Posture and your pain

You likely heard when you where young to “sit up” or “don’t slouch” or “your posture counts.” Does your posture really count? 

YES it does!! 

How does my pain relate to posture? 

Imagine a straight line along the side of your body. This “plumb line” is your balance center. The closer you are to the line the better posture you maintain. This line should travel from your ear, top of shoulder, the hip, the knee and then to the ankle. Any deviation from this can lead to pain and discomfort. Should your head move in front of the line, that change will make your chin jut out. That motion then requires an increase in the effort by the muscles on the back of the neck, since the muscles in front aren’t engaging enough. The neck muscles will become tight and sore, holding the head upright to look ahead. Rather than staring at the ground! The average head weighs 10pounds. Moving just one inch forward, the typically 10 pound weight of your head has now become 20 pounds!!! Now those same 20 pounds have to be supported by the rest of the body. Because the head has moved forward, the shoulders will also roll inward and cause the body to lean forward. This leaning will squish the ribs just a little bit, making it more of an effort to just simply breathe. We are then unable to take deep enough breaths to put sufficient oxygen into the lungs. One adverse affect is that this prevents enough oxygen rich blood from reaching your brain, heart and other organs. That little movement forward also puts pressure downward into the abdomen not allowing those organs to function optimally.

These “modifications” can lead to feeling fatigued, tired and give you headaches. These headaches will generally start at the back of the skull or in the upper neck.  

Have you ever sat for an extended period, say 60 minutes, in the same position? How did you feel when you decided to move around? I’m certain that you felt stiff and sore when you started moving. This generally lasts only a few moments until your body recalibrates and starts to move with less effort. 

What does it take to have good posture? 

To have good posture you must be aware of how your spine is aligned. Good posture helps alleviate pain. Poor posture can create pain. Visualize the “plumb line” we talked about earlier. 

Your body is a wonderful machine and it must take all things into consideration to function in your daily life. 

Your body will adapt to a poor posture fairly quickly if you don’t correct it regularly. How do you do that? You can change positions often and not sit like a statue. You can exercise. You can make sure your body is adjusted regularly.