Your spine is designed for movement, however most of the population lives a sedentary or inactive lifestyle. A lot of people have desk jobs, sit long hours and spend a lot of that time slumped over.
Your spine is happy when it has nice curves that extend from your neck to your low back. These curves act as shock absorbers to distribute forces through your spine. Your joints will have nice fluid movement and there is less load placed on the muscles.
When you have good posture
- You have less strain on your joints, hence they don’t wear down
- The muscles have little load on them, hence they don’t get chronically tight
- You have more energy
- You breathe better
- Less strain on your spinal cord and exiting nerves
- Lower incidence of neck and low back pain
- Fewer headaches
- Increased mobility
When you slouch a lot
Our posture is a reflection of our lifestyles and if you spend a lot of time slouching, expect to develop poor posture over time. We will have changes in your spinal alignment, more stress placed your spine and you can expect the opposite of the points mentioned above.
Dee Why Chiropractic Care’s advice
Do your best to maintain good posture throughout the day. There are many methods that you can use to sit up nice and straight. You can get a stand up desk, lumbar support, take frequent short stretch breaks or you could even get a posture reminder device.
If you already have poor posture the good news is there is a way to correct it. The first step to fixing your posture is understanding it. We take a posture photo in clinic and explain to you what has happened to your spinal alignment and create a treatment plan to correct it. You will also be given home exercises that will complement the treatment done in clinic, specific to your posture.