Posture Perfect: Is Your Posture Making Your Pain Worse?

Remember being bored as a kid? There you were, at the post office, grocery store, or maybe sitting in a waiting room with your mom, and you were absolutely bored out of your mind. That’s when you started to slouch. “Stand up straight!” your mother would say. “It’s bad for your posture.”

What is posture exactly, though? Posture, in a chiropractic care sense, is the shape of your spine as you’re standing. As Greenville, NC chiropractors, we like to see a “neutral spine” or “good posture,” which refers to the ideal shape that your spine should look like.

Treat the Problem, Not the Symptom

Being structural chiropractors, we list poor posture as a secondary condition. This means that if (and how) your spine differs from the ideal spine shape, that is an indication that something else is wrong in your body and needs to be adjusted. If your posture is incorrect, something has changed, or a Structural Shift has occurred, and your posture along with other symptoms can tell us what’s wrong.

Do the following to check if your posture is good or poor: stand with your back and heels against a wall. If you have good posture you should be touching the wall only at your hips, shoulder blades, and the back of your head. You should be able to slide a flat hand between the wall and your lower back. Your head should rest against the wall without moving your neck.

If you failed the wall test, you should consider visiting your Greenville, NC chiropractors to see what’s wrong and to devise a chiropractic care plan that will correct whatever structural shifts that might have happened.

Take Action

In the meanwhile, begin to take notice of your posture. Some posture issues are caused in the same way as being bored in the post office as a kid: you are standing or sitting in a position that feels comfortable but is actually hurting you. Good posture should feel natural, as it should be the way your body normally stands and the way your muscles naturally work. However, poor sitting, standing, and laying down habits can affect your posture and your spine health over time.

Your Greenville, NC chiropractors can provide you with exercises that will help strengthen your muscles and correct your posture, but you can change your sitting, standing, and laying down habits to help you maintain good posture.

Sitting

If you have an office job, desk job, or any job that requires that you sit for long periods of time, you can be at a high risk for back injury from poor posture or even simply not moving around enough.

When sitting, you should adjust your chair so that your feet are resting on the ground, or on a footrest if your legs are shorter; keep your feet flat, and no crossing your ankles – they should be in front of your knees. Your knees should be below or at the level of your hips.

Make sure that your lower and middle back are supported, and keep your shoulders relaxed. Ensure that you get up once an hour to walk around, and try not to sit for long periods of time.

Standing

While you may think that standing is the most natural thing in the world, it is possible to stand incorrectly and begin to slouch.

Stand with your feet roughly shoulder-width apart. Your weight should be on the balls of your feet, your knees slightly bent, and your stomach should be tucked in. Straighten your back and pull your shoulders backward.

Your arms should hang naturally, your head should be level, and your earlobes should be in line with your shoulders. When standing for long periods of time, shift your weight from the front of your foot to your heel, and one foot to the other.

Laying Down

You spend a third of your life sleeping, so you want to make certain that you’re protecting your spine’s health while you are laying down.

Shop around for your mattress, as different hardness levels work for different sleepers. Different pillows can provide different kinds of support, whether you keep one under your arm or between your knees. Keep a pillow under your knees if you sleep on your back, and keep one between your knees if you sleep on your side. Try not to sleep on your stomach, as it can adversely affect your spine health.

Schedule an Appointment with Corrective Chiropractic today

Did you fail the posture test? Contact Corrective Chiropractic in Greenville, NC today by calling 252-758-7583 or fill out our scheduling form to make an appointment. We as Greenville, NC chiropractors look forward to discussing your future pain-free health.