Your body is a container. Along with the recognizable contents of organs, blood and bones, your body also contains sensations. Sensations are feelings or perceptions that provide you with information about yourself.

Sometimes, these sensations are confusing or alarming. Perhaps you have a burning pain in your foot, but you can’t recall injuring it. Or it could be that you feel faint or have trouble catching your breath. Maybe you just can’t get started in the morning and feel ready for bed before your day has begun.

It’s Not All in Your Head

Often, your body’s sensations provide you with clues that your spinal health has been affected. The burning you feel in your feet may simply be caused by those high heels you love or a result of athlete’s foot fungus. But if your pain is limited to just one side and includes your leg, it could be a signal from your spine that your sciatic nerve is involved.

Feeling woozy or faint may be attributed to a number of causes like anemia, chronic fatigue or a drop in blood sugar. Still, your spinal health may be at risk. A skewed cervical vertebra could be reducing blood flow to your brain. Maintaining correct alignment of the spine leads to healthy circulation and proper nerve function.

Get It Straight from Your Spine

If you’re having difficulty breathing, it could indicate an allergy to the pollen coating your car. Or maybe you’re out of shape and walking up the steps to your office has you gasping. Once again, your shortness of breath may possibly be rooted in your spine. Compression of your thoracic vertebrae, for example, can cause difficulty breathing, muscle atrophy and even muscle paralysis.

Poor spinal alignment often results in chronic pain that further reduces your ability to breathe normally. Proper skeletal positioning can help you to feel relaxed after normal exertion instead of depleted. Contact your spinal physician or physical therapist at the Southeastern Spine Institute to evaluate your spine and determine the appropriate course of treatment for your optimal spinal health.

Stand Tall
As time goes on, your body aches and stiffness may seem like the realistic result of growing older. The gradual decline in flexibility may seem impossible to escape. But poor spinal health leading to the compression of your motor nerves can actually be the basis of your muscle stiffness, and that’s correctable.

Maintaining spinal alignment and good posture can help you to age gracefully and avoid what once seemed inevitable. Be proactive, take a moment to look in a mirror and correct your posture during the day. Catch yourself slouching? Sit up straight at your desk, and take regular breaks to get up and move. Raise your smartphone to eye level instead of dropping your chin down to your chest.

Become mindful of your body’s response to stress. Relax your shoulders when you stand tall; you are after all connected from your head to your toes. Develop your awareness of correct spinal alignment, incorporate good posture and make the effort to improve your spinal health — and your whole body will thank you.