Sunshine Child Development Centre

Spinal cord is a very important part of your body as it renders support to your body.  It also gives your body a good posture and thus maintaining a healthy spine is very essential. An unfit spinal cord can lead to various complicated problems.

The following are 5 must do exercises in order to maintain a healthy spine:

1. Exercising your core muscles can help you to maintain a fit spine. Your core muscles refer to the muscles of your lower back and your abdominal muscles. These muscles give support to your spine. So exercising them can give you a healthy spine.
2. Walking regularly can also give you a healthy spine. It is suitable for people of all age groups. Daily walking can help you to recover from various spinal illnesses as well such as spinal stenosis.
3. Swimming is also a good exercise for maintaing a fit spinal cord. Swimming helps to exercise all back muscles and thus, gives you a healthy spinal cord.
4. Lying down straight with your face down on an even and firm surface for about twenty minutes can help you to get a healthy spine and also a good body posture.
5. Cycling can also help you achieve a healthy spine. While cycling, all your back muscles and the muscles of the lower part of your body are engaged in physical activity. If the muscles of your lower back are strong, then it can help you to keep your spine fit.

Other than these exercises, stretching your limbs and other stretching exercises are also beneficial for a healthy spine. But it is highly recommended for you to consult a doctor before doing any exercise in order to be guided in the proper manner and avoid further complications.

Bone loss is a silent condition that occurs over the years as you age. It is a condition when the bones become weak and fragile. Many people may not even know that that they are suffering bone loss until it leads to serious conditions such as Osteoporosis. Bone loss resulting in osteoporosis is more in women than men. It is estimated that one of every three women above 50 years suffers from osteoporosis related fracture.

What causes bone loss?
Bones are made of minerals, calcium, and phosphate. Bones are being constantly destroyed and refoemed within the body. As long as your body balances the process, your bones stay strong and healthy. However when the bone decay out grows the bone formation process, bone loss and a host of other problems occur. Some of the common causes bone loss are:

1. With growing age, the body starts to reabsorb phosphate and calcium instead of keeping it in the bones. This makes the bones weak. When the process continues for a long time, it leads to osteoporosis.
2. If your diet doesnot contain high calcium foods, then your bones donot get enough calcium.
3. Smoking and drinking can make your bones weak.
4. Medical conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, chronic kidney disease can cause bone loss.
5. Sometimes medicines can also result in bone loss.

What are the symptoms of bone loss?

1. Receding gums: Our teeth are connected to the jaw bone and if the jaw starts losing bone then it causes receding of gums. Loss of jaw bone is linked to lower bone mineral density.
2. Decreased grip strength: Hand grips strength decreases due to low bone density.
3. Weak and brittle fingernails: You may find your fingernails have become weak and brittle.
4. Cramps, muscle pain, and joint ache: Pain in muscles and joints are an important indicator of vitamin D deficiency, which is a vital component for healthy bones. Cramps in legs and foot at night are an indicator of deficiency of potassium and calcium in the bones.
5. Height loss: This is a common problem that comes with age. But there are other factors that lead to height loss such as poor posture and fractured vertebra. Poor posture can cause bone loss.
6. Overall low fitness: If you notice that your overall fitness has declined which includes your balance, muscle strength then you may be suffering from bone loss.

Can homeopathy treat osteoporosis?
Homeopathy has the most effective and holistic approach to treat osteoporosis. Homeopathy doesn’t intend to cure bone loss, instead, it tries to treat the underlying health condition that leads to osteoporosis. Consult a homeopath online. Some of the important homeopathy remedies are:

1. Calcaria Phos: It is a very effective remedy for osteoporosis It helps in increasing the absorption of calcium from the food. It is a bone builder and creates new cells.
2. Calcaria Iod: This is a great remedy to treat loss of bones as well as loss of muscles and fat.
3. Alendronate: Alendronate is given to patients suffering from osteoporosis which is caused by steroid treatment. It reduces the release of calcium from the bones to the blood.
4. Calcitonin - Salmon: Calcitonin-Salmon is a man-made hormone used to treat osteoporosis.

Muscle pain is common to both men and women irrespective of their age. People usually resort to painkillers in order to receive temporary relief, but taking too much of these can affect your health adversely. Ayurveda provides effective ways to heal muscle pain.

The following few ways to treat muscle pain can be taken into notice:

1. Regular exercise- Regular exercise can help you treat muscle pain. Yoga can prove to be very helpful. You may try lotus pose, cobra pose, boat pose among many others to get relief from muscle pain.

2. Panchakarma- Panchakarma is a therapeutic treatment, which can help you heal your muscle pain. It includes five steps vamana, virechana, nasya, basti, raktamokshana, which will clean your body and mind from toxins and can also offer relief from pain.

3. Abhyanga-This process is suggested in ayurveda to offer relief from muscular pain. It involves applying oil all over your body followed by a warm bath.

4. Healthy diet- Having freshly cooked food and including green vegetables and spices like cumin, ginger, turmeric in your diet can help you to combat your problem of muscle pain.

5. Use of ice cubes- Applying ice cubes over the area of muscle pain can help you get some relief.

6. Foods to avoid- Avoiding food items like curd, sugar, refined cereal, rice, potato and sour food can help you to reduce muscle pain.

7. Ayurvedic Herbs- Ayurveda also offers many herbs, which can help you find relief from your muscle pain.

8. Obesity- Avoid gaining excess weight. Being overweight can increase muscle pain.

Have you undergone cartilage damage recently and are seeking ideal treatment measures? Cartilage damage is a common form of injury that involves your knees. Other joints such as the ankles, elbows and hips may also be affected by cartilage damage. Cartilage, the tough and flexible tissues covering the surface of your joints, acts as a shock absorber, allowing the bones to slide over each other. Cartilage damage may occur because of injuries such as a gradual wear, sports injuries and osteoarthritis. While acute cartilage damage may heal on its own, severe damage may need treatment via surgical measures.

Treatment

Physiotherapy

• Physiotherapy is effective when you experience difficulty in moving your affected joint.
• It is also an important part of recovery if you have to undergo surgical procedures for treating cartilage damage.
• A physiotherapist will teach you certain exercises that are effective for strengthening the muscles that surround and support your affected joint.
• This helps in reducing pain and pressure on the joint.

Surgery

• Severe and serious cartilage damage does not heal effectively on its own, and a surgery may be required for treatment.
• Usually, surgery is performed by using Arthroscopy. This is a form of keyhole surgery in which certain instruments are inserted into your affected joint via incisions or small cuts.
• In some cases, larger incisions have to be made.
• Such surgeries are carried out after giving general anesthesia to the patient.

The most common surgeries that are undertaken in cases of cartilage damage include the following:

Lavage and debridement

• In this form of surgery, your joint is cleaned for the removal of any loose tissues.
• The damaged edges are trimmed to be made smooth. Sometimes, the damage may also be repaired during the same time.

Marrow stimulation

• In this procedure, tiny holes are made on the bone beneath your damaged cartilage that releases the bone marrow in it.
• The marrow cells stimulate the production of new cartilage.

Mosaicplasty

• In this procedure, small plugs of healthy cartilage from areas of a joint that are non-weight bearing are removed and used for replacing areas of the affected cartilage.

Osteotomy

• This procedure involves the alteration of the alignment of your leg for reducing pressure on the damaged area.
• It is effective in improving pain.
• A wedge of bone may be removed or added from your thigh bone or shin bone.
• The bone gets fixed with a plate till it gets healed.

In some cases, a joint replacement surgery has to be carried out. In this procedure, the entire affected joint is removed and replaced with an artificial joint. Hip replacement and knee replacement are common examples of this kind of surgery.