6 Ways Posture is Causing You Pain

We were 15 and knew everything.  Mom knew nothing…

“Sit up straight”

“Don’t slouch”

Sound familiar? Guess what? Mom was right! She was on to something.  Just looking like a slouch wasn’t the only negative effect of bad posture. Bad posture can cause neck and back pain and a laundry list of other health issues. 

So what might we be doing to create and magnify our bad posture?  The following 6 areas are a few of the things I see patients struggling with in their lives and things we try to fix at the clinic:

1. Sitting at work
   • There are many known dangers of prolonged sitting at work. Bad posture is just one of them.
2. Carry heavy loads
   • Kids carrying overstuffed backpacks on their shoulders.
   • Women carry large purses on the same shoulder day in and day out.
   • Men carrying wallets, pliers, phones, knives, sidearms, and money change.
3. Texting and talking on the phone
   • Sometimes the slouch we get when we look down at our phones to browse the internet or send a text can cause serious problems. “Text neck” is a real thing.
   • Flexing our necks to one side to hold our phone on the shoulder.
4. Stress
   • Do you ever feel your shoulders rolling forward, or creeping up toward your ears during the day? You are experiencing stress in your posture.
5. Incorrect bending
   • Bending over at the waste to pick up that 20 pound box.
6. Sleep Patterns 
   • An average of eight hours (ideally) per night in one or several positions can have a big impact on us.

So, going back to what mom said, “sit up straight”, how else can we fix the posture problems? 

1. Be aware
   • Look at your posture in a mirror or have someone take a picture of your normal posture. Browse the internet for correct postures and compare yours to the correct ones. Take that and be aware of your posture throughout the day. 
2. Get a standing desk
   • An adjustable standing desk allows you to keep that good posture easier throughout the day. It allows you to easily get your computer monitor and keyboard at the proper height. It also improves your circulation.
3. Look up when using your phone
   • Make sure you hold your phone at eye level or close to it to keep your head up and keep from the “text neck” and “buffalo hump”.
   • Parents, please be aware of this with your kids. Especially, when they are in the backseat of the car on a road trip watching movies on their phone.
4. Exercise
   • Moving, stretching, and getting into a lacrosse ball/foam rolling routine will keep your muscles stimulated and not bound up.
5. Sleep right
   • This is a major topic that will have its own blog post, but improvements in your bed at home can help improve your posture.  Depending on how you sleep (stomach, side, back) will make the decision on pillows different. Again, for another post or we can talk about it during an appointment in the clinic. But, the main thing should be what pillow type/size will get your head in the normal postion.
6. Visit your chiropractor
   • Your chiropractor is the best resource for keeping your spine straight and working on your posture. Routine visits, even when you are not in pain, will keep your back healthy, your posture on point, will allow the most important system in your body, the nervous system, to work properly, and will help keep you from having health problems later in life and/or slow down the degenerative changes.

Chiropractic is so much more than an adjustment. That is why at Gundlach Chiropractic, I deal with adjustments, muscles, posture, nutrition, and more. I take the entire body into consideration, not just to location of pain. If you have health questions and not sure if chiropractic can help, please feel free to reach out and ask. You won’t know unless you ask.