By Don Willard, MS,PT, Certified MDT, Advanced Rehab & Sports Medicine
Neck pain, headaches, jaw pain, back pain, sciatica. What do these have in common? If you answered, “major causes of missed work” or “reasons for thousands and thousands of physician visits a year,” you would be absolutely correct. But the answer I was looking for was “posture.” Did you just sit up or stand up a little straighter when you read that? You are not alone. Take a look around, just about everyone you see could improve his or her posture. Betcha didn’t know that May is National Correct Posture Month!
On the very first day of physical therapy school I had a professor come into the classroom and announce, “Today I am going to teach all of you how to sit, because that is all you will be doing for the next 3 years and not one of you know how to do it correctly.” Why is our posture so important? Poor posture places prolonged, abnormal forces on our muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, joints and nerves. Over time these forces cause our tissue to break down resulting in inflammation and pain. Try this — take your index finger and pull back on it, just enough to feel a slight pull. Now hold that there for the next 8 hours while you are at work. Then hold it there while you ride home, while you eat dinner, while you watch your child’s baseball game and while you watch the news before going to bed. Now, do that again for the rest of this week and next week and then the week after that. Think about how that finger is going to feel. We wouldn’t want to do that to our poor finger, would we? But, this is exactly what we do to our spine on a day in and day out basis.
Our spine is supposed to have curves. We have an inward curve, called a lordosis, in the lumbar spine and cervical spine. Also, we have an outward curve, called a kyphosis, in the thoracic spine. These curves place our spine in a neutral position where it is best able to accommodate the forces of gravity as well as the demands we place upon it on a daily basis. When we slouch we change these curves, in some cases dramatically. Try this — hold a bowling ball in your hand just under your chin. Now hold that same bowling ball in your hand at arms length. Which one is easier? Of course, holding it right under your chin is. Well, your head is that bowling ball. When we slouch our head is protruded forward which places up to 200 percent more strain on the cervical spine than we would have if we held our head over our shoulders like it should be. In the lumbar spine, slouching reduces that inward curve and oftentimes completely reverses it to an outward curve. This places the lumbar spine in a position of flexion. This compresses the front part of the vertebra that in turn places a compressive force on the front part of the discs. These forces could possibly lead to bulging or even herniated discs in the spine.
Now here comes the tricky part, changing habits that have been formed over years and years. It is not easy and it will not happen overnight. Becoming aware of the positions we put ourselves in is the first step. Try this. Take a look at your desk or computer station. Making little changes like adjusting the chair height, monitor height or angle, and keyboard/mouse position can help tremendously. Pull your head and shoulders back and straighten up. It may feel very awkward and it may be difficult to maintain this position for very long at first. But just like anything new, if you keep working at it you will improve. Your body will thank you for it in the long run!
For more information you may contact, Advanced Rehab & Sports Medicine Services at 309-664-9104 or www.advrehab.com. Their office is located at 135 N. Williamsburg Dr. in Bloomington. Free assessments are offered within 24 hours of contact for patients of all ages.
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