Chad, who is both a Chiropractor and Massage Therapist, has written some Sage Suggestions for you to read through, which if applied will help to promote better health for your spine! Enjoy.

Keep your body moving!

Happy Spring Everyone! I love the spring, as it is a natural time for renewal and healthy intention setting. As a healthcare professional, if I can offer you one suggestion, it will be to simply move your body more, and do it more often. The human body has evolved around the necessity of movement. In fact, the health and nutrition of cells is dependant on movement. Research shows that after as little as 20 minutes, static tissue begins to adopt negative changes. So, it is important to try and change your position every 20-30 minutes, regardless of position intersperse walks, runs, yoga, stairs, whatever. Just maje sure you get up, get down and move around more often. Set a time if necessary and practice regular microbreaks. Your cells will thank you for it.

Microbreak tip - Every 20 minutes get out of your chair and:

1. Stand with your feet at hip width and arms at your side.
2. Tuck your chin in slightly, as if nodding 'yes'. Stand tall.
3. Breathe in through your nose to fill your abdomen
4. Exhale shlowly, drawing in the abdomen, and squeexing the gluts.
5. At the same time turn your palms out, extend fingers and squeeze your shoulder blades back and down toward your spine.

Repeat 2-5 times.

Support that spine

The human spine is a marvel of evolutionary design and structural compromise. The complex task of balancing mobility, durability and protection in upright humans is no easy feat. One very interesting fact is that an upright spine, when removed of all its supporting musculature, will buckle at only 20lbs of load. Wow! That means our muscles, much like the thin wires supporting a tall radio tower, are the real source of stability. It comes as no surprise then that in an increasing sedentary society like our own, back pain affects roughly 80% of the population.

What can be done to improve our spinal stabliity? Well staying generally active is a great start, but by adding in some specific core muscle endurance exercises, we can support our spines even better. However, not all core exercises are created equal and so over the next few Sage Suggestions, I will be presenting some of the safest and most effective core strentheners in the research to date. Let's start with the basics, the abdominal brace.

Abdominal bracing is the foundation of stability. It involves coactivation of muscles in 360 degrees around the core. It is likened to the tension of the core muscles while being tickled, pushed or bearing down. Bracing requires only mild contraction (10%) to be effective, but it needs to be maintained throughout the breathing cycle. Practice it regularly and improve your stability in all that you do.

Side Bridge your way to spinal stability

As you may recall, last Sage Suggestion we focused on abdominal bracing as a way to support and stabilize the spine. To recap, bracing is the gentle tightening of the core muscles as if being tickled or resisting a light push. It is not drawing in teh abdomen, which in fact reduces the muscles mechanical advantage, but rather a mild tensing or pushing out. Hopefully you have been able to practice bracing in a variety of positions, all while maintaining normal breathing. The next step in the progression of safe core stability exercises is bracing while performing a modified side bridge. Research shows that the side bridge exercise maximally engages the lateral core musculature all while minimizing compressive loads on the spinal joints and discs.

Procedure:

Begin on your yoga matt lying on your side, with your knees bent at 90 degrees. Prop yourself up on your downside elbow with the forearm out flat for balance. Next, brace your spine and then lift your hips up in the air and forward so your shoulders, hips and knees are all in a straight line. Hold for two complete breaths and then slowly lower your hips back down. Complete 5-10 pain free repititions and repeat daily to build endurance. When ready, progress from the knee contact to legs straight and using your feet as contacts.

A Safer Abdominal Curl

In our last Sage Suggestion we looked at using abdominal bracing while performing the side bridge exercise. The goal of bracing and bridging is to safely build core muscle endurance while minimizing compressive loading of the spine. Today we will focus on a modified "spine friendly" version of the traditional abdominal curl-up or crunch. Low back research has shown that the traditional abdominal curl up places compressive loads in excess of 700 lbs on the spine! Moreover, the repetitive nature of the exercise increases the possibility of injury. The modified curl up is a safer variation on this traditional core exercise, and when done correctly, minimises compression.

Modified Curl up procedure:

1. On your yoga mat lay on your back with one leg bent and the other straight.
2. Slide both hands under the small arch of your low back.
3. Without holding your breat, tighten your core muscles to stabilize the arch in your spine.
4. Maintain the arch of your spine, gently lift your head and shoulders off the mat while keeping your elbows on the floor.
5. Keep the abdominal tight and hold the position for two breaths.
6. Slowly lower and repeat 10 times.