Posture - more than just shape!

As children most of us can remember being told to “sit up straight, pull your shoulders back and stop slouching.” This may have been annoying at the time, but the fact is improving posture can help you in many ways because posture is more than just aesthetics. The effect our posture has on our health has much greater significance.

What causes poor posture?

Poor posture often stems from modern-day habits like breastfeeding, working in front of a computer, slouching on a couch while watching TV, or looking down at a smartphone. Poor posture could also be caused by long hours spent carrying heavy objects or in repetitive static postures like those at a desk.

What does poor posture looks like?

The head drops forward, shoulders become rounded and the low back curvature exaggerates. This posture may look like we are ready to run or ready to fight and may also trigger the sympathetic nervous system to be activated.

What does poor posture feel like?

Poor posture tends to cause things like back pain, neck pain and headaches. We may also experience tightening of the hamstrings, calf muscles, gluteal muscles, neck muscles and shoulder muscles. The complications of poor posture over a long period may also include spinal dysfunction, nerve irritation, premature joint degeneration poor balance and alterations in chemistry and physiology of the body.

Sympathetic dominance, stress and posture.

When humans are stressed the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight response) is activated and a default into poor posture is possible. This is due to reflex activation of part of our brain stem (Red Nucleus) which automatically drives this response. The body posture is initiated to either fight or run form a threat.

Not only does stress cause the head to fall forward and shoulders to roll froward and down, but people may also experience tightening of the hamstrings, calf muscles, gluteal muscles, neck muscles and shoulder muscles.

The sympathetic nervous system activates in times of perceived stress and unfortunately in today’s society this is very common. Stress may be from physical, chemical or emotional input and most people in the modern world now face multiple stressors daily. When this becomes a chronic occurrence it may cause a condition known as Sympathetic Dominance.

If you would like help in posture correction and managing stress contact us on the link below