If you suffer from back pain, you already know just how debilitating it can be and how it can put limitations on your daily life. If you’re like many back pain sufferers, you’ve tried a wide range of treatments to find relief, but did you know you could help yourself by consuming certain foods?
Foods to Eat for Spine Health
Below, we’ve detailed some specific minerals and vitamins that can help improve your spine health and the foods you should eat that will keep your spine healthy.
- Calcium – Having enough calcium is essential for a healthy spine, and luckily, you can obtain calcium from a range of different foods. Everyone knows that dairy products contain calcium, but if you’re lactose intolerant or want to cut down on animal products, there are options. Legumes like beans, tofu, and peanuts contain calcium, as do leafy green vegetables like spinach, collard greens, kale, and broccoli. Fish like salmon and sardines also deliver a healthy calcium kick.
- Vitamin D – In order to absorb calcium properly, your body needs enough vitamin D. Natural sunlight is the best way to ensure you get adequate vitamin D, but we all know that too much sunlight can lead to other problems. Eating eggs with the yolk and drinking dairy products fortified with vitamin D are ways to get a healthy dose of this vitamin into your body.
- Magnesium – This mineral is useful for several different functions, including enabling your muscles to relax and contract correctly and maintain both muscle mass and bone density. You can find magnesium in brown rice, whole-grain bread, sesame seeds, flax seeds, pinto beans, chickpeas, bananas, avocado, kale, spinach, and broccoli.
- Water – Drinking enough water is important to avoid dehydration and help keep your spine in good working order. When there is a lack of water within your discs, the result is discomfort and lack of mobility. Opinions vary on how much to drink each day, but since most people don’t drink nearly enough, aiming for 6-8 glasses is a good start.
Treatment for Back Pain
Along with modifying your diet, natural treatments like chiropractic care and regenerative medicine can help to ease back pain and get you back to your regular routine. The fact that these treatments are natural and address the root cause of your sore back is precisely why they are so effective. Masking back pain with medication only serves to keep it going on indefinitely with no end in sight.
With chiropractic treatment, short lever thrusts are applied to the affected vertebrae, and pressure and gas are released from the joints, alleviating pain. Chiropractic has become a widely accepted treatment for sore backs and necks, and it is a wise treatment to pursue even if you aren’t in chronic pain.
Regenerative medicine is another form of treatment for back pain that treats the underlying cause for long-lasting relief. PRP, or platelet-rich plasma injections use highly concentrated platelets from a sample of your own blood to facilitate the healing process.
Regenerative cellular therapy uses tissue collected from donated umbilical cords after a healthy C-section that is injected into damaged tissue to repair and regenerate for pain relief.
If you’d like to learn more about how your diet can affect the health of your spine or want to find out more about our natural treatments, get in touch with us today for a free consultation.