Total Health
Chiropractic
Providing high quality and thorough chiropractic care to people of all ages.
Unfortunately, poor posture is quite common among Australians and can affect humans of any age. “The complications of poor posture include back pain, spinal dysfunction, joint degeneration, rounded shoulders and a potbelly. Suggestions to improve your posture include regular exercise and stretching, ergonomic furniture and paying attention to the way your body feels” Source: Better Health
Common postural issues we see across all our practices in Queensland, Victoria & South Australia include:
This postural issue can be caused by a number of things you do in your day-to-day life such as:
Hyper lumbar lordosis is a common condition among patients and can be worsened by having weak core or gluteal muscles and can cause strain on your lower back muscles which will work harder to hold you in place, contributing to lower back pain.
Another common postural issue we see in practice is finding an increased. It can be caused or made worse by:
In an otherwise healthy patient with no underlying abnormalities (such as scoliosis or severe arthritides), there are many things that can be done about poor posture, including:
Beginning with an assessment from your health practitioner (this could be a Chiropractor, Osteopath or Myotherapist, for example), you will learn which areas of your body need to be attended to. Once these areas are identified, it is common to commence care/treatment. In Chiropractic, this can involve Chiropractic adjustments to the areas of your spine and body that are sitting out of their regular biomechanical position.
It can be helpful to begin a stretching routine (which can also be prescribed by your health practitioner in many cases) at home, and potentially specific strengthening exercises to help stabilise any underactive muscles that could be affecting your posture.
It is good practice while at your desk to have your computer at eye level, your elbows, knees and hips all at right angles and both feet flat on the floor. If you are able to at work, standing desks can also be beneficial when adjusted specifically to your body.
Try to hold your phone or tablet at eye level to avoid excessive looking down or up which can place strain on the neck and shoulders in some cases.
Correct driving posture looks like the following:
For more detail about correct driving posture, read our blog here.
Sitting on the couch is a difficult place to maintain good posture. Not only are all couches different, but TV height can be too! In general, things that can help protect your posture whilst on the couch include:
If you are required to sit for your job all day, try and get up every hour to have a walk around the office or room. If you are required to commute for long periods of time, try to combat this with stretching at either end of the trip and having a good seated posture in the car.
Everyone uses their phone daily, with most people using their devices fairly often. Try to hold your device at eye level when using it -you could set up a widget on your screen to remind you.
Sometimes professional help and advice is the best thing to do first when it comes to altering your routine or health habits.
For example, if you close your eyes whilst watching TV and notice your right shoulder is bearing a lot of your weight or that your head is tilted or rotated off-centre, try to correct these yourself by changing positions.
Bad posture is prevalent and there are many things that we as humans are required to do daily that can negatively affect our postures. Bad posture has been correlated with other back issues such as pain and degeneration, so all the more reason to correct yours if you notice it’s askew. A good place to start on a new health journey such as your posture is with your professional musculoskeletal carer (such as a Chiropractor) who can provide you with treatments and lifestyle advice for ongoing support at home or at work.
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