The Lifestyle that doesn’t damage the Spinal Cord

Our everyday lifestyles that include activities such as sitting, lying down or lifting heavy objects incorrectly are contributing factors that damage the spinal cord. Knowing the correct ways to adjust our habits will help us reduce spinal problems that may occur in the future.

Sitting

Don’t: Slouching or crossing legs while sitting for a long time throughout the day will cause back and shoulder blade pain.
Do: Sit up with your back straight touching the back of the chair, relax your shoulders, and sit all the way on the chair with buttocks and both sides of the hip evenly, not titled to the right or left. Get up and stretch every 20-40 minutes.

Sleeping

Don’t: Sleeping on too soft or too hard surface or sleeping in wrong positions such as, sleeping on your stomach, or curling up may cause back pain.
Do: Mattresses should not be too firm or too soft. Sleep on your back or on your side while keeping your spinal cord aligned. Use a pillow under the knees when sleeping on your back or place a pillow in between the knees when sleeping on your sides.

Heavy Lifting

Don’t: Bending your back to pick up an object suddenly may injure your muscles and spinal cord.
Do: Stand closer to the object you need to pick up and bend your knees to squat down slightly, keep your back straight, your head straight aligned with the spinal cord so the pressure is distributed to the spinal discs equally when picking up.

Using Phone

Don’t: Bending your neck forward while looking at your phone at all times causes pain in the
neck, shoulder and shoulder blades as the pressures are placed on these areas.
Do: Try to keep your neck completely straight, don’t bend your neck or slouch.

For more information, contact

Spine Center, Vejthani Hospital
Call 02-7340000 or Ext. 5500
English Hotline: (+66)8-522 38888