Before thinking about decompressing our spines, let’s talk about what is actually compressing them.

“Compression of the spine is a natural process that happens on a day-to-day basis from the moment we learn to walk,” explains osteopath George Berrett from OsteoAllies. “It happens when we are sat down or static for long periods of time, if we have been carrying or lifting heavy objects and naturally as the spine supports our own bodyweight against gravity.”

Compression itself simply means force or pressure, in this instance usually on the discs, says Berrett: “The discs in our spine act as decompression plates to help distribute load and weight from our upper body to our lower body. Imagine them as small jam doughnuts, with the outer shell helps deal with forces such as rotation (when we twist) and bending (forwards, backwards and to the side) while the jelly on the inside of the disc helps to reduce compression and bounce back when put our spine under load.

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