Spinal Hygiene Tips
What is spinal hygiene? Hygiene are acts or habits that contribute to your health and well being. To be healthy for your spine, we are looking at muscle mass, posture and spinal curvatures, bone density and shape, joint mobility and stability, and of course nervous tissue health.
There’s research that shows people who suffer from chronic low back pain tend to have atrophy or decrease in size of their multifidus muscles with fatty infiltration. Multifidus is a core stabilizer, so it is a muscle that helps support your spine and contribute to overall health. To ensure this muscle remains a healthy size, you need to train it. Core exercises such as planks should be seen as a part of healthy spinal hygiene habits. Don’t think of planks just as an exercise when you are training for a sport or trying to get out of pain. Use planks just like you use your toothbrush, daily maintenance.
Posture and natural curves are a sign of spinal hygiene. An older diagnosis used was Upper and Lower Cross Syndromes. These basically explain upper thoracic spine hunch combined with forward rolled shoulders, or lower cross which encompasses a anteriorly tilted pelvis, short low back muscles, weak anterior muscles and tight hips. These talk about how certain syndromes have tight muscles in some areas and over stretched muscles in others (often with muscle imbalances as well, but not always). You want a natural curve in your spine, with a lordosis or anterior or curve in your neck and lower back, and the opposite in your upper back and sacrum. Avoiding prolonged poor posture like certain desk work or time spent on a phone can help. Having an ergonomic desk set up will help even more. This is another area where regular working out of certain muscles helps give your postural supporting muscles more endurance. Think about rows or Ys, Ts, Ws.
Bone density and bone shape are also signs of healthy spinal hygiene habits. Bone density comes from two aspects, nutrition and activity. Some conditions or medications can cause bone density to decrease at a more rapid rate. There is a rule with bone health called Wolf’s Law. This law basically states that bone density responds to load, meaning if a bone is challenged it will toughen up (so to speak). Bones need calcium, and certain things help or hinder calcium absorption. For example, vitamin D helps you absorb while caffeine hinders. Lack of bone density can lead to increased risk of fracture or vertebral wedging. Wedging is where your density decreases to the point that a hunched posture changes the shape over your vertebrae (into wedges), leading to permanent deformation. This is why we should continue to add diet, activity, and posture to our list of healthy spinal hygiene habits.
Joint mobility and stability are two very important factors to consider. With mobility you are looking at a healthy, controlled, range of motion in flexion (bending forward), extension (arching backwards), lateral flexion (tilting sideways), and rotation (twisting). You want symmetrical movement on both sides, as well as control. This is one reason why healthy spinal hygiene should include activities that use multi plane ranges of motion. Training squats or deadlifts is great but that is one range of motion. Taking a martial arts or dance class often uses more realistically functional movement patterns, reducing risk of injury. How many times have people felt a spasm or a painful pop tying their shoes, but they got through their most recent gym routine? Stability also refers to the controlled aspect of above, but also stability under perturbation for example. Can you stand on the subway without holding a railing and feel comfortable for the most part? Can you do your activities that you enjoy that require you to be able to stand on one foot, or hold an awkwardly twisted position? This all relates to stability which requires consistent core training or core use. Keep up your core work and your core demanding activities and you will maintain your mobility and stability.
Finally we get to nervous tissue health. One of the easiest ways to ensure you have healthy nervous tissue in your spine is to use all ranges of motion. You want your nervous tissue to maintain elasticity just like any other tissue in your body. Proper use, and patient warming up gives your nervous tissue time to stretch and heat up slowly, reducing injury. When I think about spinal nervous tissue health, I also think about disc health. If your disc is compromised it will press on your nervous tissue, causing nerve pain. Healthy habits for your disc include regular movement. Your discs are like sponges in a way and they require compression and decompression for nutrients, and waste exchange. Your disc needs a certain level of core strength and endurance, and healthy use of core muscles. One of the core muscles is your diaphragm, so holding your breath while doing workouts stresses out your discs. You want to brace your core while breathing normally during activity and training. All of these healthy habits contribute to healthy spinal tissue, in particular nervous tissue.
Before wrapping up, let’s go through a summarized list of healthy spinal hygiene habits:
Regular core training like planks
Regular upper back training for posture
Reduction of time spent on computer/phone
Ergonomic set up for computer
Healthy diet habits including Calcium, Vitamin D, and reducing caffeine
Adding regular movement that requires all ranges of motion
Healthy use of core activation
Just like any habit, spinal hygiene habits take time to implement, and maintain. Don’t try working on the entire list all at once. Start a new habit, let it become consistent (give it a few weeks), then add in the next habit. These things may not seem important when you are young, but your older self will thank you as move and feel better as you age.
For more information on spinal hygiene, please reach out to Made To Move’s chiropractor, Dr. Stephen Gray. You can also book an initial appointment at his Toronto clinic right on the Danforth. Your initial appointment comes with a diagnosis of any pain or issues you are having as well as first, full treatment (which includes a personalized rehab plan of exercises to help you get your goals).
