By
Dr. Dave Edenfield
Most
of us are born with perfect posture.
However as the years go on and life takes its toll, it isn’t unusual for
our posture to start to suffer. Think of
it as a kind of reverse evolution. As
the posture slowly devolves, with it can go our health, since the spine is the
nexus of our central nervous system that signals all of our limbs and organs to
do what is required to maintain the body.
If these signals become blocked, this can start a domino effect of
problems and pain that if left unchecked can curtail our enjoyment of
life. That’s the bad news. The good news is that with proper treatment
and training, we can restore picture perfect posture.
The
Deadly Duo
The
problem for many of us is that we spend far too much time sitting down. Worse yet, we spend too much time sitting in
front of a computer. If you work in an
office you undoubtedly spend hours at a time sitting behind a desk staring at a
computer screen. If your monitor is
positioned flat atop your desk, or you use a laptop or a tablet then this
forces you to tilt your head forward to look at your screen. In time this can lead to a head forward
posture that can cause everything from pinched nerves to degenerated
discs. The cure for this scenario is to
raise your monitor at least a foot off the desktop. (If you have a laptop you
can plug in an external monitor to accomplish this.) By raising the level of the monitor, you will
defeat the tug of gravity that causes your head to move forward.
Beware the Chair
Lumbar lordosis refers to the hollow in your back which is a
natural feature of the spine. It is also one of the first areas to be
adversely affected by poor posture brought about by hunching when we sit.
For many people the guilty culprit is most often their office
chair. Many people do not even realize that the backrest on most office
chairs is adjustable. Turn your chair
around and look for a knob directly behind the backrest that can be turned
right and left. This knob is designed to
move the backrest in and out. By twisting the knob clockwise the backrest
should move forward and vice versa. By making the proper
adjustments your spine will receive the support it craves. If your chair is not adjustable you can
always purchase a lumbar roll or even roll up a towel to better support the
lower back.
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
Another way to determine if your posture is less than ideal is
to stand sideways and look in the mirror.
If you can see that your head is tilted, your shoulder or hips are not
level, or your arms or feet are flared, this is proof positive that your
posture is anything but perfect. When I
make patients aware of their poor posture, many are surprised that this is at
the root of their problems. Just as an
astronaut in orbit gets used to zero gravity, over time our bodies will adjust
to imperfect posture.
More than just an aesthetic dilemma, poor posture can lead to
everything from lower back pain and muscle pain, to leg weakness, sciatica,
circulatory problems and immune system issues, just to name a few. Poor posture makes it difficult for the brain
to transmit commands. If you have ever
had a computer crash then you can relate to this problem. Like a computer with a balky cpu, a stressed
brain can’t perform its tasks efficiently.
Add to this the fact that your brain, in its effort to correct poor posture,
will instruct the muscles, tendons and ligaments to apply added pressure and
stress. Since these soft tissues can only give so much, this causes a cascade
of failures that quickly add up into either pain and/or dysfunction.
If you suspect that your posture is not at its utmost, the best
thing to do is schedule a chiropractic examination before things get out of
hand. By analyzing your spinal
curvature, movement and alignment, your chiropractor can identify and correct
the issues that are at the heart of poor posture. More importantly he or she can create a plan
of action to realign your spine, straighten out your frame and help you once
again attain picture perfect posture.
Dr.’s Dave Edenfield and Steven Warfield offer the
most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and
headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art
technologies. For more information visithttp://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com or http://endyourpain.org
