You’ve been reminded to stand up straight so many times. Parents and teachers admonished you. If you’ve suffered from back, neck or shoulder pain, then there’s a good chance you’ve been reminded about good posture by your chiro, and you probably nag yourself about it too. And yet old habits of slouching and “tech-neck” creep in and stiffness and pain assert themselves in your life.
What’s going on? We find that posture is poorly understood by many, making efforts to improve it counterproductive. Good posture is not simply the absence of slouching. And it’s certainly not “standing up straight.” Good posture means honouring the natural curves of the spine. Good posture means the head balancing at the top of the spine (ears over shoulders). It means the shoulders balanced over the hips. It’s not a static thing, but a range of positions that you dynamically move through, that minimises wear on joints and strain on ligaments, allows muscles to work effectively, improves balance and reduces pain.
One of the first things we do when meeting with a new patient is assess their posture. We like to see you standing and sitting from the front and the side. Are your ears over your shoulders or is your neck jutting forward? Is one shoulder or hip sitting higher than the other? Are the natural curves of the spine exaggerated or flattened? Is the pelvis tilted?
We’ll compare your posture to a plum line, an imaginary line from the top of your head to the floor, named after the string and weight tool used by carpenters and others to assess if something is truly straight (see image to the left). Now we don’t want your spine to be perfectly straight (and overcorrections can cause a lot of pain) but we do want to see your ears, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles align with the line!
Once we understand your posture, we are more likely to understand the sources of your pain or stiffness and can treat that as well as working with you to improve your posture through adjustments, recommendations and exercises to prevent further pain in the future.
Check out these images to see some of the common postures we see and what we look for in a ‘good posture’.
If you are experiencing pain and think you need a posture check, give us a call on (03) 5381 1892 or email us at info@back4life.com.au to make an appointment.