How to protect your spine

Simple tips to protect your spine.

The human body is the greatest wonder of this world. At any given moment, it performs hundreds of thousands of individual functions like circulating and purifying blood, turning food intake into energy, maintaining proper internal temperature, taking in oxygen, and all the other operations which keep us alive and healthy. It works like a fully automatic machine.

The Spinal Cord is the center axis of the body, 26 bones encasing the spinal cord and defining the entries and exits for many nerves in and out of the nervous system. Our bodies are born with -- our Innate Intelligence -- every cell and organ sends and receives messages to and from the brain.


The Spine
In fact, the brain acts like a central communication depot, processing millions of messages every second. These messages, relayed as electrical impulses, are sent out over nerves the way phone calls travel along telephone wires.

Brain and spinal cord are critical to the survival and health of the individual. Protecting them is absolutely vital. the brain is encased in a "shell" of solid bone -- the skull.
 
A thick braid formed by billions of these nerves is attached to the brain and extends down from the base of the skull. This is the spinal cord. 


Smaller braids branch off from the cord. These braids divide again and again into tiny nerve fibers and fill the entire body, going to each cell, organ and tissue. Every human being has an estimated 15 billion nerve cells. All send and receive messages as nerve impulses through the spinal cord. 

But what about the spinal cord? How does the body protect it? 

The answer is the spinal column.

The spinal column is an elaborate "tunnel" of small, interlocking bones slightly curved in the shape of the letter "S." It's flexible enough to allow the body to twist and bend, but sturdy enough to protect the spinal cord. 

In order to protect our spinal column we must Learn how to sit, stand, move and exercise in a balanced manner to reduce the neck and lower back pain to a great extent.

STRETCHING regularly and correctly is one of the three ways to protect the spine and keep the body in balance. Its relaxing effects contribute significantly to your ability to recuperate and tone up. Who hasn't suffered from low back pain or stiffness at one time or the other? Even children are not immune to it.

The spine has three natural curves and a change in one curve affects the other two. The thoracic or middle back area is less mobile because of the ribs attached to it. This results in the neck and lower back being very closely related and an injury to one can often harm the other..

For example, if you suffer from whiplash injury and the neck muscles are not repaired immediately, the lower back tries to compensate it by balancing the body and thereby over-stressing itself. This can decrease the pressure on the nerves of the neck and decrease the pain. But, unfortunately, now the lower back is prone to injuries due to the increased stress on it.

A similar situation often occurs if the lower back is injured. The neck compensates the injury by providing the balance needed ot the body. This can lead to chronic problems later unless the muscle damage is repaired fast. Prevention, therefore is very important.

The pain in the neck and lower back is usually caused by stress or damaged muscles putting the spinal vertebrae and other related bones out of their normal positions.

The solution is three-fold. The first step is to learn how to sit, stand, move and exercise in a balanced manner to minimize muscle stress. Here are few tips for proper sitting: Sit with your feet flat on the floor. Knee should level with or slightly above your buttocks. Sit as straight as you can and then relax about 10 to 15 minutes after that. This is a good sitting posture. 

When writing, use a flat surface and look downward instead of flexing your neck forward. When reading, keep your book in such a way that your head remains straight. Muscles in front of your neck, if kept tight, will restrict the blood flow to the thyroid gland which would slow down the metabolism. This would make the body gain weight.

The second important factor is to stretch the muscles that contract while sitting. The muscles involved are the hamstring muscles (back of the thigh), the muscles in front of the neck, the hip flexures and pectoris minor muscles (in the chest). 

The hamstring muscles can be stretched by standing with the legs straight and bending forward while maintaining your normal lower-back curve. Stretching can be done a few times a day for 30 to 40 seconds or more. The most effective time for stretching is when the muscles are warm from exercise. Stretching is extremely powerful in reducing stress and tension and in preventing lower back and neck pain.

The third important part is the musculus skeletal structure of the body. The exercise program should be balanced as to give exercise to all the muscles. 

For example, many give exercise to the chest muscles ignoring the back. This can lead to an imbalance in the shoulder joints, neck and upper-back. Properly balanced training techniques can prevent the back and neck pains to a great extent. 

Did you find these tips helpful, if you have suggestion for readers please share in comment section

0 Response to "How to protect your spine"

Post a Comment