Chronic Pain and Arizona Heat
Did you Know?
Arizona’s summer heat can be difficult to endure, but for those who have pain, it becomes even more difficult. If you have chronic pain, you are at a higher risk for chronic dehydration. This prolonged dehydration can aggravate your symptoms and increase your pain. Find out how dehydration affects your body, and learn how to feel better!
Spine and Brain: our spine and brain contain a vital fluid called cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This fluid is responsible for providing shock absorption to the spine and acts as a cushion to the brain, protecting us from trauma. CSF also circulates nutrients while removing wastes from our spine and brain. It has been shown that when we lose 2% of water in the whole body, we lose 10% of cerebrospinal fluid volume. This loss can lead to poor repair and decreased healing of structures. This results in a build up of toxins and wastes which increases our risk of injury.
Joints: our joints have a structure called cartilage which acts like sponge to provide cushion, lubrication and nutrition to our joints. About 70-80% of your joint cartilage is made of water. Therefore, dehydration can cause increased stiffness and tightness throughout our bodies. It can also cause increased stress on our joints, as there is less shock absorption and inadequate nutrition to our joints. Staying hydrated keeps our sponge (cartilage) full and functioning well.
Muscles: our blood carries nutrients and oxygen to our muscles. When we are dehydrated our blood pressure drops which results in decreased blood flow. This leaves our muscles depleted which can cause muscle spasm and weakness. In addition, a lack of blood flow can cause headaches and even increase the risk of falling. If your muscles feel unusually tender and sore, it may be a sign that you need to drink more water.
Beat the Heat!
In addition to drinking more water, there are multiple ways to improve your pain during the summer heat. We gathered up a few of our favorites to help you feel better and stay healthy.
Move: get up and move! Increasing our heart rates means there is more blood flowing throughout our body. This helps feed our cells with nutrients to nourish our bodies and also helps removes wastes. If you sit at a desk all day, your blood flow is minimal and toxins can quickly build-up. So set a timer every hour, stand up, stretch out your arms overhead before you sit back down.
Breathe: oxygen provides life to our bodies. Each cell requires adequate oxygen to stay alive and function to it’s maximum potential. Taking a few deep breaths using our diaphragms, or stomach breathing, fills our blood with oxygen to improve pain and even our mood.
Sleep: our bodies use to sleep to recover, revive and ready us for the next day. Sleep deprivation distresses our bodies. For those who have chronic pain and dehydration, your bodies stress threshold is much lower than normal. This means a lack of stress can add just enough extra strain on our bodies that can reach havoc on our systems. In addition to drinking water all day, drink a glass prior to bed to help aid your body in recovering and healing while you sleep.
