Hydration is vital for our overall health, but it’s also important for spinal health. After all, your spine requires plenty of water and nutrients to stay healthy and perform at its best. The health of your spine and back depends heavily on whether you are properly hydrated.

In fact, if you don’t drink enough water it could cause many problems for your back and overall health. So why is water so vital for our spinal health? How can chiropractic care and proper hydration help with spinal disc damage?

1. Hydration and Spinal Health

Before we get into why water is so vital for our spinal health, let’s review how the spine is constructed. Basically, the row of bones that make up the spine are called vertebrae, and between each vertebra is a disk. Each disc is comprised of two parts, the center of the disc is the nucleus pulposis, which is made of mostly water. These discs act as shock absorbers and prevent the bones from rubbing together.

So what role does water play in all of this? Well each time you move, the spine compresses the disc, squeezing out the water within. When the disc does not have adequate water, the result is pain and lack of mobility as well as increased risk of spinal injury. Basically, when you are not properly hydrated your body cannot replenish the water in the discs, causing them to remain compressed.

2. Problems Caused By Dehydration

When your body doesn’t get enough water, your spinal discs remain compressed instead of refilling. This can cause a number of problems including constant back pain. Hydration also plays an important role in how the cerebrospinal fluid moves and works. While it does require more than water to function properly, water does play an important role. When the body is dehydrated this fluid cannot move as it should which can even affect brain function.

All in all, dehydration can cause many problems for your body including limited mobility and pain. Simply put, when your spinal discs cannot refill they can’t do their job.

3. Spinal Rehydration and Chiropractic Care

So we know that it is extremely important for our spines to be hydrated, but how exactly does the spin rehydrate? Basically, the spine gets to water the same way the rest of your body does. However, your body doesn’t see the spine as the main priority. So instead your vital organs get water first and your spine gets whatever is leftover.

But if there is already a deficiency present, then there is nothing left over to rehydrate the spine. That’s when the problems start occurring. So then what’s the solution? One way to help encourage spinal rehydration is through exercise, proper nutrition, and making sure you drink enough water! If it is already too late, your body may need additional help from Spinal Decompression and Chiropractic Care.

The Spinal Health Take Away:

All in all, hydration is important when it comes to keeping your spine happy and healthy. When you don’t get enough water, it can cause pain and many other problems. So make sure to drink enough water, exercise, and eat right in order to help prevent spinal damage.