Everything in life requires maintenance: cars, a house, your teeth, relationships and even your spine. The spine is a very complex structure which contains twenty-four movable bones (the vertebrae), twenty-three discs, the spinal cord, thirty-one pairs of spinal nerves, the meninges (the protective covering which surrounds the central nervous system), nine common ligaments, five layers of muscle, blood vessels, lymphatics, adipose (fat), fascia and other connective tissues.
If you fail to maintain your spine it will eventually start to develop problems (which are initially silent). It’s not until the problems have gotten so bad that you first start to experience symptoms. Pain is the last thing that shows up. By the time your back or neck hurts, the problem has been there for a long time.
This is very much like having a slow oil leak in your car. When your engine first starts leaking oil, there are no overt signs or symptoms. It’s a silent but very damaging problem. Your oil level has to be down about two full quarts before the engine sensor gets tripped and the little “check engine” dashboard light comes on. Does it make sense to pay attention to your oil levels only after the engine starts smoking?
Your teeth require ongoing maintenance (brushing, flossing, and going to the dentist for regular check ups). Failure to do these fundamental maintenance practices will lead to tooth decay and eventually to cavities. Did you know that tooth decay has to occur for about three years before the enamel is damaged enough to cause a cavity? And the cavity doesn’t cause tooth pain right away. It’s only after the tooth has rotted to such an extent that the cavity reaches the nerve root. So does it make sense to only pay attention to your teeth when they start to hurt?
The spine requires continuous maintenance as well. Failure to maintain your spine leads to spinal decay (which is very similar to tooth decay). The bones, joints, discs, and connective tissues all start to wear out. And just like with problems with your car or your teeth, the damage is insidious. It starts without causing any symptoms whatsoever. Neglecting your spine eventually leads to chronic back pain, neck pain, stiffness, headaches, fibromyalgia, migraines, sciatica, low energy, poor posture, nervousness, irritability, sleep disturbances, poor sports performance, inability to concentrate (being in a “mental fog”), pain radiating into the arms or legs, and other signs of neurological stress.
The following are the five easy keys to maintaining your spine. Do these five things and you will prevent problems from occurring:
- Eat right: you need to put high quality fuel into your body. Good nutrition is the cornerstone of any health and wellness plan. Eat whole foods (fresh organically grown fruits and vegetables and lean-clean protein. Supplement your diet with a high quality multi-vitamin, fish oils (for omega 3 fatty acids), a probiotic and vitamin D3. Avoid fast food, junk food, processed food, sodas (regular and diet), sugar, gluten and dairy.
- Exercise: Exercise helps to oxygenate (bring oxygen to) all of your tissues. Oxygen is required by all cells, tissues, organs and systems. Exercise also helps keep you flexible and limber. The intervertebral discs don’t have a good direct blood supply and they rely on motion so fresh oxygen and nutrients can penetrate into the disc to keep them healthy.
- Stay Well Hydrated: Water lubricates and protects your joints. The solution to pollution is dilution. If you’ve got a build up of toxins in your body (which tend to linger in the muscles), you can flush out your body with an abundance of filtered water. Most people need to drink eight to twelve glasses of water per day. If you drink coffee, tea, sodas or alcohol, you need to drink even more water to flush out your system.
- Keep Your Spine Aligned: Normal spinal alignment is absolutely critical for correct loading on the joints, discs and supportive soft tissues. If your spine is out of alignment it will create massive pressure on the nervous system (as well as arthritis, degenerative disc disease and degenerative joint disease). This can also lead to a wide array of neurological problems. Poor posture leads to low energy and experiencing a brain fog. Be sure to get your spine checked by a Doctor of Chiropractic. Do not allow any misaligned vertebrae to go unchecked or uncorrected.
- Pay Attention To Ergonomics: Ergonomics has to do with how you interact with your environment. It involves your bedding (mattress & box spring), your chair, your car seat, your work station, etc. Flip & rotate your mattress every 3 months. Adjust your chair so it’s at the correct height and you have ample lumbar support. And adjust your work station so you can work in a forward neutral posture (without having to twist your back in order to work at the computer).
Your spine did not come with an instruction manual when you were born (which accounts for why nobody ever taught you how to maintain your spine before this). The key to preventing spinal problems is via maintaining your spine for life. Do these five easy steps and you’ll have a healthy spine and prevent future problems from occurring.