Posture

December 24, 2013

Posture

Many people that come into our office are uncertain as to why they have neck, shoulder or back pain.  The common statement is that, “it came out of nowhere.”  However, as practitioners we have come to realize that there is a cause for these symptoms, and it’s due to postural strain over time.  As sedentary individuals, we don’t move as much as we used to and therefore do not stimulate our core and postural muscles as we once did.  Our spine is strained more from lack of use, than from over usage.  

Neurologically, our center of pressure changes, causing us to fall forward- often causing tightness in hamstrings, calves and the arch of our foot as we attempt to hold ourselves upright.  Changing this spatial orientation is of the utmost importance to the success for many of these conditions.  

Common Symptoms:

• Headaches/Migraines
• Neck pain
• Shoulder Pain
• Shoulder blade pain
• Tightness of trapezius and neck muscles
• Lower back pain
• Head forward position
• Slumped shoulders (internal rotation)
• Hump-back (Hyper-kyphosis)
• Imbalance
• Plantar Fascitis
• Shin Splints

Treatment consists of retraining postural muscles and spinal stabilizing muscles to work as intended-in an upright position, as well as neurologically changing our center of pressure.  Chiropractic manipulations, strengthening, core stabilization, neurological retraining and postural devices are often used to re-establish normal curvature and postural mechanisms in the spine.