How Posture Affects Pain

Posture is the most common issue that arises in helping resolve a client’s pain or immobility. Learn how good posture can help prevent pain, tissue degeneration, and injury.

Our bodies are designed to handle a large amount of stress. This design has developed from millions of years of evolution, where our bodies were challenged to move a lot, hunting and gathering food, and fighting, or running away from predators. All of this activity generally lent itself towards a strong and relatively balanced physique.

Modern Lifestyle Promotes Poor Posture

In this age of computers and deskwork, combined with sitting in our cars to and from work, sitting during meals, and then sitting on the couch watching television as we unwind from our stressful days, our bodies aren’t getting the full workout they were designed to. This often leads to an unbalanced physique and poor posture.

Our joints have a set orientation around which they function optimally. Also, our muscles, which attach to the bones making up these joints, function best when they are correctly aligned and free from adverse tension. An easy example to visualize is how your head sits in relation to your torso. It is natural to have a slight curve in your neck as you function throughout the day.

Forward Head Carriage

Too often, we push our head forward to see the computer that much closer, or slightly duck our heads down to not draw attention to ourselves. This changes how our neck bones are positioned, which changes the relationship of the joints and the orientation of our muscles. This poor postural habit is called “Forward Head Carriage”. Again, our body is able to handle stress best when our tissues are well orientated and balanced.

Gravity & Poor Posture Don’t Mix

Did you know that gravity is certainly the most constant and probably the most relevant stress in our lives? As gravity loads a joint that is no longer in an optimal position to handle stress, it will put you at risk for degenerative changes in your tissues. These changes include osteoarthritis, torticollis, disk degeneration, nerve impingement, depression, and the list goes on.

Stand (and Sit) Tall

An easy way to counteract the forward head carriage posture is simple practice and investment:

• Practice being tall; reach the top of your head up to sky!
• Take notice in how this feels different from your previous posture. Invest the time and energy in to releasing yourself from the daily anchors that pull you out of balance.

You have probably invested decades of your life into maintaining poor posture, which is why it’s so easy to fall back into it. Start today, to educate your body for the future, you’re worth it!