Could poor posture be affecting your life?

There’s growing evidence that good posture contributes to a range of health benefits, from reducing neck and back pain to decreasing fatigue and improving self-confidence. Healthcare professionals are increasingly taking posture into account when evaluating patients.

Good standing posture doesn’t just mean standing with the shoulders thrown back. More important is maintaining good alignment, with ears over the shoulders, shoulders over hips, and hips over the knees and ankles. Body weight should be distributed evenly between the feet.

Seated posture, especially while using a computer, is critically important and deserves more attention, in part because it can affect a person’s posture while standing and walking. It is essential to think about posture while walking, getting up from a chair or using a mobile phone or tablet.

The hunched-over position of the typical electronic-device user is of particular concern, and is sparking new back and neck pain problems in teenagers as well as adults. A study of 6000 Finnish adolescents found frequent use of computers, mobile phones, video game players and television was associated with greater rates of neck and lower back pain.

One of the most common posture problems, called hyper-kyphosis, is a direct result of spending too much time in front of a computer. The shoulders hunch forward, the pectoral muscles in the chest tighten, the neck and head extend towards the computer screen and the spine is no longer vertically aligned. Many desk-bound office workers then take this posture into their every day life, including when they are standing and walking.

Posture is “probably the 800 pound gorilla when it comes to health and wellness”, says Allston Stubbs, an orthopaedic surgeon at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre, who treats patients with back and joint pain. “We see the spine and overall skeletal structure being critical to a patient’s functionality and their satisfaction with their life and healthcare.”

While posture typically deteriorates with time, the good news is that there is often a solution. Not only do we have a number of skilled experts at North Shore Family Chiropractors, but we utilise the most researched chiropractic technique in the world, Chiropractic Biophysics (CBP). CBP research allows us to understand why you have a postural problem and the best method to correcting it. Our treatment program will be specific to your needs.

Read more about poor posture causes, symptoms and treatment here.
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