~~Another blog post from the Ann Arbor office of Chiropractor Mike Tannenbaum, D.C.

Back pain originates for many reasons, but ultimately the thing that causes the pain are  nerve signals from the body received by the brain and interrupted by the brain as pain. This happens for a number of reasons. Luckily, you can work to mitigate you chances of back pain by doing some or all of the following.

Make sure your posture is as good as possible: Good posture allows your spine and other bones in your body to maintain alignment that puts less destructive pressure on the joints of your body then does poor posture.

Stretch: Stretch muscles and joints at least four times a week making sure the focus of the stretching is on muscles and joints that attach to your spine and pelvis (not to say you shouldn't, in general, focus on all joints of the body).

Exercise regularly: Regularly exercise with a focus on those muscles that attach to your spine and pelvis. Try to give equal attention to all muscles and joints you are exercising.

Maintain a healthy weight: Maintain a healthy weight with an emphasis to be on the light side of a healthy weight for your height and gender.

Maintain a healthful diet: Make sure your diet does not include processed carbohydrates as these foods promote inflammation of the joints and weight gain plus other negative health problems. Also, you should make sure to focus on consuming a diet high in anti-inflammatory foods.

Use proper lifting techniques and avoid lifting heavy objects.

Wear foot wear that promotes a healthy back: Avoid high healed shoes and shoes that don't have good arch support and are too tight or too loose.

Make sure to regularly go to your chiropractor: A chiropractor can check your joint and bone alignment that include joints of the spine, pelvis, knees and feet. The chiropractor can then adjust your bone alignment in order to help prevent back pain and or get rid of back pain you may already have.

Any questions about this blog post or chiropractic including neck pain, back pain or headaches, Dr. Mike Tannenbaum, D.C. can be contacted at his Ann Arbor office at [email protected].