Strengthen Your Spine for a Pain-Free Life

Starting from providing structure and support to the body to allowing movements and protecting the spinal cord, your spine plays a crucial role. It is the body’s central support structure that connects the head, ribcage, pelvis, shoulders, arms, and legs.

Since it supports about half of the body's weight, therefore, it becomes our utmost responsibility to keep it healthy, strong, and flexible. In today’s blog, we have listed some of the proven and easy measures through which one can boost his/her spine health in the most effective way possible.

But before jumping directly to these measures, it is necessary to first understand the spine structure in the human body.

Structure of the Spine

There exist 33 vertebrae in the human body that form the complete spinal cord. It mainly includes vertebrae, intervertebral discs, nerves, and muscles. These work together to provide strength, flexibility, and mobility to the body. Starting from the top to the bottom, let’s have a glance and discussion of the spinal structure and anatomy:

1/5. Cervical:
That’s mainly the neck region whose prime function is to support the skull and protect the spinal cord and brain stem. It is made up of seven vertebrae named C1 to C7.
Often people confuse the term cervical with a problem which in reality is a region of your spine. However, if you are experiencing pain or stiffness in these areas, then it is a problem, called Cervical pain. 

2/5. Thoracic:
After the cervical, the thoracic comes next. It is the middle section of your spine. It has the highest number of spinal vertebrae, i.e. 12 which are labelled as T1 - T12. Thoracic is responsible for holding the rib cage and protecting the heart and lungs. However, if we talk about the range of motion in the thoracic region, then it is only limited.

3/5. Lumbar:
The lumbar area is made up of five vertebrae, called L1 - L5. Doubtlessly, the number of thoracic is more, but the lumbar is still the largest part of the spine because lumbar vertebrae are way bigger as compared to thoracic.
The lubar helps to provide stability to the back, allowing for movements and support to the overall body’s weight. However, the lumbar spine is prone to degenerative response, and that’s why issues like lumbar spondylosis become common in people after a certain age.

4/5. Sacrum:
Five fused vertebrae together make the region sacrum in the spine. It is the bone that connects your spine to the hip bones and also forms the base of your pelvis.
By strengthening and stabilizing the pelvis, the sacrum plays a crucial role in providing support to the body. Additionally, the nerves in the sacrum also control the bladder and bowels and provide sensation to the crotch. 

5/5. Coccyx:
Coccyx, also called tailbone comes at last. It is made up of four fused vertebrae. It provides an attachment point for your muscles and ligaments of the pelvic floor.
Often people complain that they experience pain in their tailbone quite frequently which could be due to several reasons such as prolonged sittings, obesity, arthritis, or coccydynia.

What causes weakness in the spine?

Weakness of the spine may arise possibly due to a number of reasons. Some of these are mentioned below:

1. Any spine disorder or compression following fractured bone, tumor, or herniated disk.
2. Degenerative response of the spine due to constant aging.
3. The presence of any auto-immune condition like Ankylosing spondylitis, Osteoarthritis, or Rheumatoid arthritis.
4. Deficiency of Vitamin D, calcium, and other nutrients.
5. Any unhealed injury, trauma, sudden fall, or accident.
6. Poor posture while sleeping, sitting, or lying down.

Strengthening Exercises for a Healthy Spine

Well, there are numerous spine exercises and stretches that are both easy to perform and efficiently able to strengthen your core and back muscles. Doing them regularly can help prevent back pain and improve your range of motion. These are:

1. LYING HIP RAISE

Firstly lie on your back, bend your knees, and tighten your core. Now try raising your hips until your shoulders and knees form a straight line.

2. CAT STRETCH

Start by kneeling on your hands and knees and then arch your back and look up. Next, you are supposed to round your back and look down.

3. SEATED LOWER BACK ROTATIONAL STRETCH

Start by sitting comfortably on a chair and crossing one leg over the other. After that, twist to the side and it's done.

4. CURL-UP

Firstly lie on your back and lift your head, shoulders, and chest off the floor. Then simply, move your lower back down.

Why Proper Posture Is Necessary For Spinal Health?

The posture and how you sit, stand, or sleep directly affects your spine health. Prolonged sitting in an odd position can highly affect your back and may create problems such as Lower back pain, Stiffness, Immobility, Difficulty bending, and so on. The experts gave the following comments regarding this aspect:

1. Focus on the ways to enhance your ergonomics. Avoid prolonged sitting, standing, or lying.
2. Do not lift any kind of heavy lifting either due to gym or any other reason.
3. Sit on a comfortable mattress that is neither too soft nor not too hard.
4. If your work demands sitting on a chair or in front of computer screens for hours. Make sure to take small breaks and do some moderate walking, and stretching or they can try Office yoga.
5. Make sure to sit on a comfortable chair that helps to provide lumbar support and allows you to sit with your feet flat on the floor.

Lifestyle Adjustments For Spinal Health

Your routine lifestyle also plays a crucial role in the betterment of your spine as well as overall joint health. Below are some suggestions shared by the experts that if followed with due care and considered, can help to prevent possible spine complications and attain back pain relief.

1. Stay active: Mobility is the key to keeping joints healthy, and flexible. Instead of sticking to your sofa or couch, try to keep your body active either by mild walking, jogging, cycling, etc.

2. Weight management: Your back, knees, and other joints have to bear extra pressure if you are overweight or obese. Thus make sure to keep your body at an ideal weight following dietary precautions, routine yoga, and exercises.

3. Nutritional diet: Make sure to eat a diet that contains all the minerals, vitamins, calcium, etc that are necessary for your bone growth and strength. For this purpose, milk, soybean, fresh fruits, green leafy vegetables, and soaked dry fruits can be some of the best options.

4. Go easy: Listen to your body and take care of your comfort. If you feel any kind of ache or pain in your back while lifting weights, doing routine gym, or doing any other activity, just don’t do it.

5. Use posture belts: These days several accessories, mainly the belts are available in the market that are specially designed to improve your posture and provide support to your back. You can also use them for injury prevention and back strengthening.

Yoga for Spine

Several yoga asanas are specifically meant for spine-related problems. The routine performance of the yoga postures when done while taking care of your body’s comfort will surely ensure long-term spine health.

Best Yoga Asana For Lower Back Pain

• Cow pose (Bitilasana)
• Child’s pose (Balasana)
• Cobra pose (Bhujangasana)
• Bridge pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)
• Triangle pose (Trikonasana)
• Lotus pose (Padmasana )

Takeaway

Your spine is the base of your body! Make sure to provide it with the care and consideration it deserves. The above-mentioned measures are shared by the experts of Dr. Sharda Ayurveda and are meant merely to provide race to your healing journey. 

Instead of substituting your current medications or treatment, we advise you to accommodate these healthy changes for spinal health into your daily routine after approval from your doctor or a healthcare professional.