We are constantly developing our posture for better or worse in life whether we are actively trying to or not. Which is why it’s important to have your body default to good posture rather than poor posture. Rather than suddenly thinking “oh I need to sit up straighter” and consciously correcting your posture it’s much better for this to be what your body does naturally.
At Real Health chiropractic clinic we find the most common reasons for poor posture are:
- Repetitive tasks
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Technology use (computer/mobile phone)
- Previous injury – people’s bodies adapt to compensate for a unresolved injury (even if its no longer painful)
- Muscle that are either over tight or underactive
- Nervous system stress
Negative effects of poor posture
If we maintain a poor posture for long enough we start to develop some not so great problems. These sadly are not just limited to a sore back and neck, which shows how important our posture and spinal health are to ensuring you are functioning well in all areas of life. A Harvard article suggests that poor posture can even cause incontinence, constipation, and heartburn (Harvard Health Publishing, 2018).
Other effects of poor posture are:
- Low energy
- Low back pain
- Neck pain
- Increased loading of specific spinal joints causing more wear and tear
- Headaches
- Referred pain to legs or arms
- Circulation
- Effected breathing
- Mental Health (How Your Posture Is Affecting Your Life, 2021).
Types of poor posture
Here are some common bad postures that patients present to our clinic with and what they can cause:
Forward Head Carriage
- This is a common condition where the head moves forward and can cause neck muscle stiffness, pain headaches, jaw pain and even significantly decreased breathing function and also people’s health and fitness abilities (Koseki et al., 2019).
Lower cross syndrome/Hyperlordosis
- This is another common condition caused by a mixture of tight muscles, underactive muscles and lower back spinal segments that don’t move properly.
- People often experience low back pain, hip pain, sometimes groin pain and stiffness in these areas.
Flat Back Syndrome
- Like these other conditions, flat back is often a condition that occurs over a period of time and has associated back pain. People with flat back syndrome also find it hard to stand up for long periods of time and find themselves having to lean forward and slightly bend their knees to remain upright (Flatback Symptoms – Flat Back Syndrome Treatment, n.d.).
Text Neck Syndrome
- Text Neck is a syndrome that is developed over time due to the repetitive activity of looking down at your phone, computer, laptop etc. which over time causes pain and reduced mobility, headaches and if not treated and improved can then lead to disc bulges and faster degeneration of the spinal joints in your neck (Alsiwed et al., 2021). This particular syndrome is more common in teens and children because their head size is still proportionately larger than the rest of their body when compared to an adult (Text Neck Syndrome Cause, Effect & Solution by Dr. Ajay Kothari | Dr. Ajay Kothari – Spine Surgeon, n.d.).
How chiropractic posture correction helps
When our team at Real Health assess the postural problems our patients present with, we are able to help them over time improve their posture and reduce or remove their associated symptoms. We do this through the use of safe adjustments to the spine to enable it to move correctly and reduce the overuse of the compensating muscles, alongside complementary stretches and exercises. Postural problems take a long time of repetitive actions to begin and because of this, we have to train the body to hold itself properly over a period of time. This is true for any age, any degree of activity or level of participation in any sport. For example, we provide TPI Golf Assessment and Titleist Physical Therapy to golfers at all levels.
If any of the above sounds like you, call us to book an appointment to either begin correcting your posture or to help prevent it from deteriorating in the first place.
References
- Alsiwed, K. T., Alsarwani, R. M., Alshaikh, S. A., Howaidi, R. A., Aljahdali, A. J., & Bassi, M. M. (2021). The prevalence of text neck syndrome and its association with smartphone use among medical students in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Journal of Musculoskeletal Surgery and Research, 5(4), 266–272. https://doi.org/10.25259/JMSR_99_2021
- Flatback Symptoms – Flat Back Syndrome Treatment. (n.d.). Virginia Spine Institute. https://www.spinemd.com/what-we-treat/spinal-deformities/flatback-syndrome
- Harvard Health Publishing. (2018, September). 3 surprising risks of poor posture – Harvard Health. Harvard Health; Harvard Health. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/3-surprising-risks-of-poor-posture
- How Your Posture is Affecting Your Life. (2021, February 2). Campus Recreation. https://campusrec.wfu.edu/2021/02/how-your-posture-is-affecting-your-life/#:~:text=Your%20posture%20can%20actually%20affect
- Koseki, T., Kakizaki, F., Hayashi, S., Nishida, N., & Itoh, M. (2019). Effect of forward head posture on thoracic shape and respiratory function. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 31(1), 63–68. https://doi.org/10.1589/jpts.31.63
- Text Neck Syndrome Cause, effect & Solution by Dr. Ajay Kothari | Dr. Ajay Kothari – Spine Surgeon. (n.d.). Text Neck Syndrome Cause, Effect & Solution by Dr. Ajay Kothari | Dr. Ajay Kothari – Spine Surgeon. Retrieved March 29, 2023, from https://www.spinesurgeonpune.co.in/spinesurgeonpune/terms/text-neck-syndrome-cause-effect-amp-solution-by-dr-ajay-kothari/5177
