Time with Tess

Why I Started Learning About Back Pain and Bone Health

My quest to become my best self has led me down a path of learning more about back and bone health. Recently, a coworker of mine was diagnosed with osteoporosis and was told she needs to start lifting weights and doing resistance training. I’ve also had a growing number of older women as patients who have added osteoporosis to their medical histories. It has me wondering about what I can do now to prevent future issues, and what someone at any stage of life can do to support better overall bone health.

As a dental hygienist I know that the treatment for osteoporosis medications (specifically IV Bisphosphonates) can have oral implications. What I mean by that is that if someone who has been on IV bisphosphonates for several years needed a tooth extracted the jaw bone’s ability to heal after is unpredictable and may be resistant to healing. In order to make fully informed choices patients need to be aware of these possibilities. 

The back health portion came into play as Brad has been experiencing more lower back pain recently. I have also experienced flare ups with sciatic pain when I was in the later stages of pregnancy as well as postpartum. Brad works an office job and is sitting at a desk most of his day. We upgraded his desk chair to something with more practical spine support and he has found that to be comfortable. I work as a dental hygienist in a clinical setting. I know that my posture suffers as I curve and hunch around a lot during the course of patient care throughout the day. I am interested in getting a saddle chair in my office. (We had these when I was in school, it pushes your hips up into a more ideal postural position). However, apparently a doctor’s note is needed in order to make this upgrade-so I am waiting for my upcoming physical to bring it up and follow through on this. 

 Brad’s solution is almost always to buy a new sleeping pillow. I am drowning in pillows over here: extra firm memory foam, “My” pillows, thin pillows, cooling pillows, bamboo pillows, gel pillows. If I could have a genie in a bottle one of my 3 wishes would be that everyone just had the perfect pillow for themselves magically. What do we actually need??

All of these thoughts and questions had me doing some more investigation into the matter. I have some science knowledge in my background. I understand the core concepts and fundamentals of it all; but I want something practical, stripped down, and easy to follow. So here are things that I found helpful, and maybe you will too!  Here is where Dr. Betsy Grunch comes in…renowned neurosurgeon specializing in the spine. She appeared on a Mel Robbin’s podcast episode titled “2026 Body Reset: How to Get Stronger, Lose Fat, & Take Control of Your Health”. Perfect. She delivered the information in a very straightforward and relatable way. It both reiterated current knowledge and taught me some new things as well. Worth checking out!

Four Common Causes of Back Pain (According to a Spine Surgeon)

Here were the key takeaways:

She outlined four major factors that contribute to spinal health (or decline):

1. Avoid nicotine at all costs
   • This one surprised me, and I did not know that going into the episode. Dr. Grunch said that she wants everyone to know this one: nicotine will rapidly increase the rate in which your spinal health deteriorates. 
   • It is a vasoconstrictor and it acts as a stimulant that causes blood vessels to tighten and narrow, which reduces blood flow, increases blood pressure, and forces the heart to work harder. When you have little injuries in your spine the blood flow to it helps to heal those areas, but with the constriction of the vessels the blood flow can’t make it to those areas to heal itself. 
   • This effect is observed with all nicotine products, including cigarettes, vapes, and oral pouches.
2. Sedentary Lifestyle
   • Finding sustainable ways to keep moving. This could look like:
     • getting your steps in
     • an at home workout video
     • stretching on your lunch break
     • getting a standing desk and using throughout the day
3. Strengthening your core muscles because these are the muscles that help to surround and support your spine. This is key. 
4. Some workout moves she likes are glute bridges and bird dogs. Great for beginners! 
5. Proper Lifting form
   • This one may seem obvious if you are thinking of just people lifting heavy in the gym, but she explained that even lifting an Amazon package that is slightly heavier than you are expecting could be enough to cause damage or injury to your spine
   • Lift with your legs not your back! We’ve all heard this one before, but it is a good reminder to be conscious of it through our day to day life!
   • Look up youtube videos of workouts you are unsure about, learn what muscles are supposed to be activating and firing during certain moves (I call this the mind muscle connection), ask others around you! (Scary, I know, but people are actually usually happy and willing to help). 
6. Proper sleeping form
   • The moment I had been waiting for…She said that about ⅓ of our lives are spent sleeping, so if your form is poor this can lead to back pain and issues
     • No stomach sleeping
     • back or side is fine, but here is the key: you need a knee pillow for either position. If you are lying on your back: under your knees, and if you are on your side: in between your knees to give them slight space
   • For pillows you want something not too thin, not too thick–the goldilocks pillow I speak of. Unfortunately I did not get any specific one pillow to buy, instead she suggested one that just keeps your spine in alignment. (see image below)

Conclusion and One More Simple Way to Support Bone Health

After watching the video and sharing the information with Brad, he shared with me a Tik Tok video that Dr. Grunch posted that I found interesting and wanted to share. She talked about “pounding” the stairs when you walk them. What this does is sends signals to your bones that they are under more stress and to build more bone. In turn strengthening your overall skeletal health. I do notice this in dentistry as well with tori-bony growths in the mouth caused from the stress of clenching and grinding. Fascinating! I had never considered this applying to the rest of the body as well.

If you made it this far thanks for reading, I hope you learned something like I did! Share your thoughts with me below. 🙂

Sources: 

Mel Robbins Podcast episode w/ Dr. Betsy Grunch (@Ladyspinedoc) 

Podcast Link

Tik tok post from @Ladyspinedoc (Dr. Betsy Grunch, MD)