Exercise is a wonderful thing. It helps keep your entire body healthy, including your spine. If you’re like a lot of our patients, the cold weather can discourage you from sticking to your normal workout routine. We have some motivation to get you moving and a few tips to ensure you have a safe winter workout.
Before we get to those tips, let us remind you of all the benefits of exercise for your spine health. These benefits can serve as motivation on those days you feel less than motivated.
- Helps reduce the frequency or severity of flare-ups in your pain
- Burns calories to help you maintain a healthy weight
- Produces endorphins to elevate your mood and fight depression
- Strengthens your muscles and bones, increasing your spine’s stability and making you less susceptible to back pain and spinal injuries
- Improves your body’s circulation, helping pump nutrients into your spine’s soft tissues and drain toxins
- Improves flexibility and posture
- Reduces bone density loss, which helps prevent osteoporosis
So, how much should you be exercising? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the following amount of exercise for adults, “At least 150 minutes a week of moderate intensity activity such as brisk walking” and “At least 2 days a week of activities that strengthen muscles.”
Now, let’s talk more in depth about how to ensure you have a safe winter workout.
Check the weather before heading out.
If your usual workout takes you outdoors, make sure to check both the temperature and wind chill before heading out. Doing so can help you dress appropriately or prompt you to take your workout indoors. Only you can decide what temperature is too cold for you to bear, but if the temperature or wind chill drops below zero, we highly recommend staying indoors or limiting the length of your workout.
Dress appropriately for the temperature and your workout.
While you don’t want to be too cold for your workout, you also don’t want to dress too warmly. This is why we urge you to consider both the weather and intensity of your workout. If you’re heading out for a 5-mile run, you probably won’t need to dress as warmly as you would for a leisurely walk around the neighborhood.
Regardless of the weather and intensity of your workout, we recommend that you dress in layers so you can easily remove and add clothing as needed. Also, it’s important to protect your extremities from the cold, including your face, hands, and feet.
Know when to stay indoors.
The most important tip we can give you on having a safe winter workout is to know when to stay indoors. For example, if there is inclement weather or the streets and sidewalks are icy, you should probably stay indoors. There are plenty of workouts you can perform in the comfort of your home or at the gym.
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Share the knowledge on social media.
As always, remember to consult your physician before beginning a new workout regimen. Now get out there and have a safe winter workout!
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