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Most people associate posture with standing or sitting up straight. Yet the curvature of your spine and the relationship it has with surrounding muscles can have a rippling effect on your body and health.
Neck and back pain tend to be the first signs of poor posture, but it can also contribute to foot pain and digestive problems. Consider the following factors.
Defining Poor Posture
Sitting for hours each day places a good deal of stress on the body. Most people sit with their shoulders, head and pelvis angled forward. Day in and day out, this positioning places strain on certain muscle groups, causing them to contract and feel tight. Other muscles are engaged less frequently and begin to weaken or atrophy.
This mismatch ultimately creates a physical imbalance that influences how much energy you use and the stress placed on ligaments. Along with sitting all day, poor posture can also stem from:
- Insufficient ergonomics
- Looking down at a phone or computer
- Weakened or fatigued muscles
- Being overweight
- Poor form during exercise
- Repetitive motions
- Regularly carrying a heavy bag or object on one side of the body
Effects of Poor Posture
After years of negative factors affecting your posture, it can materialize as the following issues.
Poor Spine Alignment and Back Pain
Poor posture affects the positioning of your spine and neck. This factor can contribute to muscle spasms and subsequent pain or misalignments along the vertebral column that place greater stress on certain muscles and adjacent nerves. Along with these changes, select muscle groups have to work harder, which can contribute to lumbar pain.
Pain Throughout the Body
Poor posture can also cause pain in other areas of the body, including:
- Headaches from compressed nerves
- Jaw pain due to positioning your head forward or clenching related muscles
- Foot pain due to overall poor alignment
- Increased pain in certain muscle groups after exercise from extra stress and inflammation
Poor Circulation
A sedentary lifestyle and poor posture can contribute to circulation issues, resulting in pressure building up in certain areas and decreased blood flow in others. With time, you may develop spider or varicose veins.
Poor Lung Health
Sitting or standing stooped over influences how much air your lungs take in. A decreased amount impacts lung capacity and prevents other organs like your heart and brain from receiving sufficient oxygen. Long term, you may experience decreased cognitive health, shortness of breath and increased risks for heart disease.
Poor Digestion
Positioning your shoulders over your abdomen and chest strains the organs making up your digestive tract. This effect can:
- Slow your metabolism, including how your body processes food and absorbs nutrients
- Contribute to heartburn, slower digestion and acid reflux
- Decrease motility through the intestinal tract
- Contribute to constipation, as the abdominal muscles gradually weaken
- Lead to incontinence long term, through a combination of weakened pelvic floor muscles and greater pressure on the bladder
Pinched Nerves
In the process of altering spinal and skeletal alignment, bones and muscles can place pressure on parts of the nervous system. This may result in a pinched nerve that contributes to direct or indirect pain throughout the body.
Carpal tunnel syndrome can be a specific development from this condition. Constricted nerves of the wrist, related to inflamed or tight muscles, can result in numbness or tingling in the hand, wrist or arm and potentially affect functioning.
Greater Stress and Fatigue
You may notice that stress also affects your body more significantly. Mental stress may materialize as an achy, sore sensation or debilitating fatigue from attempting to correct your posture all day.
Sleep Issues
Poor posture may influence how well you sleep. You may be unable to fully relax and get comfortable or feel constant pain, numbness or tingling.
Ways to Improve Your Posture
The longer you live with poor posture, the more work it will take to correct it. Guidance from a physical therapist can help with reversing bad habits and improving your musculoskeletal form.
In this case, good posture involves keeping your shoulders down and back, rather than raised, and no longer angling your head forward. Along with these changes, improving posture often starts with your core. Specifically, drawing your abdominal region closer to your spine, instead of pushing it outward. Additionally:
- Consider using a lumbar pillow to sit upright more comfortably in a chair.
- Periodically take breaks throughout the workday.
- Pay attention to the ergonomics of your work area, including your chair and position of your keyboard and computer. You should be able to look ahead at a computer while keeping your wrists straight as you type.
Work with the physical therapists at Integrated Rehab to improve poor posture and address any form or ergonomic issues. To learn more or schedule an appointment, contact us today.