Spinal Stabilization: Your First Step Toward Lifelong Spinal Health

By Dr. Brian Jensen

Stabilizing your spine plays a vital role in your overall health. Your spinal cord contains the nervous system, the center for all your mental activity.

Misalignments in your spine can prevent your nervous system from functioning normally, causing you pain and discomfort. It even can weaken your immune system, making it easier for you to get sick.

Many factors can contribute to misalignments in your spine. Poor posture, excess weight, injuries, heavy lifting, an unhealthy diet and improper sleeping positions are just a few causes. Something you might not know is that the majority of spinal problems start at your feet.

If you have pain in your neck, back, hips or knees - check your feet. Why? In the old song favorite, it's because "Your foot bone's connected to your leg bone, your leg bone's connected to your hip bone," and so on. By age 20, an estimated 80 percent of people develop some type of foot imbalance. By age 40, foot imbalances plague virtually everyone.

Your feet are the foundation for your entire body; they allow you to stand, walk and run. Every day we expect our feet to take us where we want to go, support our weight and act as our body's main shock absorbers. Your feet contain one-quarter of your body's bones.  Each foot has 26 bones and 19 muscles. If that foundation is not solid and balanced, your entire body is affected.

Chiropractors have long known what some other health care professionals are just discovering: There is a cause-and-effect relationship between your foot and your spine. Movement at one joint affects movement at other joints, and every time your foot hits the ground to take a step, you're passing that imbalance all the way up your skeletal structure. Over time, your body tries to compensate and this imbalance can cause pain in any number of places, such as your knees, hips, pelvis, low back and neck. Every time your feet hit the ground, a shock wave travels all the way through your body. If your feet are balanced, they can absorb much of that shock. But if they're not in balance, the shock can cause your body additional strain, and eventually pain. Surprisingly, most of the time, your feet don't hurt!

When you walk, your feet go through a three-phase process known as the gait cycle. Phase one is when your foot hits the ground (heel-strike); phase two is when your whole foot is on the ground (mid-stance); and phase three is when you start to take the next step (toe-off). Research has proven that during the gait cycle, there are small movements in your spine. If there is a problem with your gait cycle, it eventually will create problems in your spine.

Inadequate or unbalanced support from your feet puts abnormal stresses on your spine. Excessive shock, unequal leg lengths, or poor joint function in the feet or ankles all can affect your spine. The most common foot problem is pronation, or collapsed arches, which can seriously affect your body's ability to absorb shock.