Posture and your Low back

It’s highly likely that at some stage your mother said „stand up straight, shoulders back, tummy in“

As is often the case, we don’t recognise the importance of good advice at the time, and in this case, your mother was right.

Everyone understands that good posture is important, the question is;

HOW CAN WE TELL WHICH POSTURE IS CORRECT?

The following diagram shows the different amounts of pressure that the lumbar discs carry in various postures. 

To make it easy, we start with the body posture in ‘C’ where the disc pressure is allocated 100%

Looking at lying postures ‘A’ and ‘B’, it’s clear that the most relaxing position is on your back. In terms of spinal health this would therefore provide you with the most chance for regeneration during sleep.

In posture ‘D’ with simple bending forward, we see that the pressure increases by a dramatic 50%. When weight is then added to this posture, the pressure increases by 100%. This means that when you are lifting shopping bags, or garden rubbish, or your children or grand-children, it is vitally important to bend your knees, keep your abdominals active, and when not possible to at least support your body weight with one hand as you bend. Failure to do this will greatly increase your chance of back problems, especially when done repeatedly.

In the event that you already have back issues, the postures in ‘F’, ‘G’, and ‘H’ will likely be of no surprise. Simple sitting is worse on the discs than standing, then to lean forward while sitting is worse, while the worst option is to then pick up or be carrying something in this bent forward position.  These three all apply in the sitting workplace. Sitting more than 3 hours per day is considered to be excessive!

HOW TO USE THIS Information

Information is only useful when you can use it yourself, so consider;

• Weight exercises in the gym when done in sitting, could you do these in standing?

• When working or studying, keep everything close by, but do allow yourself to rotate, just don’t lift things from the floor

• What is your work sitting posture? Is your spine relatively straight, or are your shoulders drooped forward?

• Is there an option for you to do your work in standing for some of the time?

• How do you relax? When reading or watching the TV, is your posture good or completely twisted? Good posture is not just for work hours.

• How many hours do you spend driving? Most car seats do not support your lumbar spine well, so use a lumbar roll / cushion of some sort. Back pain after sitting is likely caused by overstretching of the ligaments.

Chiropractic reconnects you (your nervous system) and your body. Most patients report improvement in posture, and increased body awareness as a result of chiropractic care. Unfortunately our patients often don’t seek us out directly after an accident or fall, rather they come much later when it often takes typically a lot longer to correct what is wrong. More commonly we see people with problems as a result of:

Often the focus is on identifying the ‘one’ causative factor. The reality is that it is typically a chronic buildup of tension comes from many different sources, that culminate in a day when your body ‘snaps’, and lets you know through pain and discomfort.

HOW DOES CHIROPRACTIC HELP

Chiropractic allows your nervous system to better coordinate how your body functions, and your role is to be aware of and constantly improve your posture on a day to day basis. You are responsible for your own health. We also have a range of exercises to be done before or after your visit in the Lounge, plus many other ideas on our YouTube channel.