Treating Spine Nerve Irritation
One of my clients asked me to make a video on the basics of how to treat spine nerve irritation. So here's what I do: I've gone over specifics, so I will be posting other videos on how to do the specifics of your neck and your lower body, but this is just the general spine.
The nerves work inside a hydraulic system that is called the cranial sacral circulation system. It is a “wrapping” that goes around the spinal cord and brain that has a hydraulic pump that moves fluid up and down creating circulation. We can increase that circulation through movements ourselves.
Moving the spine in a snake-like way can really help get circulation going. So how I perform this is, in a seated place with my feet touching the ground, scooted back with my knees against the seat, (using a chair without a back is ideal, or the edge of a bed). Then I tuck my chin and roll my head forward down towards my belly. Once my face is level with my hips or as far as I can comfortably go down, then I look up. As I'm looking up, I draw my face up towards the sky, roll my chest out, and once fully extended with my face facing the ceiling I lean back curling my chest inwards, contracting my belly, tucking my chin, and repeating the motions that started this movement.
I'll do this over and over again until I feel like I have more circulation in my spine. I'm speaking as someone who's had five compressed discs in my spine, and I've had multiple pinched nerves, and I've torn a lot of muscles in my back. With proper and consistant maintenance I'm very functional and have little to no pain. This is part of the routines I do to keep my body happy and healthy.
*Note: Nerves are some of the slowest parts of our body to heal. Be patient with it. It's amazing what you can recover from. The people I see recovering from it are those who believe that they can. Belief is a powerful thing when it comes to healing. Also eating lower inflammatory food , hydrating well and managing stress are all important factors towards healing.
Another aspect of a happy spine is twisting. We don't twist enough in our daily lives, and without the strength to twist, we can often hurt our backs when we twist, lift, bend, or do something while twisting. Nine times out of ten, when one of my clients hurt themselves in the back, they tell me they twisted to reach something in the backseat of their car or by doing a similar motion.
It's during those twisting motions that we are the most vulnerable because we just don't do it, so we need to twist more to be able to twist later on and be able to do it in a way that's not going to hurt us. So how do you strengthen your twisting?
First things first, I sit on the corner of my bed and I hug the corners of my bed with my knees spread, the corner between the knees locking my hips in and as wide as I can comfortably go. Now that you are as wide and locked in as you can comfortably go with your hips, you have stabilized your lower body to allow this movement to only target your spine.
Then you gently twist as much as you comfortably can to the right to start and then place your hand at that comfortable range leaning towards that hand. If you feel any strain or irritation, don’t proceed to go as far. You only go as far as you can comfortably go. You toe the line of discomfort resting for just 2 seconds at the end of your range and then you come back to center neutral spine and then twist again finding that you may go a few degrees further in the twist. Some people are extremely mobile and they can touch their face to their knee and that's fine. This movement will be a breeze for those people and those people will need to lean into strengthening instead. For those who are restricted in these motions, repeat the twist and bring it back to neutral at least 4 times each way.
*Note: If you have rods in your spine these motions can be helpful to you as long as you at least have a few vertebrae that are still mobile. As always if this hurts don’t do it. Be slow and deliberate in your motions, and hold the stretch only for 2 seconds at the end of each motion.
Now you need to strengthen. Next, hold a chest plate or something heavy against your chest and practice the same range of motion but with that weight instead. Start with a weight that is very easy and gradually increase the weight over time, respecting your body and taking breaks in this practice as needed. Rest is important for building muscle and healing.
Some people have no range of motion and they're strong. Some people have all the range of motion and they're weak. Both types of people can prevent hurting themselves by strengthening that “ROM”. The body often limits what is unstable, and that is how you can be a strong person but inflexible. It's about keeping the range of motion and being strong in the range of motion that prevents injury the most.
If you feel like going a little further, a little extra, I suggest putting the opposite arm up to the side you’re leaning, making a side stretch you'll feel along the side of the hip. You should feel a stretch along your hip, left hip if you’re leaning right and vice versa but only do this if you're able-bodied and your body is stable enough to handle this.
I hope this was helpful to you my reader, a happy spine makes an easier day!
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
Have feedback? Feel Free to email me a: zolalmt@gmail.com