Keeping your spine healthy is an important part of maintaining overall body health. An unhealthy spine can affect the outer spinal nerves and cause a wide variety of health issues such as headaches, sinus issues, weight fluctuations, mood swings and more.
Fortunately, there are many things you can do to keep your spine healthy.
Chiropractic Adjustments
Chiropractic is a healthcare profession that focuses on your neuromusculoskeletal system, including bones, nerves, muscles, tendons and ligaments. Its aim is to improve the body’s ability to self-heal by removing spinal misalignments. It has been shown to have multiple benefits for your well-being, including pain reduction, increased range of motion, improved muscular-skeletal function and heightened immune response.
When a vertebrae in your spine moves out of its normal position, it creates pressure on the nerves and everything around it. This pressure disrupts the natural pathways that send messages from your brain to the rest of your body. This is what we refer to in the chiropractic profession as a subluxation.
During a chiropractic adjustment, your chiropractor will deliver a quick and precise thrust to reposition the bone. Sometimes these thrusts are accompanied by a popping sound. This is caused by a change in pressure within the joint capsule which causes nitrogen gas to be released. This results in a change in the surrounding soft tissue, which allows your joint to move more fluidly.
This is just one of the many techniques chiropractors use to adjust the spine and other joints throughout your body. These methods are designed to decrease your pain, increase movement and flexibility, reduce inflammation and help the body heal itself.
Studies have found that chiropractic adjustments can provide relief for a wide range of conditions, including back and neck pain, arthritis, sciatica, herniated discs and poor posture. They have also been found to improve posture, reduce stiffness, relieve stress, boost the immune system and improve sleep. It’s a safe, drug-free and non-invasive way to alleviate your pain and prevent future injuries.
Massage
Chiropractic techniques include massage that can help relieve pain, improve posture, and enhance your overall well-being. In addition, massage can also improve circulation, boost energy levels and boost your immune system.
During a massage, the deep pressure applied on your skin induces several physiological effects such as stimulating blood flow and tissue flexibility through friction and stretching. Moreover, the stimulation of your lymphatic system increases your immunity and removes waste products from your body. Furthermore, regular massages can reduce the symptoms of chronic diseases such as stress-related disorders, depression and anxiety and even cancer and heart disease by reducing blood pressure and increasing oxygen flow to your brain.
For patients with MS, massage therapy can provide pleasurable stimulation and relax muscles that are tense because of poor posture. Moreover, it can also increase your range of motion and enhance flexibility in the spinal area.
The main technique chiropractors use when addressing neck problems is spinal manipulation, otherwise known as cervical manipulation. It involves the chiropractor applying a controlled force to your spine to alleviate nerve compression, reduce joint dysfunction and restore proper alignment. Moreover, chiropractic also uses soft tissue techniques such as mobilization to promote tissue healing and flexibility.
Nutritional Supplements
The spine is a delicate structure that needs to be properly nourished in order to maintain healthy function and reduce pains and discomfort. In addition to maintaining a balanced diet, patients may benefit from nutritional supplements which can be used to support and strengthen the spine.
Dietary supplements are substances that provide the body with micronutrients including vitamins and minerals. These can be found in a variety of forms including pills, capsules, powders and drinks. They are generally not meant to cure diseases or health conditions. They are mainly marketed as a way to increase your intake of certain nutrients that might be missing from your regular diet, such as vitamin C for the support of connective tissue in tendons and ligaments; magnesium to improve neurological functioning and relieve muscle spasms around the spine; or calcium which helps maintain bone density.
It is preferable to get the recommended dose of essential nutrients from regular meals rather than dietary supplements, however this isn’t always possible. It’s important to talk to a chiropractor like Pande Chiropractic before starting any nutritional supplement program to ensure that it will be safe and effective for you.
Foods rich in calcium and vitamin D are great sources of these key nutrients and can be incorporated into your daily diet to support spinal health. These foods include dairy products, leafy green vegetables and fortified plant-based milk alternatives like soy and almond. Vitamin C is also an important nutrient that can be obtained from many fruits and vegetables, especially citrus fruits and berries, bell peppers, broccoli and tomatoes. This vitamin supports collagen synthesis, a protein that is necessary for reducing inflammation and supporting the repair of tissues around the spine.
Exercise
If you want a healthy, pain-free spine (and body), then you have to make sure that you’re prioritizing exercise and hydration. These are simple, powerful health practices that can make a big difference when it comes to preventing and managing spine problems.
Many chiropractors will recommend specific exercises for their patients to perform at home or during treatment sessions, including stretching and core-strengthening workouts. These activities can strengthen the muscles surrounding the spine and improve flexibility, which can help protect the back from injury. Your chiropractor may also recommend a supportive office chair and cushion, as well as a sleeping position that helps keep the spine in a more neutral position while you’re asleep.
For example, sleeping on your stomach can put a lot of strain on the spine and shoulders, so it’s important to sleep on your side or back, with a pillow that keeps the head aligned and prevents the neck from twisting. You should also drink enough water and eat a balanced diet that includes plenty of bone-healthy foods, such as calcium and vitamin D.
Some chiropractors may also use spinal manipulation techniques to enhance the function of the joints in your spine and extremities. These treatments, which are sometimes called drop technique or Thompson Technique, involve a special table that drops in tiny increments during the course of the treatment, which alleviates pressure on your tailbone and lumbar spine and helps ease the symptoms of back pain.
Other chiropractic techniques, such as the Activator Method, utilize an instrument to target specific areas of pain and “zap” them with low-force pulses that are often described by patients as feeling like a vibration. These methods are usually used for patients with a mild to moderate degree of pain and can be used alongside other types of treatment.
Well-Being
Well-being, sometimes also known as prosperity, good fortune or quality of life is what people perceive to be intrinsically valuable and important in their lives. It is a multidimensional concept that incorporates a wide range of values such as health, pleasure, social connection, work and purpose.
Despite the wide range of values that constitute well-being, there are some core principles that are essential to understanding it. One of the most important principles is that a person’s well-being can be increased through a combination of activities that are both sustainable and beneficial over time. These activities must be based on a person’s values and interests.
For example, exercise and a healthy diet are important for increasing the sense of well-being. The diet must be based on healthy and nutritious foods, such as lean proteins, fruits and vegetables. A healthy diet will help prevent a variety of illnesses and promote overall wellness.
This type of well-being can be compared to the economic notion of gross domestic product (GDP), which is a composite indicator that incorporates a broad range of critical dimensions. It is therefore important to use similar approaches when measuring well-being in policy contexts.
Several methods exist for measuring well-being, but a standardized and validated multidimensional measure is particularly useful for informing policy. The ten-item multidimensional measure used in the European Social Survey (ESS) is an excellent example. It provides clear patterns of wellbeing across 21 countries and various groups within. Furthermore, it allows insights that may be masked when limiting assessments to single items. It can be deconstructed to explore individual dimensions that are of interest, such as happiness and life satisfaction, and it is a promising method for identifying levers to address policy concerns in a more targeted way.