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Postural Correction
Most people are aware that posture effects your health and wellbeing. If you were to see someone walking across the street hunched over and next to them was someone who stood up tall and straight, who would you consider to be in better health? Posture is important at all ages and it is often easier to sort postural related issues at a younger age whilst the postures have been there for less time.
What is Good Posture?
When thinking about posture it helps to understand why good posture effects how your body functions. The spine would be considered the centre piece for posture. The spinal column is an intricate structure made of bones and ligaments with supporting muscles and tendons. The job of the spinal column is to protect the spinal cord, which is a part of your central nervous system. The central nervous system delivers all the vital information and signals telling the body what to do and how to function. If you imagine a person with a spinal cord injury it’s easy to see why the body places huge importance on protecting the spine. From the front the spine should have perfect vertical and horizontal alignment, with the head, shoulders and hips completely level. From the side the spine should have three natural curves which help to support the weight of the body and head.
Common signs of bad posture:
Hunched or rounded shoulders
Excessive or insufficient curves of the spine
Head coming too far forward of the shoulders
Pelvis tilting too far forwards or backwards
Hips or shoulders not being level comparing left to right
What Causes Poor Posture?
When thinking about what our bodies have been designed to do over the last 100,000+ years compared to what most of us do daily, you’ll see there is a big discrepancy. We are designed to be on the move, usually in an upright posture and not often doing repetitive tasks for more than a few minutes at a time. If we compare that to now where people seem to be stooping forwards, we often do the same tasks for hours at a time. We spend much of our time sat down, whether that be at work or at home. We are no longer in congruence with our spines.
With our increased screen time we spend hours a day staring down at smartphones, laptops, tablets. Combining this with other lifestyle factors such as poor footwear, obesity rates, lack of exercise, weakness in muscles, the beds we sleep in the pillows we choose it is no wonder we are in a society ridden with musculoskeletal problems.
How to Correct Poor Posture?
A lot of change can be achieved by becoming more conscious of daily posture and doing activities that can help take the load off the areas of the spine that suffer from our lifestyle choices.
Engaging in more physical activity. This can be as simple as adding some stretching or mobility into your daily routine. Really anything that makes you move your body, such as a fast walk, jog or swim will help keep the joints, muscles and nerves healthy, mobile, elastic and strong.
Consider your home and work ergonomics. Make sure you’re on a supportive chair, have your screen positioned at eye level. Better still, adjust your posture every 30 minutes so that you are not spending too long in one posture. Sit-stand desks are a really great way to achieve this.
There can be lots of things in our day-to-day life that can affect our posture. A healthcare professional like a chiropractor has an in-depth understanding of the spine and how it can be affected by postures and habits. If you let the undesirable postures and habits add up it can have an effect on your spine. Preventing these issues is much easier than trying to fix the issues when the symptoms start. Chiropractic adjustments help maintain good movement and alignment of the spine. This will help both improve the symptoms or prevent the issues before they’ve started.
During our examination a Chiropractor will look at your posture to assess for abnormalities and discuss the potential impact that could have on your spine and nervous system. They will then address the areas which have been compromised in order to improve the alignment and tension throughout your body. Chiropractic care can help make sure that the joints are not undertaking unnecessary stress through poor postures, which over time can lead to ‘wear and tear’ and speed up the degenerative (arthritic) process.
Achieve Optimal Health And Wellness
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