It's the (lack of) water, not the deadlifts! Part 2

Last week I started telling you about a client of mine that started experiencing low-back pain. She had asked me what she could do about it and at first I had given her a couple of back-friendly stretches and light exercises intended to get blood flow to the area. After insight smacked me in the face on my drive to my CrossFit box, I realized that dehydration may be playing a much greater role in her pain than I had first realized. I called her, confirmed my state-of-dehydration suspicions and recommended that she steadily increase her agua intake over the next few days.

When I saw her again I asked how she was doing with the water. I got a whimpering, "I'm TRYiiiiiiiing!" Almost in the same breath, "but I saw the doctor and he said it's sciatica" almost gleefully! I was surprised. She viewed drinking more water as a trial but having the diagnosis of a pinched nerve was a relief (?!). To develop some intelligent conversation and independent thought I asked her if he had mentioned the cause or if he had explained to her what sciatica was. On both accounts, "no". Awesome.

The Mayo Clinic explains that:

"Sciatica refers to pain that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve and its branches — from your back down your buttock and leg. The sciatic nerve is the longest nerve in your body. It runs from your spinal cord to your buttock and hip area and down the back of each leg.

Sciatica is a symptom, not a disorder. The radiating pain of sciatica signals another problem involving the nerve, such as a herniated disk. Sciatica may develop when a nerve root is compressed in your lower (lumbar) spine — often as a result of a herniated disk in your lower back. Disks are pads of cartilage that separate the bones (vertebrae) in your spine. Filled with a gel-like substance, they keep your spine flexible and act as shock absorbers to cushion the vertebrae when you move."

I poked around and did some research and found that dehydration was indeed a possible cause of her sciatica pain. The Bad Back Guy explains how this works pretty well:

(One of the) factors contributing to degenerative disc disease; and, neck pain, back pain, and sciatica is dehydration or simply inadequate hydration. The intervertebral discs are made up of approximately 85% water. During the course of the day we lose a great deal of water through a variety of processes and functions. By the end of the day, providing we do not take in adequate amounts of water, we go into water debt. The debt is difficult to repay and the damage done, if this debt is ongoing, is substantial. Water is crucial to bodily function and is necessary for cell health, for rebuilding and repairing various anatomical structures, and for overall physiology. Meaning, without water the structure and the function of the body is negatively affected. When it comes to spine health, dehydration leads to intervertebral disc degeneration because the main component of the intervertebral discs, water, is lacking.

Now my girl had increased her intake from a measley 23oz a day (at most) to a whopping 46oz a day. At least she was about half way there and even that small increase had her feeling better already! I'm still on her about the water though and text her occasionally throughout each day to make sure she's up to speed.

In order to find out how much water you should be drinking each day divide your weight in half. This new number is how much you should take in (in ounces) each day. Again, everyone will vary a bit dependent on location, activity levels etc etc. If you happen to be chronically dehydrated (which a LARGE majority of Americans are) increasing your water intake can be slightly uncomfortable for a few days. The discomfort comes in the form of "I have to pee ALL the time!" This will occur for a few days BUT WILL REGULATE!!

Now just in case you didn't ever hear of this, yes Virginia it IS possible to drink too MUCH water! Water intoxication is a very real thing and you CAN die from it. So don't go pounding 4 gallons of water because "more is better". To allay your fears about how much is TOO much, studies have shown that a person can ingest UP TO 10 LITERS in a day (envision five of those 2Liter Coca-Cola bottles...yeah, I wouldn't wanna drink that much either).

So start with the half-your-body-weight formula. Work up to it over the course of a week and see how you feel after TWO weeks of maintaining this new level of hydration. If you really are driving yourself nuts running to the bathroom every hour ask yourself which is LEAST unpleasant: getting up to pee more than usual for 3 days or that searing pain in your back that runs down your leg every single day?

I'd rather pee every couple hours :-)

It's the (lack of) water, not the deadlifts! Part 1

A client of mine asked me last week what I would recommend for her to do about her recurring morning back pain. So first my brain starts going over her muscle imbalances and which would be the most likely culprits. Sounded like sciatic nerve pain actually. But I put together a few light exercises and stretches to do, led her through the series and wrote them down for her. I asked her to do the series each morning for 3 days and then get back to me.

Now, I have a tendency to mull. Ask me a question today and I'll be thinking about it in the car next week.
The next day I was driving to my home box, CrossFit 203 when Insight smacked me in the face. I had Paul Chek's book on CD You Are What You Eat playing and was on the chapter about water. The thing that hit me was when he said that we can experience localized pain or discomfort from being dehydrated.

Say what?!

I'm simplifying here but stay with me: our bodies have a PHENOMENAL preservation mode. If we are starving (or eating and drinking tons of b.s processed foods & sodas thereby taking in very few nutrients), our body will snag whatever nutrients and whatever moisture it can and shuttle it to the brain or the heart etcetera. Survival is our body's number one duty. So if it only gets a small amount of water the body will give it NOT to the organ with the greatest need but that with the greatest role in our body's survival. For a silly example, the tonsil can remain thirsty forever as far as the brain is concerned. If the tonsil isn't working optimally, that's kind of okay. If the brain isn't working optimally, that is most certainly a serious problem.

As perfect as it was, Paul Chek started discussing how chronic dehydration could manifest itself as low back pain. The reasoning was that your body was taking whatever water you were giving it and shuttling it to the most critical organs first. With chronic dehydration the demand for water may be so bad that even something like the digestive tract becomes secondary to the brain. So let's think about how it'd feel if your intestines have been given something to digest but there is no water to assist either the food's breakdown or it's passage through roughly 25 feet worth of intestines. Sounds like a pain right? EXACTLY! Low back pain!!

Oh my gosh: so was my girl that dehydrated!? I called her to ask her what she had to drink that day and she said, "one of those sport bottles of Poland Spring they sell at the gym." It was 4pm and she had only had 23oz of water that WHOLE day. No soda. No coffee. No liquids had passed her lips but that meager 23 fluid ounces. (If you weren't aware, an easy standard baseline recommendation is to drink half your bodyweight in ounces a day.) Yup, she was certainly dehydrated. I immediately changed my prescription for her to include a steady increase of fluids over the next 3 days and to keep me updated on any changes.

I will keep you updated with It's the (lack of) water, not the deadlifts! Part 2.

Homework for You:
Do a Dehydration Body Check. Think back a couple days and consider the following:
1) Do you have any recurring pains? ie back pain, knee pain, general aches
2) Do you suffer from headaches? Dizziness?
3) Do you suffer from fatigue? Muscle weakness?
4) Do you have dry skin OR chronic acne? 
Any and All of these symptoms may indicate that you are dehydrated. 
5) Review how much pure clean water you are drinking each day. Take your bodyweight, divide it in two and then use that number as ounces to find your baseline (everyone's requirements will vary due to personal variances, work load, environment etc.)