This week is Spinal Awareness Week, one of my favourite weeks of the year as we get to celebrate and highlight one of my favourite topics; you guessed it – the spine!
Now, if you have been receiving these blogs for a while you will be well versed already with all my top tips for spinal health, so what I thought I would do today is go through some of the weird and wonderful as a little comic relief and education for us all.
N.B. if you have missed previous emails then why not check out our Facebook page as every day this week I will be giving top tips on how you can take care of your spine.
www.facebook.com/epochlincoln
My Top 3 weird and wonderful for looking after your spine:
Please note I am NOT advocating these as self-help or treatments, this is aimed to be lighthearted and a bit of fun.
- Inversion tables.
Now while I know a lot of you swear by these and do feel benefit from them, fundamentally as human beings we are not designed to be upside down… Think of the ligaments and muscles that protect your spine as elastic bands. If you continue to stretch an elastic band over time, what happens? That’s right, it loses its elasticity, therefore becomes weaker and less stable. Use of the inversion table may feel good but long term may leave the spine less stable.
- Botox.
Great for the face and ‘absolutely fabulous’ for one’s complexion. However, like the above, relaxing muscles in the spine may give temporary relief, but we should really ask ourselves why those muscles were tight in the first place? Were they protecting something and if we force them to relax with Botox, we may risk weakening the spine long term?
- The Stretch Rack.
Such a brilliant invention, wrapping around our ankles and wrists and pulling to make us taller, unfortunately all it will do is make our arms and legs longer… As the forced stretch comes onto the body, the innate reaction will be to contract and resist. Thus, leading to potential injury instead of cure.
- BONUS: Walk on my Back.
Especially when you just want something to ‘crack’, walking on the back seems like a brilliant idea. But let us just stop for a minute, do you really want something to ‘crack’? Think of your spine like an egg, it is strong in the right position and weak in the wrong position. I ask again, do you really want it to ‘crack’?
Remember, do not wait for your spine to be an issue to take care of it. Do one thing each day to help it. That could be walking, drinking more water, or seeing someone for help and advice proactively.
Have a wonderful Spinal Awareness Week.
Yours in Health,
Tom
