Winter is here! With the season, comes the cold. The cold can make plenty of changes. Snow on the ground, ice on the roads, and for some, pain in our backs. Many people have increased back pain during the wintertime. You may be wondering, why does my back hurt more in the cold? Find out here, and find out how chiropractic can help.
Less Exercise
In the wintertime, humans tend to slow down. We spend more time inside, on the couch. It makes sense, to stay warm and cozy during the coldest months. However, trading exercise for a more sedentary life can be a problem for your back. Without exercise, your body can lose the strength and stability you’ve built up. Without the consistent stretching of your muscles, they can easily get tighter. This leads to back pain. Sitting all the time can also cause major issues for your back. By curling up and trying to stay warm, you can easily turn bad posture into a habit. Bad posture causes stress on your back.
Eating More and Drinking Less
The wintertime usually causes people to gain extra weight. With the amazing food for Christmas and Thanksgiving, as well as winter sweets, people can over-eat. Paired with the lack of exercise, it’s common for people to gain a few pounds. However, the extra weight can add stress to your back, leading to an increase in back pain. In the wintertime, it’s also common to feel less thirsty. If you get dehydrated the discs in your back can lose the proper amount of water to stay hydrated. Dehydrated discs will move the stress of your body’s weight to other parts of your body, which causes back pain. Major changes in diet can lead to back pain.
Shivering in the Cold
When it’s cold, you tend to shiver more. Shivering causes your muscles to tense up to try and keep you warm. This leads to your back tightening and feeling achy all the time. If you already have back problems then that’s bad news. Your normal back problems can be intensified by the cold. With the structures around your back being tightened, you’ll feel achy or you’ll even feel pain.
Summary
Why does your back hurt more in the cold? Shivering causes muscles to tighten around the structures that support your back’s weight, causing pain. Also, less exercise and more food in the wintertime lead to extra weight, which adds additional stress to your spine. With those factors combined, the cold causes your back to be achy when it’s already needing extra support. That causes back pain or makes your current back pain worse. Luckily, we can help.
If you have back pain or would like more advice visit us at one of our offices, in Erie or in Longmont. The Chiropractic Center of Erie and Chiropractic Center of Longmont treat the body holistically with our award-winning treatment process to help your body achieve and maintain optimal performance. We specialize in treating patients suffering from hip pain and have helped several patients find relief without the need for surgery. If you’d like to learn more about chiropractic care in Longmont or Erie or have questions about what to expect during your first chiropractor visit in Erie or Longmont, call our offices today at 303-828-3000 or 303-772-1950!
