We’ve all heard posture is important, but we keep finding ourselves slouched, hunched, bent-over, leaning, or just plain slumpy (the technical term of course). So why does it matter, why do we keep failing, and what can we do about it?
Most people fall into a couple of categories when it comes to posture: Upper Crossed Syndrome, characterized by forward head carriage and exaggerated thoracic (upper back curvature), and Lower Crossed syndrome, characterized by anterior pelvic tilt, and exaggerated lumbar (low back) curve. Both involve a combination of overactive and underactive muscles.
Why is it important:
Postural concerns in these areas put abnormal stress on vertebrae, dispersing forces in abnormal ways and making the postural issues worse. This in turn can put pressure or tension on the spinal cord and nerves. The result can be a wide range of problems from headache, to low back pain, to degenerative changes in the spine.
Why we keep failing:
Our daily activities keep us in positions we were not designed for. Sitting at a desk, looking down at a cell phone, driving, and even being a couch potato take us out of our intended form, misaligning vertebrae, and cause weakening of some muscles and tightening of others.
What can we do about it:
Re-training the muscles to their appropriate tone is one thing we can do to aid in correcting these postural concerns. Better results are seen when chiropractic care is utilized in conjunction with therapeutic exercise. Chiropractic care helps to realign the spine for appropriate dispersal of forces, taking the tension of weight bearing away from the muscles and allowing your body to re-learn appropriate balance of tone in those muscles.
Correcting the form improves the function! And Better Function means Better Health!
The following article demonstrates how Chiropractic care improved outcomes in patients with chronic low back pain compared to exercise therapy alone:
Evans R, Haas M, Schulz C, Leininger B, Hanson L, Bronfort G. Spinal manipulation and exercise for low back pain in adolescents: a randomized trial. Pain. 2018 Jul;159(7):1297-1307. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001211. PMID: 29596158; PMCID: PMC6205160.
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