
Lumbar Disc: My top tips to protect your spinal discs
My top tips to protect your spinal discs is the first of a group of self-help blog posts I am planning. As a chiropractor at Lushington Chiropractic in Eastbourne, people often ask me what they can do to help themselves and so this is my opportunity to share advice with everyone.
1.Drink plenty of water. The disc is primarily made up of water. The disc is made up of two parts: a jelly centre and harder onion skin like layers on the outside. This jelly centre allows for the movement in the spine and also for shock absorption. So every time you step, jump or walk the discs help to absorb that pressure. If it wasn’t for the water in the disc, this could not happen.
Often after having imaging of the low back such as an MRI, people are told that they have dehydration within their discs. Part of this can be due to actually not drinking enough water. Water is essential for a healthy disc.
2.Reduce alcohol, caffeine and nicotine. Following on from the previous point, all three of these are known to dehydrate the disc. So, as important as it is to drink water, it is also important to limit these as best you can. Obviously if you do have lots of these, it’s incredibly important that you do everything else on this list to keep the discs healthy.
3. Keep moving. The disc in the spine has a very poor blood supply and gets all the nutrients it needs through a process called imbibing. This is where fluid is moved in and out of the disc taking nutrients with it. This process only occurs with movement. Therefore if you do not move, you do not get the nutrients you need. This is also why having a well-hydrated disc is very important. The more dehydrated the disc, the less fluid you move and the fewer nutrients you get.

4. Take care when lifting and bending. We all know by now that we should be bending our knees when we lift heavy objects. However, lots of people pay less attention to how their upper body bends during this motion. Many people are bending with their backs as well as their knees. This puts extra pressure on the disc (see below chart). This chart shows that bending whilst standing increases the pressure on the disc by an extra 50%, e.g. if you have 100kgs pressure on the disc standing up straight, when you bend forward it will be 150kgs pressure. Imagine if you then add a weight in your hand, like a heavy box. This will put even more unnecessary pressure on the low back discs.
Good and poor lifting techniques


Avoid twisting and bending at the same time. This puts extra pressure on the disc and therefore makes you more susceptible to injury. How many times have you heard people say, “I just bent over to grab something and my back went!” Often this is when people are doing a combination of bending and twisting.
5. Pay attention to your posture. The same as point 4: disc pressures are displayed in the table. This shows the difference in the pressure on the disc with a good sitting posture and a poor sitting posture. These days it is incredibly important to keep posture as good as possible as most of us spend most of the day sitting at a desk.
If you do this, it is incredibly important that you keep your posture as good as possible to keep the discs as healthy as possible. Obviously take regular breaks as well so that we can do what it says in point 3 and keep moving.
If you like these tips there are more tips on my website.
Yours in health,
Mykel Mason your Eastbourne Chiropractor
Want to find out more about low back pain?
We have a huge variety of blogs on low back pain. If you’ve found this blog helpful and would like to find out more, then please check out one of our other blogs on low back pain below.
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New NICE guidelines recommend chiropractic techniques for the lower back pain and sciatica
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Karen’s Top Tips For coping with back pain
Chiropractic Advice for Women Suffering Back Ache
Simple Exercises for Low Back Pain part 1
Simple Exercises for Low Back Pain part 2
Posture and Low Back Pain
Anterior pelvic tilt and correction: Part one
Anterior pelvic tilt and correction: Part two
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Gardening and Low Back Pain
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A chiropractor’s guide to protecting the back when gardening
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Back pain in the elderly
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