily such as walking, standing, and exercising can become difficult or painful. An unhealthy spine can also make it difficult for the body to transmit neurological signals to the brain and vice versa, which can result in impaired motor functions, impacted coordination, and balance.
The bottom line is that just about any conceivable action performed by the body will engage the spine in some capacity—this is why it’s important to maintain a healthy spine with ideal curvature.
Top Spine Health Tips
With a better understanding of the role the spine plays in the body and the importance of nurturing your spinal health, you’ll want to arm yourself with some of the best spine health tips.
Because spinal health is so important, simply reacting to pain and other symptoms is not an effective solution. The healthiest people will take a proactive approach to ensure that their spine is healthy and prevent injuries or pain from occurring in the first place.
Some of the best habits and practices for good spinal health include:
- Getting plenty of rest: Because the spine supports the weight of the body and provides stability and security for the body, it gets worn out. It’s essential to give it time to rest and heal from performing even basic activities, and sleep is one of the only times when your spine bears little or no weight. When we sleep, our body’s immune system releases proteins called cytokines that help the body fight inflammation and promote healing.
- Ensuring optimal support when sleeping: How you sleep is almost as important as sleep itself. This is because poor sleeping posture can limit the effectiveness of healing and potentially cause issues to flare up. The best sleeping positions are on the back or the side with a firm, supportive mattress. You also want to ensure that you are giving your neck enough support with a good pillow as well.
- Staying active and exercising regularly: Keeping your body active is a great way to promote good spinal health because strengthening and conditioning the muscles in the back helps you maintain good posture and makes the spine’s job of supporting your body easier. It also promotes blood circulation to the muscles and makes your joints more flexible. If you’re lifting weights, it’s important to be mindful of your posture and form and to also not overload yourself, or you may risk injury.
- Massage therapy: Therapeutic treatment from a myofascial specialist can support a healthy spine because massage increases blood flow to the back, relaxes and rejuvenates joints, and alleviates pain by stretching and reducing the build-up of stress in muscles and ligaments.
- Corrective chiropractic care: Corrective chiropractic care can help with spinal health by using a combination of chiropractic adjustments, postural physiotherapy, and spinal rehabilitation to restore posture and natural spinal curvature, relieving your pain and preventing it from returning.
Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Spinal Health
Knowing these spine health tips is just the first step in maintaining a healthy spine. While we may often think of visiting a chiropractor as something we do when we’re experiencing back pain, this is far from the truth. Chiropractic care does provide effective solutions to relieve pain and discomfort, but these are merely reactive approaches to poor spinal health.
Generally speaking, conditions that cause back pain will need to proceed unaddressed for a length of time before significant enough damage is done for the body to warn you of symptoms.
That’s why the healthiest people will take a proactive approach to ensure that any irregularities in their posture or spinal alignment are identified and treated before they snowball into spinal injuries or chronic pain.
Moreover, by taking this approach, you could see broad improvements in your overall health. Even something as simple as rectifying forward head posture can not only prevent pain from developing but may also improve nerve conduction, reflex speed, and cognitive function.
The most impactful chiropractic solutions for spinal health come from an in-depth understanding of your unique spinal curvature.
Chiropractic BioPhysics® Brings a Proactive Approach to Spinal Health
At the center of spinal health is the spine’s curvature. Proper alignment is key to performing daily tasks and preventing injuries. However, each person’s postural needs are different, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to spinal health.
That’s why PostureWorks utilizes Chiropractic BioPhysics® to assess your medical history, gauge the health of your spinal curvature using biomechanical x-rays, and engage in advanced postural analysis to catch any misalignment issues before they cause damage.
We then use this information to develop a non-invasive treatment plan designed specifically for your unique needs. This way, we not only alleviate pain and discomfort but also ensure your spinal curvature is optimized and healthy. With a healthy spine, you’ll run faster, jump higher, and perform motor actions better without worrying about back pain interrupting your daily life.
Contact us today to learn more about top spine health tips or to schedule your appointment with PostureWorks.
Chiropractic BioPhysics®, or CBP, is a deeply researched and results-oriented corrective care technique. CBP-trained chiropractors aim to realign the spine back to health and optimal function. As with all chiropractic care, CBP is conservative, painless, and non-invasive.
