8 Simple Habits to Support Your Back Every Day

Your spine is one of the most important structures in your body. It supports your body’s full weight, facilitates movement and regulates nerve function in every limb, organ and tissue. Without daily support of your back, your spine’s ability to help your body in these myriad ways becomes compromised. You may experience back pain, neurological issues and other problems that interfere with your ability to engage with daily life. Keep reading his article for tips to help you support your back day in and day out!

Follow these eight simple habits to support your back whether you’re at work, at home, exercising or bringing home the groceries.

1. Support Your Spine at Your Desk

If you work in an office, one way to take care of your back is by supporting your spine at your desk. Here are some tips for supporting your spine at your desk:

Sit with good posture: To sit with good posture, keep your knees bent at a 90-degree angle and your feet flat on the ground. Your spine should be straight and tall while maintaining its natural curvature. Keep your head above your shoulders and your shoulders directly over your hips. You should also relax your shoulders and keep your elbows close to your body. Take breaks to get up and walk around at specific intervals, so you don’t stay in a static position too long.
Use lumbar support: Find an ergonomic chair that provides adequate lumbar support. Your lumbar spine naturally curves inward, so an ergonomic office chair will support your spine by reinforcing the lumbar curve. Other aspects of an ergonomic office chair include adjustable height, adjustable armrests, seat tilt mechanisms, a five-star base with wheels and cushioned seating with breathable fabric.
Avoid slouching forward: As the morning becomes the afternoon and your responsibilities increase, you may find yourself slouching more and more. However, it’s important to fight the temptation to slouch. Sitting in a slumped position for an extended period increases your risk of experiencing lower back pain. If you find yourself slouching, it may be a good time to get up and take a brief walk around the office or your home to refresh your posture. A well-adjusted ergonomic chair should also make it easier to resist slouching.
Consider alternative office set-ups: The traditional office chair isn’t your only option for maintaining good posture. You may benefit from an alternative office set-up like a Swedish kneeling chair or a sit-stand desk. A Swedish kneeling chair involves leg rests and a tilted seat with no backrests or armrests. The tilted seat opens your hips and tilts your pelvis forward, helping the spine maintain its natural curve effortlessly. A sit-stand desk lets you switch from an ergonomic sitting position to a standing position throughout the day to reduce compression on your spinal discs and vertebrae.

2. Support Your Spine With Daily Stretches and Exercises

Daily stretching and exercising are essential for keeping your spine healthy. That said, not all exercises or stretches keep your back in good shape. Some exercises and stretches may worsen back pain or create new problems. Knowing which exercises and stretches you should perform and which ones you should avoid is worthwhile.

As for stretches and exercises that support your spine, here are some great options to consider:

Side plank: With the side plank, you’ll lie on your side and prop your upper body up with your forearm. Your forearm should be flat on the floor with your elbow beneath your shoulder. Your free hand should be on your hip. Bend your knees at a 90-degree angle and lift your hips until you form a straight line from your head to your knees, engaging your core. Hold this position for 10 seconds, then slowly lower your hips to the floor. Planks are the gold standard for core exercises.
Bird-dog: The bird-dog exercise begins on your hands and knees. When you’re in that position, raise one arm and extend it forward as far as possible while lifting your opposite leg and fully extending it. Keeping your raised arm and leg parallel to the floor, hold this position for 10 seconds, then slowly lower them. Make sure your hips are aligned with your torso during this pose. Repeat this pose five times on one side and then again with the other arm and leg.
Towel hamstring stretch: You can use a towel or resistance band for this exercise. To perform it, lie on your back and bend one knee. Loop a towel or resistance band around the balls of one foot and straighten your knee. Slowly pull on the towel or resistance band until you feel a stretch down the back of your leg. Once you feel the stretch, hold for 15-30 seconds. Repeat this stretch for each leg two to four times.
Yoga: Numerous studies verify the benefits of yoga for your back and overall health. Whether you practice yoga on your own or in a group, it is an excellent form of exercise for supporting your back.

Some exercises harm your back more than they benefit your body. These include:

Sit-ups: Once considered the gold standard for core strengthening, sit-ups no longer hold that honor. The main reason for their fall from grace is their impact on the lower back. When you perform a sit-up, your lumbar spine gets compressed against the floor and tugged on by your hip flexors, which run from your thighs to your lower back. This activity commonly results in lower back discomfort. Furthermore, sit-ups only work a few core muscles in isolation and have limited benefit for daily living.
Toe touches: If you deal with existing lower back pain, you should avoid the standing toe touch exercise. This exercise may aggravate existing lower back pain and overstretch your lower back muscles and hamstrings.
Leg raises: Leg raises can cause even more spinal compression than a traditional sit-up. Thus, it’s best to exclude leg raises from your exercise routine.
Superman back extensions: Superman back extensions involve lying on your stomach and lifting and extending both your arms and legs so that you look like Superman when flying. This movement doubles the amount of spine compression from a regular sit-up.

3. Regularly Engage in Low-Impact Aerobic Activity

Aerobic exercises improve circulation, heart rate and blood pressure. They can also alleviate chronic low back pain. Thus, aerobics is an integral part of any workout routine. However, many aerobic exercises are also high-impact, meaning they can be hard on your joints, bones and soft tissues. As such, high-impact aerobic exercises like jogging, jumping jacks or plyometrics often cause or worsen back pain. To limit the impact of aerobic activity on your back and joints, finding low-impact aerobic exercises is a good idea.

Here are some examples of low-impact aerobic exercises to try:

Water aerobics: Water aerobics is great if you have an existing back pain condition, as the water reduces your risk of falling and injury when exercising. Exercising in water also reduces the impact on your joints and makes movement less painful.
Elliptical trainer: An elliptical trainer is an exercise machine that mimics the movement of jogging, running or walking up stairs. The machine consists of pedals that glide up and down at your pace. This way, jogging, running or walking on an elliptical machine provides the aerobic benefits of doing so on stairs while taking away the hard-surface impact that usually accompanies such exercises.
Speed walking: Speed walking is a hybrid between jogging and walking at a regular pace. This exercise elevates your heart rate and gently works your muscles without the high impact of jogging.

4. Walk and Stand With the Spine in Alignment

Ideal postural alignment with your spine occurs at the joints — the meeting points between your vertebrae. If these bones don’t line up correctly, it throws your spine out of alignment. One of the fundamental causes of a misaligned spine is poor posture. Here are some pointers for walking and standing with your spine in alignment:

Keep your head level and above your shoulders
Pull your shoulders back, so they are directly over your hips
Transfer your weight to the balls of your feet
Let your arms hang naturally at your sides
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart
Pul your stomach in

Severely misaligned spines will require chiropractic care to realign the joints in your spine. However, if you’re dealing with minor misalignment or want to prevent a misaligned spine, there are things you can do to align your spine. Here are some tips to protect your back when walking or standing:

Stand tall and straight, as if an imaginary string were pulling your head up from your hips to help you stand with perfect posture.
Take shorter strides, as long strides put more weight on each foot and the tendons and ligaments connecting it to the lower back. The increased stress on these tissues may throw your spine out of alignment.
Avoid looking down at your phone. Either keep it in your pocket or bring your phone up to eye level to respond to texts, emails or read articles. Looking down at your phone causes tech neck and affects the joints in your cervical spine.

Some exercises that help keep your spine in alignment include yoga, pilates and tai chi.

5. Sleep in a Pain-Reducing Position

The best sleeping positions for your back are either on your back or side. Sleeping on your back produces the least pressure on your spine of any sleeping position, followed by your side.

If you sleep on your side, keeping a pillow between your knees is a good idea to maintain spinal alignment. It’s also important to keep both knees bent. If you sleep with your knees bent slightly upward, it can reduce strain on your back, neck and spine muscles. However, ensure you don’t sleep in a full fetal position, as this can strain neck muscles and your breathing capacity.

Other sleeping positions that may be beneficial for back pain include:

Lying on your back with a pillow underneath your knees.
Lying on your stomach with a pillow underneath your pelvis or lower abdomen.
Lying on your back in a reclined position.

6. Wear Appropriate Shoes

Although your feet are some distance from your spine, the shoes you wear can either support your spine or contribute to back pain. Every step you take generates a shockwave through your body from your foot through your spine. Thus, when you wear shoes that provide insufficient support to your foot and ankle, your spine suffers too. High heels are notorious examples of such footwear, which adversely affect spinal curvature and create gait problems.

However, high heels are not the only culprit, as much of the population suffers from foot pronation issues. Foot pronation refers to the natural movement of your ankle and the arch of your foot when you walk. One of the most common foot pronation issues is overpronation, where the ankle rolls too much and the arch tips too far inward. The more you walk with overpronation, the more misaligned your foot and ankle become. Such misalignment causes problems for your spine.

A solution to this problem is custom orthotics, which often involve insoles designed to support the unique structure of your foot and ankle. By properly supporting your foot and ankle with custom orthotics, you’re also supporting your spine.

7. Increase Your Calcium and Vitamin D Intake

Calcium and vitamin D are essential minerals for your bones, including those in your spine. These two minerals work together to create a strong bone structure. Calcium makes up much of your bone composition and promotes healthy bone cells. Vitamin D helps with the absorption of calcium in your body.

Additionally, studies show that vitamin D is important for back pain relief, as vitamin D deficiency is associated with chronic neck and back pain. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to focus on increasing your calcium and vitamin D intake with your diet to support spine health. Some foods that are high in calcium and vitamin D include:

Yogurt
Eggs
Orange juice
Fatty fish
Fortified cereals
Beef liver
Fortified milk
Tofu

You also receive vitamin D naturally from sunlight, so spending plenty of time outside in the sun is also a great way to increase your vitamin D intake.

8. Lighten Your Carrying Load

Whether your job requires you to carry heavy objects or you’re carrying bags from the grocery store, lightening your carrying load is always a good thing to do for your back. Lightening your carrying load may involve taking multiple trips or evenly distributing the weight across your body.

If you’re carrying grocery bags, make sure all the bags have a similar weight and carry an equal amount with each arm. Consider how much you can carry without causing or increasing back pain. If you have time, take multiple trips so you don’t carry more than your limit in one trip.

Besides how much you carry, it’s also essential to pay attention to how you lift heavy objects. Here are some tips on best practices when lifting heavy objects:

Keep your feet at least shoulder-width apart, with one foot slightly ahead of the other.
Squat down close to the object when reaching to pick it up, bending at the hips and knees with your buttocks out.
Maintain a neutral spine, looking straight ahead with your shoulders back as you lift the object.
Lift the object slowly, extending your legs and breathing out as you lift, and avoiding leaning forward.
Hold the object as close to your body as you can.
Use your feet to change direction instead of your upper body.
Set the object down slowly, squatting with your knees and hips while maintaining a straight back and level head.

When to Call a Doctor

If you’ve experienced back pain for two weeks or more that keeps you from participating in routine activities, it’s time to see a doctor. For severe back pain, make an appointment as soon as possible.

At the Metropolitan Pain & Spine Institute, our spine specialists can provide excellent medical support for any back pain condition you experience. Contact us today for an appointment!

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8 Simple Habits to Support Your Back Every Day