5 Tips For Improving Your Spinal Flexibility

Category: Spine | Author: Stefano Sinicropi

Man suffering from back pain cause of office syndrome, his hands

Maintaining flexibility and range of motion at all levels of your spine is important during athletic activity, but it’s also beneficial for many tasks our bodies perform on a daily basis. From gardening, to shoveling, to cooking, being able to move your spine without pain is crucial for performing tasks and maintaining a high quality of life. As we get older, we need to be more cognizant about working to maintain healthy flexibility in our spine. Below, we take a closer look at how we can improve flexibility in different areas of our spine.

Improving Spinal Range Of Motion

Here are five tips for maintaining and improving flexibility throughout our spine.

  1. Exercise – General exercise is a great way to help build and maintain flexibility in your spine. Exercise will push healthy blood throughout your body and help to strengthen muscles, tendons, ligaments and soft tissues in the area that help keep our spines flexibile. Make sure you vary your exercise routine so that different muscle groups are tested and you’re not overloading certain areas.
  2. Focus On Your Core – Many people think that they need to target specific spinal muscles in order to improve range of motion in the area, and while that’s somewhat true, a lot of your spinal flexibility is also tied to the health of your core muscles. Your core helps to shoulder pressure and stress as you twist and turn your spine, so don’t overlook an abdominal routine when trying to improve your spinal flexibility.
  3. Consider Yoga – Yoga is a great way to improve your spinal flexibility without feeling like you’re going through a traditional exercise routine. Yoga focuses on targeted stretching techniques and body positioning to strengthen muscles and improve flexibility in a number of areas of our body. If you want to keep your spine flexible without stepping foot in a gym, consider a bi-weekly yoga routine.
  4. Diet and Hydration – What we put in our bodies in the form of food and liquids also plays a role in the flexibility of our spines. If we’re regularly eating junk foods that contribute to spinal inflammation or if we’re not keeping our spinal discs hydrated, we can run into some flexibility issues. Excess weight can also overstress spinal structures and lead to range of motion problems. Strive to maintain a healthy diet and drink plenty of water to help keep your spine operating optimally.
  5. Proper Posture – One final tip to keep in mind is to protect your spinal segments by practicing healthy posture. If you’re constantly looking down at your phone or hunched in front of a computer, you’re going to strain certain areas of your spine. This can lead to structure breakdown and nerve impingement, and pinched nerves are one of the leading causes of spinal flexibility issues. Try to keep your head positioned directly above your shoulders and perform regular posture checks throughout the day.

If you keep these tips in mind, we’re confident you’ll have healthy spinal flexibility for years to come. If you ever need more hands-on help with a spinal issue, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Dr. Sinicropi and his talented team today.

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