Spinal Care: Taking good care of your spine ensures that your body moves freely, and you lower your risk of developing chronic pain conditions. However, spinal care requires more than just visiting your chiropractor once a month. You’ll want to consistently perform these five spinal care practices to ensure that your spine stays healthy throughout your life.

Daily Stretching

Think about this. When people complain of lower back pain or neck pain, they usually refer to the pain as coming from tightness or stiffness. Your muscles stiffen as a natural response to being overloaded with stress. You can alleviate tight muscles by stretching them out on a regular basis.

It’s a good idea to devote a mere two minutes a day to stretch your back and your entire body. While stretching, you’ll want to hold the stretch for about 10 seconds at a time for 3 repetitions. While there is an abundance of recommended stretches online for the spine, we’re going to give you a few to start with. These include the toe touch, seated twist, and standing quad stretch.

Exercise Three Times A Week

Spending a good 20 minutes exercising at least three times per week can assist in maintaining good muscular strength in your back. You should focus on strengthening all of the muscles of your core as they secure your spine. This includes your back muscles, your abs, and your side muscles.

When you strengthen your muscles, they are able to support your spine even better. And, they can protect your spine from unnecessary damage. Again, there is a plethora of information online about how to strengthen core muscles. Some commonly used exercises include squats, bridges, crunches, and many variations of the plank.

Sleep Comfortably

If you wake up in the morning stiff as a board, then it’s very likely that your sleeping position could use some work. Unfortunately, many people just accept early morning stiffness and don’t realize how imperative sleeping in the right position is until they experience it. The right position is going to vary depending on your sleeping preferences.

It’s best to train yourself to sleep on your back. Use a pillow underneath the back of your knees and consider using a couple pillows to position your upper body. Try to avoid sleeping on your stomach. If you sleep on your side, try sleeping with a pillow between your knees to provide much-needed support for your spine.

De-Stress

When our minds are stressed, it can greatly influence our bodies. For example, anxiety can cause you to tense up your shoulders and hold them in a high position. This can result in upper back pain that can lead to tension headaches. While you may try different solutions to treat your upper back pain and headaches, you need to fix the root cause.

De-stressing can be done in a number of ways. Exercise is always a great way to let go of some extra tension. Try some deep breathing exercises to open up your airways. Take a walk or drive through the great outdoors. Try your hand at some soothing painting. Even give five minutes of meditation a day a shot. Whatever de-stressing activity that sounds interesting to you is worth a try to reduce your stress levels.

Get Regular Manual Manipulation

When you go to the chiropractor, they perform manual manipulations to your spine. This allows the vertebrae of your spine to be repositioned into their natural state. The practice of manual manipulation will alleviate the pressure that is placed on the spinal discs due to an unnatural position. It’s recommended to visit a chiropractor once per month.