Spine Health - How To Ensure It With Ayurveda?

Spine is one of the most important bone structures in the human body. It supports the whole body and is located on the back, connecting the brain to the body. Spine is really sensitive and a small injury can lead to a serious health problem. The most common regions of spinal pain are in the lower back (lumbar region) and in the neck (cervical region).

An injured, damaged, or unhealthy spine can result in a serious issue and can affect one’s daily life adversely. It might even possess a serious risk to the normal functioning of the body and the nervous system. Caring for the spine is as important as caring for the vitals like the brain or heart.

Causes:

Spinal problems could be from birth or might happen due to various reasons. Spine problems happen with ageing too, as it starts wearing down. There are many reasons for a spinal problem. Some of the possible causes are mentioned below:

1. Lack of calcium

2. Osteoarthritis

3. Unhealthy and unbalanced diet

4. Kyphosis

5. Accident or injury

6. Neurological problems

7. Sciatica

8. Wrong posture

9. Ageing

10. Scoliosis

11. Pregnancy

12. Obesity

13. Neck (whiplash) sprain

14. Ankylosing Spondylitis (arthritis of the spine)

15. Neck strain

16. Tumor

17. Spondylolisthesis

Diagnosis:

It is not usually easy to diagnose the problem of the spine by oneself. But, one should pay serious attention if they have severe pain or the pain is not fading away even after taking medications. One could be in urgent need of a doctor if he/she finds their limbs numb after waking up or could not control their natural calls. One might need to go through several medical tests to correctly diagnose the root cause of the problem. Some of the problems strictly require surgery as a treatment. If there is a medical treatment or physiotherapy is done, it is generally long-term.

Precautions:

1. Avoid heavy weight lifting

2. Avoid walking long distances

3. Fix the posture

4. Avoid sitting in the same posture in the same spot for too long

5. Maintain a healthy weight.

Spine Care According to Ayurveda:

There are various asanas, exercises, and postures that help reduce back pain. One can perform one or various asanas depending upon the nature of the problem and severity of the same.

Oil massages help treat several types of back injuries and problems. Every treatment oil is made with different ingredients and different types of massage techniques go into the treatment depending upon the severity and problem.

1. There are various types of yoga that go well for the treatment of spine problems. One should not try these yoga postures on his/her own with or without the spine issue, as incorrect yoga can exaggerate the problem. This should be done under medical professionals and yoga experts.

2. Ayurvedic medications are also given to control the pain which again depends upon the type of problem and its intensity.  

3. A healthy and balanced diet plan is often considered a major part of treating spinal issues.  

Take Away:

One might have spine pain once in a while due to certain reasons, but it should not be avoided if the pain takes longer to fade or one finds some abnormality in the structure of the spine as it could be a symptom of some serious health problem. A minor problem can be healed by just changing one’s posture and diet, but surgery could be needed in case of injury or other serious issues.