Bad Posture: Does It Lead to Pain?
In today's technology age, most people spend a lot of time sitting at desk looking at a computer, or looking down at their phone. There is nothing wrong with this posture. I'll say it again, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THIS POSTURE. I wrote this while sitting in that position. However, because of this position and how gravity works, our postural muscles work as our anti-gravity muscles. Without them, we would technically face-plant on our computers and phones 🤦♂️.
Does bad posture = future pain or injury?
This is a highly debated topic and comes with a lot of misconceptions. Often patients, with low back or neck pain, come in and have either been told or already believe that this is due to their bad posture. Is this true? While posture and pain/injury is complicated, research suggests no at this time, but that does not mean we are going to promote bad postures. Our message is simple, stay moving!
Best Posture Suggestion
From a patient educational standpoint, your best posture is your next posture. Said another way, the only bad posture is the one you spend too much time in. A common phrase you will hear us say and post on social media is , “MOVEMENT IS MEDICINE”. We say this for a multitude of reasons, but one is if you stay in a position for too long, it is inevitable that something will feel ‘tight’ and you will want to stretch and move. Our low back muscles only have so much endurance as well; you can force yourself consciously to sit straight up, but those muscles can only endure holding you up like that for 15-20 minutes. This is why we gear toward working on rehab exercises specific to you within our patient visits; not only potentially finding a movement of pain relief to do at home/work, but also building toward higher level exercises that will correct the underlying movement problem, causing the pain and promote resilience to the pain coming back again in the future. This is on top of the list of tips and chiropractic care we can give to combat long term sitting throughout the day.
We do realize that sometimes sitting for long periods of time can be unavoidable during the work day. This is why we carry a staple product in the clinic to help. A lumbar roll from the McKenzie Institute helps you stay in a more neutral posture and functions as something you can put around any type of chair you sit in to give low back support. Below is a video on how to properly use the lumbar roll. You can purchase a lumbar roll on Amazon or stop by the clinic and we can hook you up.
Check out the video below for the proper way to use a McKenzie lumbar roll for low back pain support while sitting.
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If you or anyone you know is having aches and pains and think it is due to sitting or work posture, feel free to message us, give us a call, or schedule an appointment and stop by. We would love to talk and help you out. As always Move Healthy. Feel Healthy. Live Healthy!
