How Is Your Posture?
12 January 2023
Does good posture really exist? We're not so sure.
When we think of good posture we often think of a person stood up tall, very upright, shoulders back and hips inline. However how often do you actually see someone like that? It's pretty rare that we ever see anyone in our clinic with a perfectly balanced body that would beautifully demontrate a textbook correct posture.
Our lifestyle is often the cause of postural imbalances in our body.
What we do for a living can affect how we hold ourselves short-term and long-term.
Tradesmen that have to bend and contort their bodies in funny positions to accommodate their work can have an effect. Constantly moving the same body part in the same way can cause issues, such as hammering, plastering or bricklaying.
Sitting for long periods takes it toll
Desk work is one of the most common causes that we see for neck and shoulder pain. Sitting for hours a day at a desk creates tension in your chest muscles as you use the mouse and keyboard, which stretches the muscles in the top of your back and shoulders forwards. Your neck is sometimes protruded forwards as well. Over time, this can change the posture of your upper body. Your hips can also be affected as your are in a bent position for a long time.
The everyday tasks we perform can have an affect posture. Watch someone use a mobile phone and you will quickly see their head in a forward position and looking downwards. Long-term how will mobile phones change our posture? Not in a position way that's for sure.
The car we drive can change posture. Some vehicles have been modified for the right-hand car market which leaves the pedals disaligned for the way our legs and feet reach the steering wheel. After long commutes and journeys this can start to create problems.
There are structural reasons why posture can be affected, like scoliosis for example whereby the spine is curved out of alignment. Surgery to correct this is possible in severe cases.
Poor posture is a major cause of pain in the body. Muscles and our joints take the brunt when our posture is out of align and this can cause a lot of discomfort. Part of our job is to find imbalances, try to correct them with therapy and exercises where necessary and even advise certina lifestyle changes in order to reduce the pain and live a more normal happier life.
Ultimately, posture is a very complex subject. Striving for the perfect posture is not going to be achievale in many cases due to lifetsyle. But improvements can be made over time to restore the body's natural alignment.
Author: Cross Massage Therapy