How Drinking Water Helps To Reduce Sciatica Back Pain

Our Discs Lose Mass and Water As We Age
When I was suffering from somewhat of a relapse with my sciatica, I searched all over the internet for some possible home remedy.  I ran across the story of sort of a young athletic fellow that suffered severe sciatica. His remedy was to take in more water and avoid Avoid caffeinated drinks.  I tried it. It worked!  At least it helped quite a bit. My chiropractor stated that our discs lose mass as we age and also lose water so this would support my findings.  Also, there are similar claims Freedrinkingwater.com, The Water Coalition , About.Com , and many other places on the internet.  Frankly, all I care about is that drinking more water worked for me and did not cost a dime.

How Much Water Should I Drink?
There are a lot of different recommendations.  At the lowest, 48 ounces of water is recommended.  Others recommend dividing your weight (in pounds) in half and drinking that number of ounces per day.  So a 180 pound person would drink 90 ounces per day.  A CNN report states that The Institute of Medicine advises men consume about 3.0 liters (104 ounces) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (78 ounces) of total beverages a day. So if you take in (6) 8-ounce cups of milk/juice/pop a day, you will want to supplement that with about 4-6 more glasses of water depending on your gender or size.  And, if involved in strenuous activity, drink a few more glasses. The Mayo Clinic gives a similar recommendation. The verdict is still out on whether coffee or caffeinated beverages depletes you body of water or not, but you probably should not include these as part of you water intake.