Maintaining Spinal Integrity - Advice For Young and Old

As the body grows, the imperatives of spinal health change shape and take different forms. What may work for a young child is probably not suited for an elderly individual, and likewise, what might be a recommendable spinal regime for a senior citizen would be inadequate for the growth of a 20 something's spinal column. Because the body changes over time, the demands of the spinal column change over time as well, and with these changing demands, the individual should adapt their support system to their age and their body's concerns at the given moment.

One can speak of three general time periods in which to group the exercises and concerns of spinal integrity: youth, adulthood, and seniority. Check with the leading spine surgeon in Chennai for more information about spinal integrity. There may be a few guidelines common to each period, and throughout, the goal of back integrity will be served to ensure optimal well-being and as high a standard of living as possible.

For the youth, spinal integrity takes the form of information, protection and growth. From birth all the way up until the mid-teenage years (around age 17 or 18) a main component of backbone integrity is the testing and investigation of potential inherited disorders. At birth, doctors should be able to test for potentially spine-altering disorders that may surface later in life.

While there is a battery of tests that are given to all newborn babies, there are a number of voluntary tests that must be requested by the parent. During the teenage years, the symptoms of scoliosis are presented and should be watched for and treated if they do in fact surface. In addition to the gathering of information, youths should be given special attention if they are participating in contact sports such as football or boxing, where damage to the spinal column, if not likely, is an eminent possibility.

The second period of vertebrae health may be called adulthood, where adulthood is understood as the ages between 20 and 55. As an adult, you should have already undergone the general investigative tests common to youths, but your backbone integrity is still in jeopardy. As you age, your spine has likely incurred a bit of 'wear and tear,' and as such you should now focus on increasing your flexibility and staying active. 

It is all too common that adults allow themselves to become sedentary and ignore the necessities of physical activity to spinal health. Participate in an hour of physical activity at least three times a week, and be sure to compliment your exercise with at least 10 minutes of stretching after each session.

Finally, vertebrae health takes us into the years of seniority. For seniors, the amount of physical activity should be reduced to pre-adulthood levels. While strenuous exercise should be kept to a minimum, a low-impact stretching regime should be employed by the senior in order to keep themselves fit and limber.

By approaching your spinal health doctor as a product of your life at a particular stage, and approaching the stages of life as a process that develops over time, you can ensure that you treat your spine with the respect and care that it deserves.

Low Back Pain: Cause and Other Information

Low Back Pain is caused due to a myriad of reasons including ligament sprain, slipped disk, joint problems, muscle spasm or strain. The most common reason for Lower Back Pain is your back muscle participating in activities involving the lifting of heavy objects like furniture of strenuous activities like yard work. Another bad outcome of strenuous activities is the slipped disk, which involves the bulging of disk between bones and its subsequent pressing on the nerves.

The best way to relive your low back pain is to lie on you back on the floor, your feet on the chair and keeping pillows under your knees, with knees and hips bent. This position takes all the pressure of your back; this sort of rest is prescribed for a period of 1-2 day for those resting a hurt back. Other measures for Lower Back Pain relief include heating pads, ice packs and massages. Moreover, nonprescription analgesics like aspiring, naproxen; ibuprofen, acetaminophen etc are used to reduce pain or swelling.

Pain Relief and Tips on Prevention

A best neurosurgeon in Chennai needs to be called in case the low back pain reaches your leg or below your knee. Furthermore you need to seek medical help when you have numbness in groin, rectal area, leg or foot, fever, nausea, stomachache, sweating, all as a result of pain in the lower regions of the back. The situation might also be serious if you lose control over going to the bathroom or the pain is so intense that it inhibits your movement. All these symptoms and their treatment must be directed at the cause. In this case it being Lower Back Pain.

After consulting your neuro specialist you might just have to loose weight, or get your muscles in better shape, and improve your posture while standing, sitting, or sleeping. But as they say prevention is better than cure and low back pain is best avoided than treated. To prevent back strain, some basic precautions have to be taken, like squatting on your hips and knees to pick up heavy objects and pushing rather than pulling heavy objects. You must also take care to break up the time to stretch if you are sitting at your desk or at the wheel of a car or truck for long hours. But in the end nothing works like exercise.

As an exercise you can stretch your back muscles gently by lying on your back with your knees bent and raising your left knee slowly to your chest, at the same time pressing your lower back against the floor. You should hold this position for five seconds, relax and then repeat the exercise with the right knee. It would be advisable if you did 10 of these excises for each leg, switching legs. In the end you must be generally active to avoid low back pain and swimming and walking are as good as an exercise as any.

Back Pain Relief - A Spine Surgeon Will Surely Help You Diagnose It Earlier

Back pain relief is imperative for living a healthy lifestyle. Whether it is lower back pain, middle back pain or upper back and shoulder pain, imbalance is created and can be a huge detriment to one's life. While occasional back pain caused by a muscle strain or over exercise can heal eventually with rest, ice and heat and massage, those suffering from chronic pain (lasting more than three months) should seek assistance from a qualified spine surgeon to diagnose and offer remedies for pain relief. When non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as Advil, Tylenol and Aleve do not provide relief, this may mean that the cause of the pain is in the joints or a pinched nerve, and may require more advanced treatment. Some simple steps may help an individual who is suffering from this pain.

Back Pain Relief at Work

Eliminating the symptoms that cause the pain is a good first step. Your work environment may be causing some of your back pain. If you are sitting all day, assure that you have proper posture, and get up and walk for approximately five minutes every hour. Also, after checking your posture, dip your chin to your chest and then your chin back to the ceiling three times every hour to eliminate or alleviate neck pain. If your chair is the problem, consider investing in an ergonomic chair that supports healthy posture.

If you stand at work during the day, wear appropriate shoes that support your arch, and purchase orthotics if you prefer to wear stylish shoes. If you are standing at one position for long periods of time, lift one leg or another onto a block or stationary item. Lifting one foot eases the tension from the lower back. Again, taking an hourly walk will adjust your spine as well. These suggestions of course will also work if an individual is at home all day. Resting a back in pain by sitting on the couch or lying in bed too much may cause more stiffness and further the pain.

Back Pain Relief from a spine surgeon

Spine surgeon in Chennai is available to help diagnose the pain problem further. The diagnosis will determine what type of back pain relief is best. While stronger pain medications may be prescribed, the drugs merely treat the symptom and not the root cause, and thus the problem is not solved. Until the issue can be addressed, the medication may be taken. To diagnose the problem, An MRI, CT scan or even x-rays may be taken to view the back, and these will be carefully studied to determine what the problem may be. Discography is another method used to determine if the pain is caused by spinal discs. It could be a strained muscle, a muscle that is impinging on a nerve, a miss-aligned spinal column, a slipped or ruptured disc or even a congenital defect that's never been diagnosed.

The pain relief treatment itself may come in the form of physical therapy to re-align the back, an injection or pain block on an irritated nerve, radiofrequency, spinal cord stimulation and sometimes even dekompressor discography. Surgery is rarely an option for back pain relief, but when it is, it has received thoughtful analysis on the spine surgeon's part.