“Water plays a vital role in many bodily functions and processes. It plays a significant part in dissolution and distribution of essential nutrients, vitamins, and mineral to the cells in our body. Digestion, metabolism, regulation of body temperature, lubrication of joints, and removal of toxins...
Its role in body processes aside, water constitutes 90%-95% of vital organs like the brain and lungs and contributes around 65% of a healthy adult’s body weight... (Steve Craig)”.
Dehydration Can Cause Body Stiffness and Discomfort
Between the vertebrae in your spine, there are discs that have big responsibilities. These discs work to help absorb shock on your spine and help to shield your body from the damage of daily use leading to wear and tear.
Your discs are made to lose water and then rehydrate, because the movement of your spine and gravity causes water to flow through your spine and be reabsorbed by the discs. If there isn’t enough water available for the discs to absorb what they’ve lost, then they can’t function as they were meant to. Since most of the fluid inside the discs in your spine is made of water, it will shrink if not hydrated adequately. When it shrinks it will cause the outer layer to take on more of the stress of absorbing shock and supporting your spine. Eventually, this can cause swelling, pain and even a bulge or rupture in the disc's outer shell.
Spinal Discs
Your spine requires plenty of water and nutrients to stay healthy and perform at its best, just like the rest of your body. The problem is, your spine is not able to absorb the water and nutrients it needs in the same way as other parts of the body, nor is it able to eliminate waste from the bodies’ metabolism. In a person’s early teens, the spinal discs lose the nutritional supply coming from blood, and the elimination system atrophies. The spine is then only able to receive water and nutrients through osmosis. This occurs when the motion between vertebral discs acts as a pump to move fluids in and out of the discs; the health of your spine depends on this movement.
As a person gets older and grows less active, the loss of spinal water can lead to disc degeneration and the eventual loss of motion between vertebral discs. Once this mobility is lost, further degeneration occurs more rapidly and the cycle of dehydration, shrinking, chronic pain and disease accelerates. Proper hydration is essential for nutrient delivery, lubrication and waste elimination. If a person becomes too dehydrated, the body will look to retrieve water from places like the spinal vertebrae first. So drinking an abundant amount of water throughout the day remains an important way of maintaining your spinal health.
Unlike other parts of the body that have abundant blood flow, spinal discs are slower to heal. This means that, while many chiropractic and spinal decompression patients find relief from their pain relatively quickly, it typically takes longer for the discs themselves to recover. Of course, they say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Appropriate chiropractic care and spinal decompression therapy, along with exercise, nutrition and hydration programs, can often relieve pain and restore most lost function. To keep your spine healthy, stay active, drink plenty of fluids every day and remember to see your chiropractor regularly.
Foods for Hydration
Cucumber Watermelon Blueberries
Zucchini Kiwi Red Grapes
Celery Peaches Coconuts
Carrots Strawberries Cantaloupe
Potatoes Pears
Broccoli Pineapple
Eggplant Mango
Bell Peppers Apples
Jicama Raspberries