Posture for Pain Relief
We can all remember our parents or grandparents yelling at us to "stand up straight!", "don't slouch!". Turns out our elders were giving us really good advice.
Poor posture affects the body in a variety of ways. Bad form in the upper back & neck has been shown to decrease lung volume & breathing capacity by up to 30%! This decrease in O2 leads to an increase in stress hormone, cortisol, causing a multitude of reactions ultimately making us feel even worse. Who doesn't have enough stress as it is?
Prolonged forward-head posture (desk/computer/cell phone posture, aka "text neck") causes straightening of the cervical spine - we need the spine to be curved from the base of the neck to the base of the skull in order to support our heavy heads - and in turn leads to overactive upper back muscles: the trapezius, levator scapulae, and rhomboid muscles. What are those? These are our main muscles controlling head & shoulder blade movement. When these are out of whack you end up with neck pain, muscle knots, headaches, and compounding issues that tend to just get worse with time.
You might also hear a more technical term, anterior weight bearing, for bad posture. This is just describing the front loading of weight which increases pressure on the posterior discs. And here is where nearly all disc failures occur, most commonly bulging disc.
Sitting for prolonged periods, a majority of today's workforce, is bad for our entire body but especially our spines. Core muscles shut own when sitting and discs don't get blood supply to the middle 2/3. Movement is the only way to keep them healthy.
If you want to get out of pain, improving posture is a sure-fire way to start. Here are a few practical tips for improving posture and overall spine health:
- Re-evaluate your posture once an hour
- Sit on the edge of your chair, you will be more aware of your posture
- Sit up straight and take 10 deep breaths
- If possible, swap the desk chair for an exercise ball for a portion of your work day - 30 minute to 1 hour
- When standing/walking, thumbs should face forward and head should be directly above the shoulderes
- Try the bruegger's stretch: Sit up as straight as possible, put your arms out in front of you palms up, tuck your elbows into your sides. Start moving your hands out to your sides, keeps your elbows tucked, and squeezing your shoulder blades.
