Is Dehydration Causing Your Back Pain?

Since so much of our body consists of water, water affects every cell of our body. You bones even need water. They are just a little denser than some of the other parts of your body. One of the parts of your body that is particularly vulnerable to dehydration is the discs in your spine and the cartilage in your joints. The lack of proper hydration can affect your back to the extent that it becomes painful.

Let me explain. Between every two vertebrae lies a disc. The outer part of the disc is called the nucleus fibrosis. It is made up of tough fibrous material. Inside of this is a soft gelatinous substance called the nucleus pulposa. That inner substance is mainly water. During the day when you are upright, gravity squeezes water from your spine, the greatest squeeze being in the lower spine.

When you go to bed at night, the body tries to replenish the spinal water. If there is not enough, your hydration there will be impaired. To illustrate this, if you measure your height just before you go to bed, then drink a large glass of water. When you get up in the morning, measure your height again. You will find that you are between ¼ inch to ½ inch taller than when you went to bed.

Regular movement and exercise during your waking hours helps to move the water in your body and hydrate it where necessary. As long as your body is hydrated properly and your acidic levels in your body are reduced, your body can do it’s job of keeping itself hydrated, including your spine. When there is not enough water to fully hydrate the gelatinous layer, then the whole disc can become compromised. The outer layer can crack, causing some of the inner jelly to squeeze out. This is called a herniated disc and can be caused because the outer tough coating bears about 25 per cent of your weight and the inner gelatinous layer supports 75 per cent. If you pick up something heavy, you can put added strain on your discs.

When the inner portion of the disc is dehydrated, it cannot support it’s share of the weight, so more and more of the load is carried by the outer ring which is simply not designed to carry it. This can cause ruptures or herniations with resulting pain and swelling.

Prevention is a great idea. Drink half your body weight in ounces of  Cerra  healthy, clean, alkaline ionized water to eliminate dehydration and maintain or improve your back health. Give your body enough water to work with and it will reward you with a pain-free life.

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