5 tips to keep your spine healthy and moving!

Verified by Dr. Agnivesh Tikoo, Consultant Spine Surgery, Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai.

Spine or back bone is an important part of human body. It helps us to stand erect, protects the neural structure (spinal cord and the nerves) it encases and provides flexibility to human trunk to carry out daily activities.           Keeping your spine in optimal health is fundamental to maintaining mobility.

5 important points to keep your spine healthy and moving

1. Take frequent breaks: Sedentary lifestyle and prolonged sitting puts a lot of stress on our spine. Movement is an important factor for maintaining a healthy spine. Those who work without breaks often complain of back pain. It is important to take a five-minute break after every 55 minutes of constant sitting. Use an ergonomically sound workstation. You can also modify your workstation to incentivize you to take a break hourly. For example, keeping something, you don’t need too often like a stapler away from your station.
2. Healthy and balanced diet: It is essential to keep a check on what you are eating. A fat belly not only increases cardiac and other risks, but it also puts a lot of strain on the lower back. Losing weight in obese patients helps to control low back pain. However, do not rush into strenuous exercises to lose weight without understanding how much load your spine is capable of taking.
3. Smoking cessation and stress relaxation: Cigarette smoking not only is associated with spinal pain and there is a term for it – Smoking Back Pain! There are multiple ways in which smoking is linked to low back pain. Smoking impairs your body’s ability to heal your spine naturally, thereby aggravating the situation. Stress can aggravate and cause chronic back pain. It’s very essential to do adequate stress relaxation and have a good sound sleep at night.
4. Exercises: Regular exercises are essential for maintaining spinal health. Daily walking for 40 to 45 minutes should be the target. Swimming is considered a good exercise for your back. However, don’t suddenly jump into heavy exercises or new exercise modalities without understanding the consequences on your spine. It may be advisable to take a more gradual and slow approach to build up exercises over a period of time to reach a certain level.

Many a times patients land up in hospital for back pain just because they have                  indulged in some exercise with existing pain indicating that the spine was not ready for it. Excessive stretching in old age may also cause more harm than good. These are the reasons for a patient’s visit to a clinician.

• Get proper medical advice by a qualified professional: Sometimes a minor strain in the back is start of a major problem like a slipped disc which aggravates with exercises/ unwarranted activities and eventually lands the patient on an operating table. It is advisable to get proper medical consultation by a qualified doctor to get yourself examined and identify early signs of an impending larger problem. Rest and restricted activity for some time followed by gradual resumption of activities may be a safer and more reasonable approach in an acute back pain scenario.

Disclaimer: The article is for information purpose only and does not constitute medical advice. Please do not hesitate/ not consult a doctor because of something you read in this article.

Consult our expert, Dr. Agnivesh Tikoo, Consultant Spine Surgery, Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai for all spine related problems.

Call 022 6280 6280 for an appointment.