World Spine Day 2020: Keep Your Spine Healthy With These Tips

World Spine Day is observed on October 16 each year to create awareness on spinal pain and disability around the world and to exhort people to adopt healthy routines to make their spine strong, active and flexible. Back and neck problems are quite common. Due to the ongoing pandemic, many are working from home without any kind of physical activity. This has increased the incidents of back, neck and shoulder pain. Hence, lack of physical activeness is not only contributing to laziness but it is also going to end up harming your spine!

This year's theme has been aptly kept as 'Back on Track', which encourages people to reactivate and revitalise their bodies and watch out for problems that may come up if one is not taking care of one's spine and back. Being in office meant we could move about a little, be it a visit to the cafeteria or a colleague's desk. Appropriate chairs and equipment gave comfort to our posture, but all that may not be possible while working from home.

Typically, poor ergonomics, a sedentary lifestyle, bad sitting postures and staying physically inactive are common reasons for spinal and back. Also, while at home, working on laptops while lying down without much activity can also cause spinal problems as there is lot of pressure on the back muscles and spinal discs. Slouched positions can stretch spinal ligaments and strain the spinal discs can cause severe pain and other severe complications if untreated.

World Spine Day 2020: How to keep spine health for lifetime

1. Pay attention to 'early' warning signs:

Spine is a weight bearing structure subjected inevitably to wear and tear each day and it is natural to develop degenerative changes as you age. However, if any spinal condition can be diagnosed early, appropriate preventive and corrective measures can be instituted to prevent the condition from worsening and eventually necessitating a major surgical procedure. Persistent or recurring back/ neck pain, radiating pain in the limbs, numbness or weakness in the extremities, difficulty in walking long distances or imbalance while walking should not be neglected and be evaluated at the earliest.

Also read: Exercises To Relieve Bank Pain

World Spine Day: Do not ignore back pain for too long, seek medical help if required
Photo Credit: iStock

2. Measures to maintain a healthy spine in the long run

Given all these considerations, there are some immediate as well as long-term measures that one should take in ensuring a healthy spine:

Avoid jerks and extremes of bending and twisting

Maintain a healthy posture while sitting

Share work and take breaks often, do not sit for too long

Try to move more throughout the day and exercise daily

Maintain a nutritious diet rich in proteins as well as fresh fruits and vegetables

Maintain a healthy weight to reduce stress on the bones

Get good exposure to sunlight to get good vitamin D or add supplements to diet of required

Also read: Take A Break And Perform These Simple Exercises At Your Workstation To Relieve Neck And Shoulder Tension

Back pain is a common condition these days but it should not be ignore for too long. You should make several lifestyle modifications to prevent and fight back pain effectively.

(Dr. Umesh Srikantha, Consultant - Neurosurgery, Head of Spine Services, Aster CMI Hospital)

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