Back Pain and Dehydration

Back pain in many cases is either caused or exacerbated by dehydration. The structure of the human spinal disks makes them vulnerable to dehydration, with resulting pain and swelling. Read more to find out the connection between dehydration and back pain, and a simple, commonsense and healthy approach to reducing or eliminating your back pain.

As a massage therapist of over 14 years experience, I have a great deal of experience with many different types of back pain. While in many cases there are structural and/or muscular dysfunctions or imbalances which must be addressed, it is my experience that a great deal of back pain can be greatly relieved by simply increasing daily water intake. Or to put it another way, back pain in many cases is caused or exacerbated by chronic dehydration. Why would this be so?

The reason lies in the very structure of the human spine. Between every two vertebrae lies a disk, which functions as a shock absorber for all that we put our backs through everyday. This disk has two parts: an outer, flexible but very tough ring, which is filled with a gelatinous substance, called the nucleus pulposis. This inner substance is primarily water.

All day long, as gravity works on our upright spine, water is slowly squeezed out of the disks. Then at night, when we are lying down, the disks slowly rehydrate. This daily dehydration and nightly rehydration of the disks is the reason why most of us are generally about ј to Ѕ inch shorter when we go to bed than when we wake up in the morning! Regular movement during the day is also important to keep disks hydrated – as the spine moves forward and back, the disks will absorb what water is available.

Our disks will successfully rehydrate themselves during the night, and also during the day when possible, as long as there are adequate water levels within the body. When there is not enough water available to fully hydrate the gelatinous center, the whole disk becomes compromised. The disk is designed, when fully hydrated, so that the outer ring bears 25% of the weight load while the inner nucleus pulposis supports 75%. When the inner portion is dehydrated, it cannot support its share of the load, so more and more of your weight is borne by the outer ring, which simply was not designed for that purpose. This can cause pain, swelling, and even ruptures or herniations of the outer shell of the disk.

What this means is that one of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce back pain is to increase your daily intake of clean, healthy water, and to be sure to flex your back and neck front to back at times throughout the day. Simply stretching your spine forward and back periodically throughout the day will help to rehydrate your disks, provided that you have given your body enough water to work with!

Be sure to drink healthy water that is free of contaminants, such as water filtered through a quality home water filter. For more information about how to gauge how much water to drink, see my article entitled "I Know I Should Drink More Water, But How Much?"

Ann Hession is the founder of Great Water Now. A graduate of Harvard University (1985), she has worked in the natural health/natural living field for over 15 years. Great Water Now is dedicated to providing quality information about water and health and promoting the use of home water filters for health and longevity.