{"id":85,"date":"2016-08-05T00:20:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-05T00:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/?p=85"},"modified":"2023-09-19T15:09:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T15:09:31","slug":"spine-pain-and-our-body-clock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/spine-pain-and-our-body-clock\/","title":{"rendered":"Spine Pain and Our Body Clock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>New research from across the pond suggests that our spinal discs are impacted by our circadian rhythm, and if our sleep schedule gets out of whack, back pain can flare up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 90 percent of Americans will experience back&nbsp;pain at some point in their lives, be it from a pulled muscle, a slipped disc or a spinal fracture, and&nbsp;this new research is the first to show a link between body-clock interruptions and spine pain. Our body clock \u2013 oftentimes referred to as our circadian rhythm \u2013 is a 24-hour cycle in the physiological processes of living beings, be it humans, plants or animals. Researchers uncovered that manipulating and interuptting this cycle led to numerous problems in the spine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you [manipulate the] body clock from cells in the disc in mice, within six months degeneration is very noticeable and the disc is thinner by 20 to 30 percent,\u201d said Professor Judith Hoyland. \u201cWithin 12 months we\u2019ve found evidence of fibrosis \u2013 the thickening and scarring of connective tissue prevalent in human degenerative discs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Spinal Disc Body Clocks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The team of researchers noted that overnight&nbsp;workers, individuals who work irregular shifts and people who have a tough time falling asleep may be at risk for spine pain because their&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/practice.patientpop.com\/contents\/neurosurgery\/spinal-disc-replacement\">spinal discs<\/a>&nbsp;can\u2019t stay in a steady circadian cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe discovery of body clocks in the disc may go some way to explain for the first time the science behind this rhythmic physiology of the spine,\u201d said Dr. Qing-Jun Meng, who also worked on the study. \u201cOur research shows this system is regulated by our internal body clock and when the body clock ceases to work properly during aging or in shift workers, lower back pain is more likely. Looking after your body clock will help manage or delay the onset of your back pain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interestingly, researchers also uncovered that some painkillers may be more effective during the day when our bodies are refreshed and energized. So while it may be easier said than done, if you can strive to regularly get eight hours of sleep each night, you might find your spine pain subsiding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New research from across the pond suggests that our spinal discs are impacted by our circadian rhythm, and if our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidchangspine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}