How Poor Posture Can Affect Your Health
What Is Posture?
Posture, as defined by the Australian Chiropractors Association (ACA), is “the position in which we hold our bodies while standing, sitting or lying down”.
How Posture Can Affect Your Health
The human body is designed to have the head, rib cage and pelvis perfectly aligned* as seen from both the front and the side. When this alignment becomes imbalanced it can cause the spine to deviate from the normal position. This can cause undue stress and strain on muscles, joints, and ligaments which will often result in back, neck and shoulder pain.
Although adults tend to have more lifestyle factors that can contribute to poor posture such as desk jobs and manual handling, it is important to check and correct poor posture in children and adolescents as their spine is still developing. Identifying and correcting any postural issues during adolescence can help to prevent more serious problems from occurring during adulthood as a result of poor posture.
What Can You Do?
There are many things that you can do to prevent poor posture from negatively affecting your health. One of the easiest ways to prevent poor posture in yourself and your children is to make sure that you are well educated on the topic, and able to recognise early signs of postural abnormalities.
If you regularly sit for long periods of time (a common example of this would be a 9 to 5 desk job) it is important to take regular breaks (stand and stretch) to avoid staying in the same position for too long, as this can cause back pain and poor posture. You may also need to conduct an ergonomic assessment to identify any poor ergonomics that may be negatively affecting your posture.
Office equipment to consider:
- A good quality ergonomic chair with adequate back support
- Handsfree headsets
Easily accessible ergonomic keyboard and mouse positioned so that your forearms sit parallel to the floor - Top of the computer monitor is inline with eyes when seated
Optimal body positioning:
- Knees should be slightly lower than hips when seated
- Feet should sit flat on floor or foot rest
- Legs should not be crossed
- Shoulders should be relaxed (but not slouching)
Click here for a more in depth look at workplace ergonomics.
Additionally, if you’re concerned about your posture, or suffer from neck or back issues due to sitting for long periods of time, visit your local chiropractor to see if they can help you. Back To Front Chiropractic offers quality chiropractic care for the whole family. Call us today on 07 3393 2201 to take advantage of our new patient offer.
Chiropractic Adjustments For Poor Posture
Chiropractors are trained to assess posture as well as identify the underlying cause of poor posture.
Chiropractic treatment for poor posture includes a thorough functional, neurological and orthopedic assessment including X-ray, CT scans or MRIs where necessary. This allows the chiropractor to identify the cause of the problem and determine if chiropractic care is right for you.
Once the problem has been identified, a treatment plan will be devised, typically involving a series of chiropractic adjustments combined with at home postural exercises that aim to improve posture, relieve pain, and reduce the chance of future health problems related to poor posture.
If you suffer from back pain due to poor posture call your local Brisbane chiropractor at Back To Front Chiropractic and take advantage of our new patient offer.
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