Your posture is always something you need to be careful of. In the meantime let’s celebrate “Correct” Posture Month by giving you some information to determine how your posture may be affecting your wellness. By taking steps to understand your posture, you could reduce some of the pains and aches you’re experiencing in your body.
Good posture is more than just standing up straight. Having your body in the optimal position can prevent pain, injuries, or other health problems. There could be many reasons why your posture has changed from upright to uptight. It could be because of how your day-to-day habits are causing you to compensate and contract, or it may be because of a past injury or illness. Or because of a innate reason that you have no control over. Or it could also be a combination of all these factors.
Considering some of the underlying factors that interfere with good posture might help guide you to make effective lifestyle changes or seek help.
Here are some of the most common reasons why you could be experiencing bad posture.
Posture Injury and Strain
After experiencing an injury, muscles can spasm, which makes the area of injury more vulnerable without the protection it needs. Muscle spasms can limit your movements and cause pain in the injured area.
Prolonged muscle spasms lead to weakened muscles over time. The resulting imbalance between forces that guard an injury and those still working normally may also lead to aberrations in body posture.
The back, specifically the lumbar or lower back, bears most of the body’s weight during all types of activities, including walking, running, or any kind of lifting. And lower back strains are extremely common.
Tendons are the tough and fibrous bands of tissue that connect muscle to bone. A strain is an injury to a muscle or tendon, and not allowing the spine to do its job of supporting all the other muscles in your body because the strained muscle or tendon is being twisted or pulled.
Using Technology
You may be using technology in multiple different ways throughout your day. Maybe sitting at a computer screen all day, using a phone or tablet, or using several devices simultaneously. This can result in the Mal-alignment of the spine slowly over time.
The use of technology can lead toward Forward Head Posture (FHP), a condition where your head is positioned with your ears in front of your body’s vertical mid-line. In this position weight bearing is difficult to maintain. Having your head forward of your body creates “Text neck”. Which again is formed by leaning forward for long periods while scrolling through social media or text messaging on your phone.
FHP can also cause neck pain, shoulder aches, low back problems and pain, stiffness, and unbalanced gait, along with other health effects.
Elevating your posture is possible, and getting to the root cause of the problem can give your spine the strength it needs to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. At The Healthpraxis, we are devoted to being your optimal recovery resource while you are in pain. Maybe you’re just searching for more peace and tranquillity in your life — we can help you with that.
To discuss your health and receive more details about how we help determine how Chiropractic may be a good fit for you and your family please email: care@thehealthpraxis.com