Chiropractic + Wellness

Dehydration affects the body physically and mentally but also affects the health of the spine's discs. Spinal discs that lack proper hydration begin to compress, collapse between vertebrae, or cannot refill correctly, causing further compression and increasing the risk of spinal injury. Dehydrated discs can cause injuries like herniated disc/s, degenerative disc disease, and spinal stenosis. Chiropractic treatment offers spinal decompression that will restretch and realign the spine allowing the injury/s to heal and proper disc rehydration.

Spine Support

As crucial as the spine is within daily activities, it is vital to understand its mechanics. The spinal vertebrae discs work to absorb shock when bending, twisting, or flexing to ensure the bones do not rub together. Within each disc is the nucleus pulposus, made up of 85 percent water that provides movement when the spine rotates and moves in various directions. This high water content in the discs helps the spine function. The discs naturally lose some water as the body ages, but dehydration can also occur when individuals do not intake enough water from drinking or in food. If the dehydration is severe, the risk of injury increases or can aggravate existing spine conditions. The loss of hydration in an adult spine can cause a loss of disc height daily. Without proper rehydration, other medical issues can begin to present.

Symptoms

Depending on which discs are affected, the pain or numbness can travel from the neck into the shoulders, arms, and hands or from the lower back down through the legs. Symptoms can include:

• Back stiffness 
• Burning or tingling sensations
• Reduced or painful movement
• Back pain
• Weakness
• Numbness in the low back, legs, or feet
• Changes in knee and foot reflexes
• Sciatica

When the body is dehydrated, it can be difficult to replenish the water in the discs thoroughly, as well as nutrient levels through a consistent loss of fluid. Dehydration disrupts the balance which can lead to an increased risk of injury and increased degeneration. Causes of disc dehydration include:

• Trauma from an auto accident, fall, work, or sports injury.
• Repeated strain on the back from consistent lifting, reaching, bending, twisting, etc.
• Sudden weight loss can cause the body, including the discs, to lose fluid.
• Ankylosing spondylitis.

Spinal Rehydration

The entire body relies on proper hydration with direct water consumption to rehydrate the body but also incorporating fruits and vegetables to aid in hydration. These foods include:

• Watermelon
• Cantaloupe
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes

These foods are made of more than 90% water and contain essential nutrients and help the spine function more efficiently. Proper water consumption is based on age, body size, and activity level. However, to fully heal desiccated discs, spinal injuries, or back pain, chiropractic decompression, and manipulation adjustments are recommended. Non-surgical motorized spinal decompression treatment is gentle. The therapy lengthens and decompresses the spine reversing the pressure within the damaged disc/s creating an intradiscal vacuum that relieves the pressure off the nerve and helps reshape and rehydrate the damaged disc/s.

DOC

General Disclaimer *

The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, or licensed physician, and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own healthcare decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified healthcare professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request.

We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.

Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*

email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com

Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*

References

Djurasovic, Mladen, et al. “The influence of preoperative MRI findings on lumbar fusion clinical outcomes.” The European spine journal: official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society vol. 21,8 (2012): 1616-23. doi:10.1007/s00586-012-2244-9

Karki, D B et al. “Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings in Lumbar Disc Degeneration in Symptomatic Patients.” Journal of Nepal Health Research Council vol. 13,30 (2015): 154-9.

Twomey, L T, and J R Taylor. “Age changes in lumbar vertebrae and intervertebral discs.” Clinical Orthopedics and related research,224 (1987): 97-104.

Videman, Tapio et al. “Age- and pathology-specific measures of disc degeneration.” Spine vol. 33,25 (2008): 2781-8. doi:10.1097/BRS.0b013e31817e1d11

I threw my back out. Most of us have heard and possibly experienced throwing our backs out. But, what does throwing out your back really mean? Find out from our experts. When talking about throwing one's back out, it’s usually a result of twisting, turning, coughing, sneezing, or lifting incorrectly. The medical equivalent to this injury is an ankle sprain. It can be excruciating, individuals might not see or feel a tear, but the ligaments have been injured, causing inflammation and pain. The same thing can happen to the spine.

What it means when you throw out your back.

Most experience acute pain in the lower region of their backs. Individuals can throw out their back at any age doing all kinds of activities. These can range from:

• Changing a tire
• Moving lifting boxes, going upstairs, etc
• House chores/tasks
• Gardening 
• Sports
• Working out
• Bending over to pick up an object

It is more common as individuals age. This is when individuals notice how they could take a serious injury and walk away when they were young. However, with age, something like a cough or sneeze could cause the back to become sprained. When the ankle is sprained, it is immobilized to allow it to rest and heal.

However, it is not as easy to immobilize the spine as large muscles in the back around the spine. 

Any time tissue is injured, the muscles automatically spasm to act as a splint. These spasms usually tend to be the worst part when back pain presents. This is because the back muscles are large; they cause intense inflammation and pain when they spasm. Combined with this, the back can feel like it is stuck, significantly decreasing the range of motion. This type of injury can take a couple of days to reduce and up to two to six weeks to return to normal function.

This is what is really happening

The majority of the time, what has happened is there is a small ligament strain or an annular tear, which is a tear in the ligament that connects the vertebra to the disc. When standing upright and lifting properly, the disc/s work like hydraulics.

When individuals bend over not using their legs, the back part of the spine widens/opens up, and instead of a hydraulic effect, it becomes a cantilever structure. Bending and twisting compound the pressure across the disc. Prevention is key and by using the legs and keeping the back straight, let the hydraulic system do its natural job.

Misconceptions

Chiropractors specialize in difficult to treat musculoskeletal pain conditions. The term threw out one's back is similar to the knee, arm, shoulder being blown out. The terminology can create fear associated with the idea of throwing something out of place, especially when it comes to the spine. When individuals come in with back pain, they can become fearful of what will be found. These include:

• What has happened to my spine?
• Is it going to get better?
• Is this going to be a life-long injury?
• Will I be able to walk normally?

Through research, doctors now know that fear is an inflammatory response. Therefore, when individuals become fearful, their immune system kicks in, causing the pain to worsen.

Treatment

A few things have been proven to work well, along with seeing a doctor, spine specialist, or chiropractor.

Ice and heat

It depends on individual preference. Ice reduces inflammation and pain, and the heat helps to get the blood flowing in and around the area to help heal the injury.

Abdominal support

An abdominal corset is a stretchy band that is worn around the lower mid-section. The abdominal muscles supply support for the lower body. The corset can help take some of the weight off of the spine to help ease discomfort and pain.

Anti-inflammatories

Advil or a prescription Ibuprophen from a physician is better than narcotics. However, if narcotic medications are necessary, they should be short-term, a few days to a week. In addition, individuals need to show caution as they can cause constipation, making back pain even worse.

Chiropractic and Physical Therapy

Seeing a chiropractor and physical therapist can help heal the injury faster. They will strengthen the spinal muscles and educate the individual on stretches, exercise, posture, anti-inflammatory diet for optimal spinal health. Individuals usually take two to six weeks to heal completely.

However, individuals should still be able to do most physical activities once the spine injury heals. Maintaining the back muscles can be achieved with regular exercise, lifting correctly with the legs, and not over-twisting and over-reaching are important elements to prevent back injuries.

Body Composition Analysis

Summer Heat and The Body

How the body reacts to extreme heat. It is a process known as thermoregulation, where the body strives to maintain a temperature between 97.7 to 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The hypothalamus, a gland in the brain, is in charge of managing the core temperature. If outside weather is extreme, causing a change in the body’s core temperature, the hypothalamus triggers a specific process to heat or cool the body back to the normal range. When the hypothalamus registers that the body’s core temperature is rising because it’s sweltering outside, it kicks in.

To remove the extra heat, the hypothalamus increases circulation, moving the blood toward the surface, dilating blood vessels so that the heat can dissipate through the skin. When this happens, the veins can protrude, and the skin flushes. Along with increased circulation, the hypothalamus also activates the sweat glands. The evaporation of the water released onto the skin cools the body down, reducing temperature. Finally, the thyroid is activated to lower heat created through the metabolic processes.

General Disclaimer *

The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, licensed physician, and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request.

We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.

Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*

email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com

Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*

References

Disc tears: Stat Pearls. (11/17/2020).” Annular Disc Tear.” ”https://www.statpearls.com/ArticleLibrary/viewarticle/17615

Fear and Pain: Journal of Pain Research. (2018). “Assessments of Pain-Related Fear in Individual with Chronic Pain Conditions.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6280906/

Mittinty, Manasi M et al. “Assessment of pain-related fear in individuals with chronic painful conditions.” Journal of pain research vol. 11 3071-3077. 30 Nov. 2018, doi:10.2147/JPR.S163751