Good posture is important for good health. When we have good posture, our muscles and joints move well. It is also true that we can breathe deeper using our diaphragm, achieving a better volume of air into our lungs, thereby improving oxygen distribution throughout our body.
A slumped posture with shoulders rolled forward, compresses our lungs, making them smaller and reducing their capacity to exchange gases. This can result in more frequent breathing to get the oxygen required for your body. Slumped posture will also cause the muscles at the front of your neck to tighten, resulting in your neck moving forward. This posture will cause strain at the base and top of your neck which can result in headaches. This forward head carriage caused by bad posture will also affect the apparent weight of your head on your shoulders that your muscles, ligaments and joints are trying to support.
A great way to align your posture is to stand with your back against a wall, put one foot in front of the other, and bring your back foot to be in line with the front foot shoulder width apart. Lean back so your bottom, shoulders and head are against the wall. Take a moment to feel this posture and then step away whilst maintaining the posture, from hips up. This is a great exercise to do during the day to reset your posture.
Whilst standing at rest, your ears should line up with the centre of your shoulders, shoulders in line with your hips and hips align with your ankles.
Remember, good posture is easier to maintain when you are well-aligned. Having your regular Chiropractic adjustments helps keep you moving and functioning at your best.
Everyday Posture Issues
It is important to ensure that we maintain good posture to prevent injuries especially when we relax and unwind. There are several common daily activities that can affect your posture.
- Crossing your legs – this causes pelvic rotation and can lead to sacroiliac and lumbar discomfort. Typically, you cross one leg over the other more frequently, which will increase stress on one side of your pelvis.
- Carrying a heavy handbag – causes un-levelling of your shoulders and increases tension in your shoulders. This can pull up into your neck causing headaches and shoulder problems.
- Sleeping on your tummy – this reverses the natural curve in your neck and increases the stress at the base of your skull and can cause headaches. Side or back sleeping is the best, with one pillow.
- Checking your phone – a long period of looking down will cause forward head carriage increasing stress on your neck and back. This can cause headaches and shoulder problems. 15 degrees of forward head posture can increase the apparent weight of your head that needs to be supported by your muscles and ligaments by 6kg.
- Sitting with a wallet in your back pocket causes rotation through your pelvis from the extra height on that side. This can cause low back problems.
- Carrying backpacks on one shoulder – this causes un-levelling of your shoulders and rotation in your upper back. This can cause headaches and shoulder problems.
Driving Posture
We are in our cars almost every day, be that for short trips to the shops or ferrying kids around or longer trips for holidays. We often forget about the importance of our posture when we are driving. It is not uncommon for our shoulders to roll forward, our head to sit forward and to sit in a slumped position in the car. This can contribute to low back pain, neck pain and headaches.
When sitting in the car, follow these easy steps to ensure that you maintain an ergonomic posture.
- Adjust the seat height so that your hips are in line with or slightly higher than your knees. You should easily be able to see the instruments and the road
- Slightly recline the seat back to approximately 100 degrees.
- Make sure your feet can comfortably reach the brake and accelerator without your back leaving the seat.
- Adjust your headrest so your head can gently rest on it for support – this helps you identify if your head is sitting forward.
- Use the lumbar support in your car to give you support in the small of your back. This will help you maintain an upright posture and prevent slouching. If you don’t have a lumbar support, you can use a small rolled-up towel.
- Adjust the steering wheel to prevent excessive reaching.
- Remember if you are driving long distances, stop every 2 hours and stretch your back to minimise fatigue.
What is Text Neck?
The human head weighs approximately 4.5-5kg which is 8% of our total body weight. Your cervical spine supports this weight and houses your brain stem as it exits from your skull and part of your spinal cord. The ideal shape of your cervical spine is a C-shape. This allows us to carry the weight of our heads without much effort and to be able to look straight ahead. For every 2.5cm of forward head carriage, you increase the weight of your head on your spine by 4.5kg.
When we are using a phone or device, we have forward head carriage which increases the weight of our head on our shoulders. In turn, our shoulders roll forward which compresses our nerves as they pass from our neck into our arms. This forward head posture and rolled shoulders can cause many symptoms including headaches, shoulder dysfunction, symptoms in our arms and generalised neck tension. Over the long term, you can begin to have changes to the biomechanical functioning of your cervical spine, which can be like what is seen after a whiplash injury.
What we need to do:
- Lift the device to be up level with your eyes rather than looking down at it.
- Limit the time we spend on our phones and devices.
- Stretch our shoulders and necks.
- Be mindful of our posture and how we are holding ourselves.
Importance of sitting posture
When we are sitting we need to be aware of how our spine is aligned. Sitting with our backs straight maintains and evenly distributes the forces that are being transmitted from our neck through to our pelvis. Good posture decreases the load on the ligaments, bones and muscles and reduces the risk of fatigue and strain. There are several tips for good sitting posture:
- Sit in a chair that provides lumbar support
- Your knees should be at right angles with both feet touching the floor
- Your head and neck should be in line with your shoulders
- Place your bottom as far back in the chair as possible
- The use of a seat wedge helps maintain an upright posture especially when sitting for extended periods
- Use of a rolled towel or lumbar support in the small of your back helps maintain your posture and reduce strain on your low back
When you are sitting you should not:
- Cross your legs – this not only restricts circulation to your lower limbs but also causes significant pelvic rotation that can lead to low back pain.
- Sit with a wallet in your back pocket – this extra height on one side causes pelvic rotation and can lead to low back pain.
- Sit for long periods. It is important to move around – this helps our circulation and reduces the stress on our sacro-iliac joints and low back.
Sleeping posture
It is often difficult to maintain good posture whilst sleeping, it is however very important as we sleep for 6-8 hours a day. Good sleeping posture is about keeping our spines aligned and minimising rotation. When abnormal stresses are placed on your spine, tension may be caused to adjoining ligaments and muscles. The Australian Chiropractors Association has worked with Sleepmaker and Sleepy’s to design mattresses for postural alignment, relaxation of the muscles and spinal support. Please speak to Danielle or Tiffiny regarding mattresses and we can provide a referral to a local Sleepy’s store.
Either back or side sleeping is recommended. Sleeping on our stomach results in altering our natural spinal curves and thereby stressing the muscles and ligaments in the area and can cause significant spinal dysfunction. Using a pillow that supports the cervical lordosis (curve) and is not too high or too low is also important.
Side Sleeping
Sleep on your side with your lower leg straight and bend your upper leg at the hip and knee. Bending both your knees and hips slightly and placing a pillow between your knees also will reduce pressure while aligning the spine.
Back Sleeping
Is also a healthy sleeping posture, placing a pillow under your knees can also help reduce any tension in your spine and muscles and help with a better night’s sleep.