Poor Posture
Poor posture is one of the most common reasons for many musculoskeletal problems, however, the cause of bad posture is often misunderstood.
If you think you can control your posture, or ‘train’ your muscles so you can have upright posture you are working from an old model that is no longer true.
We are going to share with you the real causes for poor posture, and what you can do to experience the many health benefits of having great posture for yourself.
We all are naturally curvy
Your spine is designed to have 3 natural (and gentle) curves when viewed from the side. A curve in the lower back which is called a lordosis, and curve in the middle back going the other direction called kyphosis, and a second lordosis curve in the neck.
These curves serve 3 very important purposes:
Protecting your spinal cord - your spinal cord is the communication highway between the brain and the body. Clear communication between the brain and the body is critical for overall health and optimum body functions. These natural curves allow the spinal cord to have plenty of ‘room to move’ inside the canal.
Natural movement- when these curves are balanced they allow for all of the complex movements the human body is capable of performing.
Shock absorption- gravity is acting on your body each and every day. With each step you take these natural curves help to evenly distribute forces across the joints of your body.
How is your posture?
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What are the consequences of bad posture?
With poor posture, these 3 aforementioned functions along with many others are hampered. The body can no longer function at its best. Here are some of the results of bad posture:
1. Stress and tension on the spinal cord - when your posture starts to become forward, slouched, twisted or flat, this can change the shape of the spinal canal, (where the spinal cord lives). This can result in added tension on the spinal cord.
All of a sudden there is less room to move for the spinal cord.
If the spinal cord becomes stressed, under tension, or tethered. The communication between the brain and body can be interrupted. This can result in the brain no longer being able to accurately perceive what is going on, and therefore can not produce accurate responses.
2. With poor posture, movement becomes impaired - when daily movements become difficult it can lead to potential injuries as the body works hard to compensate to perform the movement.
For example: if your shoulders are rounded forward, the muscles of the shoulder (rotator cuff) are under constant pressure. This makes your more susceptible to tearing a muscle when you next swing a tennis racquet or go swimming.
If you are an athlete, having poor posture means you are using less efficient movement patterns, wasting energy and increasing your chances of injury.
3. Your ability to shock absorb is decreased, enter ‘wear and tear’ of joints - as previously mentioned, having correct posture allows your body to effectively distribute weight and forces.
Think of a wheel alignment in your car; if the wheels are aligned correctly, the force is distributed evenly across the tyre. Where as, if the wheel alignment is off, certain parts of the tyre will wear out faster than others.
The same is true of the joints of your spine and body (hips and knees are most common). Having poor posture for many years increases the potential likelihood of experiencing joint degeneration also known as ‘wear and tear’.
This has a whole host of implications, most notably pain, stiffness, and decreased movement.
So, what causes poor posture?
In a nutshell - physical stressors and traumas, both big and small.
Throughout your life, no doubt you have experienced a range of physical traumas like falling off a bike as a kid, sporting injuries, or even a car accident.
You would have also experienced repetitive micro traumas, such as picking up heavy objects awkwardly, sitting slouched over your computer for hours at a time, or sleeping like a pretzel on a couch.
All of these traumas big and small have the potential to create misalignments in your spine.
If your body can not correct these misalignments you body will twist itself up and compensate, this takes the pressure off the misalignment site. Over time the more of these misalignments you have experienced, the more times your body will have compensated.
The result over the years is compensations, on top of compensations, on top of more compensations!
All of this compensatory twist pulls your body into all kinds of aberrant shapes, here are the most common types of poor postures:
Forward head posture
Rounded shoulders
Rounded upper back (increased thoracic kyphosis)
Sway back (increased lumbar lordosis)
Tilted pelvis
Flat back (reduced spinal curves)
How do we fix your poor posture?
We utilise a method of chiropractic called Advanced Bio-Structural Correction™ (ABC™) which has focus on improving posture. You can view some of our clients changes on our results page.
ABC™ focuses on correcting ONLY the misalignments in your body that you can not correct yourself. In doing so, the body can literally ‘unwind’ or let go of the compensatory twists it created for these misalignments.
Over time, the more misalignments that are corrected, the more layers of twist that your body can let go of. Not only does this help your posture becomes more upright, less tense and more stable it helps to alleviate many musculoskeletal problems such as headaches, neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain and many more.
For more information on the ABC™ method and process visit here.
To book in with one of our ABC™ practitioners you can book online, or give our office a call, to schedule a time for your initial consultation.
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Our team is passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of our patients. Meet our team before you come into the practice.
Are you ready to unwind your body?
Schedule your first appointment with our ABC™ Chiropractors and get back to doing what you love.