What Your Posture Says About You
The Signs and Effects of Poor Upper Body Posture
If you've ever felt persistent neck and back pain, or experienced sharp shooting pain or a tingling sensation in your arms, hands, or fingers, it might be due to your posture. Poor upper body posture is characterised by a combination of tight and weak neck and shoulder muscles. It can also be a culprit behind certain headaches, dizziness, and shoulder ailments.
When we overuse certain muscles, they become shorter and tighter. As a result, the opposite muscles get stretched out and weakened. This imbalance can affect your joints, leading to a recurring cycle of muscle dysfunction.
Insight: "Poor upper body posture has a direct impact on joints and often leads to a cycle of recurrent dysfunction and muscle overuse/underuse."
To minimise strain, consider adjusting your workspace or desk. Remember, the journey to better posture involves pain relief, stretching, strengthening, and rehab.
The Importance of Good Posture in Children
Children undergo rapid growth in their early years. Their posture, crucial during this phase, influences their skeletal and muscular development. By the age of 10, most of their postural systems are set.
These days Chiropractors are seeing teenagers who have grown up all their lives using mobile phones, as a result with early onset degeneration of the cervical spine due to the extra load this forward head carriage creates over formative years when the spine is growing. It is not good to see teenagers with neck curvatures more commonly associated with elderly people!
Good posture ensures that the force of gravity is evenly distributed across their body. This prevents undue stress on any single structure. Instilling good movement patterns early on is pivotal to averting structural changes and risk of injuries later in life. As habits formed in childhood often persist into adulthood, it's crucial to emphasise good posture from a young age.
Insight: “It’s easier to maintain good postural habits in children than it is to fix the problems they cause in an adult.”
Common Culprits Behind Bad Posture
Hunching or rounding shoulders whilst seated
Excessive downward gaze, like whilst using mobile phones, tablets, or gaming consoles
Lack of diverse physical activity
Extended periods of sitting
Wearing rigid or constraining footwear
The Fallout of Poor Posture
Incorrect posture can lead to:
Neurological stress
Dysfunction of functions and organs
Back, shoulder, and neck pain
Fatigue due to added tension and strain on compensatory muscles
Headaches
Structural and postural changes
Alterations in gait
In essence, your posture is a reflection of your overall health and habits. Taking the time to correct it today can save you from a host of problems tomorrow.
NEW: Chiropractor Discovery Session/s Discount Offer
As desk jobbers most of us can relate to niggling musculoskeletal aches and pains from time to time but don’t know where to turn when ongoing pain can signal an underlying issue. The Chiro Collective (TCC) provides colleagues looking after employee welfare with easily accessible wellbeing seminars, pop up events and workplace perks which ensure real outcomes.
Some of the UK's best companies to work for regularly support Chiropractor Discovery Sessions due to the many benefits, including alleviating pain, improved mobility, enhanced posture, and overall well-being for people in the workplace. TCC has helped introduce thousands of office workers to the benefits of spinal adjustments and other manual therapies, restoring proper alignment and function to the musculoskeletal system.
With day to day living most of us experience one of the three main causes that attribute to pain and dysfunction. These three main categories are repetitive actions, immobility and emotional/mental stress. These three stresses in our lives cause different forms of symptoms such as stiffness, pain, headaches, sciatica, poor sleep, low energy and spinal and/or extremity dysfunction.
If this is an area your organisation is keen to address preventatively, and you're looking for positive outcomes for your people which also align with any PMI or Health Cash Plan provisions you offer, then we think we can help.
If you contact us now we are offering 40% OFF all our events. Or ask about our FREE wellness Pop-ups.
