Fix Your Posture!
Chiropractors and posture go together like a horse and carriage. The two are inseparable. In fact, some of the most common questions I get asked are about posture and how to sit better. How can we stop ourselves from slouching?
Poor posture leads to abnormal and repetitive stress on the joints of the body. It leads to muscle tightness, which leads to joint dysfunction, which leads to compression, which leads to nerve irritation, which leads to pain, and eventually leads to chronic pain. Over 80% of the population will experience back pain in their lives, and posture is a big factor.
In the Overland Park and surrounding areas, I do a lot of guest speaking about posture and ergonomics. These are often workshops for local offices where employees sit at a computer most of the day, but even if I visit a school or a warehouse the information is valid. Posture comes down to simple concepts rather than a specific prescription, and we get to apply the concept to all of our daily activities. I go into more details in my ergonomics workshop, but here are some good concepts to keep in mind.
First, we are constantly flexing forward. Our bodies linger towards a fetal position like we are curling into a ball. Think about how you sit at your desk or how you sit at home. Do you favor letting your body collapse forward? When you eat, are you hunched over your plate? The truth is these positions require fewer muscles. They are easier to maintain, because we don’t have to do anything. These positions are fine and not inherently bad, but if you are in this position every day for weeks, months, or years? Well, that is when wear and tear occurs.
Working our posture muscles takes effort at the start. It becomes easier and more subconscious over time, but we have to allow time to change these worn-in patterns. Back pain does not develop in one day, and it doesn’t go away in one day, either.
Second, if we want to change what our body views as its normal posture, it takes time and consistency. We want to focus on extension movements. In this case, pulling. Rows, pull-downs, pull-ups, and anything that pulls us backward into extension are perfect. We are trying to reverse the flexion posture. Of all the exercises, rows are one of my favorites. Put yourself into a straight or slightly extended position before performing a row, and it will further train the neurological connection that helps maintain posture.
Third, there can also be limitations to our posture that take a deeper approach. When we have poor posture for a long period of time, it’s not just the muscles that adapt to the pattern. Your spinal joints and nerves also adapt to the poor posture. They begin to lose their normal range of motion.
One of my favorite things to see is a patient regaining range of motion in their body that they didn’t even realize they had lost. Joints getting restricted and fixated is a process that takes time; we don’t even realize it is happening, and we don’t realize that our “normal” is actually a reduced range of motion. If someone is having trouble changing their posture, there is a good chance they have a few spinal joints that are locked in to that poor posture. Chiropractic care is the perfect fit to create a change in the pattern.
Keep thinking about your posture! Some patients set a notification on their phone throughout the day just to remind them to think about their posture. If you or someone you know is dealing with back or neck pain, and they work in a sitting position, have them reach out to a local chiropractor for a consultation. The solution could be very simple, and pay dividends when we think about how we want our bodies to perform as we age. Do we want to age with less range of motion and stability, or more?
