What Is The Big Deal About Posture?
We’ve all at one point in our lives been yelled at about our posture, “sit up straight” “don’t slouch” “square your shoulders.” What’s the big deal? Science is starting to show that posture can have some very serious lifelong implications. Common things like headaches, fatigue, neck pain, low back pain, carpal tunnel are some of the many things that can occur with poor posture. Left unattended long enough, things like degeneration, arthritis, blood and nerve vessel constriction can occur.
A perfect individual should be able to stand up straight and draw a plumb line from the earlobe, to shoulder, through your hip, and the ankle. Bio-mechanically with everything straight and centered, it’s the most efficient for distributing our weight even across the whole body. When we have poor posture, we increase the weight bearing loads on certain points, which over time leads to dysfunction (e.g. pain). You’ve probably seen the person, rounded shoulders and head coming forward in front of the body. This is an adaption because the body can’t hold the weight of the head. Is it easier to hold a bowling ball close to the body, or further away? Hopefully you said closer. For every inch forward the head is from proper alignment, it increases the weight bearing on the body and muscles by 10 pounds. That might seem like that much, but imagine holding that 10 pounds ALL DAY!!!
When we slouch, we are reinforcing improper behavior. Imagine going to the gym, and doing exercises incorrectly for hours at a time. The body adapts to that. Many physiological changes occur when we slouch. Things like stress levels increases when we slouch, a decrease in digestion, and even less happy.
There are a few ways to improve posture. You can actually focus on sitting up straight as much as possible. Another is getting evaluated. When we have a long standing problem, certain muscles will strengthen, others will weaken. Having a Chiropractor conduct a proper exam can help figure out what steps need to be taken to help. Call us today at 781-721-3336
