What is a posture injury?
Posture is how the body is held. This is an attitude assumed by the body during the course of muscular activity, as well as while resting.
Postural injuries (or injuries related to poor posture) are generally caused by overuse and build up over a prolonged period of time. When completing tasks and moving with poor posture, we use up more energy and cause stress and fatigue of the body.
The human body was not designed to sit in a chair for long periods of time, it was designed to move!
Common Symptoms
Posture problems can cause shoulder, back and neck pain and a host of other side effects, including: worsening of depression symptoms, disrupting cardiovascular circulation and lymph drainage, and even constipation. Additional symptoms are:
- Rounded shoulders
- Potbelly
- Bent knees when standing or walking
- Head that leans forward or back
- Body aches and pains
- Muscle fatigue
- Headache
Causes
There are many reasons that we develop poor posture. They include:
- Whiplash
- Improper sleeping position
- Mental attitude and stress
- Old age and extra weight
- Injury and muscle guarding
- Muscle tension and muscle weakness
- Daily habits (placing phone to ear/looking down while using phone, carrying a heavy bag, shoe choice)
- Use of technology (sitting at a computer, working with several devices at once, texting constantly)
Treatment
Adjustments can help restore joint mobility, which is important to ideal posture/postural control. In reality any actual change in posture will be a pretty significant rehabilitation undertaking.
Your chiropractor may start with slow movements of the shoulder joints to help increase movement in the joint, reduce tension in surrounding muscles and ease you into better posture (less slouching) without any pain. By making subtle adjustments to the spine and surrounding muscles, your chiropractor can restore mobility and allow your body to begin correcting postural deficiencies. He or she will also provide you with exercises in order to compensate for lifestyle habits that may be contributing to your poor posture.