We all want to be healthy, right? But when you think of being healthy, does a healthy spine come to mind first? Think about it, what does the spine protect? Your spinal cord! Your spinal cord is what bridges the gap between your brain, which controls everything, and the nerves that go out to your body. If there are problems with the spine, it affects the spinal cord and nerves! Unlike many other parts of the body that may wear out and be replaced, have you ever heard of a spine transplant? I haven’t either. So a healthy spine is essential to a healthy you!
1. Posture Is Important for a Healthy Spine
Did you know that your spine was not designed to be completely straight? It has natural curves front to back that help it to better distribute the stresses put on it. When you have “good” posture you are in natural alignment that reduces the stress on the spine. “Poor” posture is a posture that increases the stress on the spine and other joints of the body. In a short period of time, poor posture will probably cause little noticeable difference. But in the long term it makes an enormous difference in how the spine can function and your overall health. With poor posture you end up increasing the stress on areas that were not meant to have that much stress and they begin to break down. This leads to arthritis in the spine or spinal degeneration.
What is “Good” Posture?
In general “good” posture is when we are not hunching, leaning, or slouching. Ideal standing posture from a side view is when a straight line passes through:
- Ear lobe
- Tip of the shoulder
- Slightly behind the hip joint
- Slightly in front of the middle of the knee
- Just in front of the lateral malleolus (the bump on the outside of the ankle)
Also the natural curves of the spine are not decreased or over-accentuated.
When sitting, you want to sit up straight without slouching keeping the natural curve in the low back. One easy way to help with this is by sitting with your buttocks to the back of the seat instead of a little forward. Then you want to have the head over the shoulders and the shoulders “back” (in a neutral position). When working on a computer, we have the tendency to move the head forward, round the shoulders forward and to increase the curve in our upper back by leaning forward. So watch for those things and adjust your posture accordingly.
Posture takes time to change, so don’t get discouraged when trying to correct it. It took you a long time to get those bad habits and it will take time to replace them with good habits.
2. Exercise Your Spine
Posture is definitely important, but what stabilizes the spine so you can maintain your posture? The muscles of the back and your “core” muscles. You have probably done or heard of workouts to strengthen your core, but what are your “core muscles”? In general, your core muscles are the muscles that stabilize the “core” of your body, namely the spine and pelvis. Overall your core muscles are not muscles that are used to make large movements but instead are used to stabilize and maintain posture. They are meant to be endurance muscles and you work them by holding positions, not doing repetitions of some exercise with increasing weight. This means that even bodybuilders or those that seem really fit may still have a weak core and will be more likely to have a back injury.
What Exercises Strengthen Your Core?
Exercises that require you to hold a position and build more endurance than ‘strength’ are great for the core. It is much more important to keep proper form during the exercise than just getting more time doing the exercise. If you can’t keep the proper form, you need to stop and rest. It does more harm than good doing an exercise with poor form. Some good core exercises that I like to have patients do are front and side bridges (planks), bird dog, and curl-ups (kind of a modified crunch with a hold). To help with keeping proper form it is good to have a spotter help you or do the exercises in front of a mirror.
3. Get Regular Chiropractic Check-ups
Even with perfect posture and a strong core to help stabilize the back, there may still be a major health issue present. It is called spinal subluxation. It is basically improper movement/alignment of the bones of the spine which in turn affects the function of the nerves exiting the spinal cord. Often a spinal subluxation will be attended by pain—but not always—which is why it is so important to regularly be checked by a chiropractor. A chiropractor is the only health professional that is trained to identify and help correct spinal subluxation.
Regular chiropractic care also helps you to maintain proper posture and keep the core muscles functioning the way they should. A spinal subluxation can have a pronounced effect on the body overall and interferes with the body’s natural ability to heal. A spinal subluxation creates, to some degree, a disconnect between the brain and the body, so the body cannot function at its best. As a chiropractor, I have helped numerous people improve their health naturally by finding and correcting spinal subluxations allowing the body to better heal itself. Chiropractic is so much more than just relieving back pain. If you would like to know more about how chiropractic can help you contact our office today.
