Posture and Why It’s Important to Your Wellness

Why is posture so important?

The human spine houses and protects our spinal cord which connects our brain and central nervous system to the rest of our body. When your posture is constantly under strain, the normal movement of the spine can be affected. This places stress on the nervous system and how we interpret and interact with our environment. Therefore, the integrity of your spine is essential to how you heal, function, and ultimately how healthy you are.

In healthy posture, the head is perfectly balanced over the shoulders and all four curves of the spine. With every inch of increased forward head posture, you increase the weight that your spine must support by 10 pounds, thus increasing the tension of your spinal cord.

Due to our sedentary lifestyle, conditions of poor posture are increasingly abundant and starting at earlier ages than ever before. These postural changes should not be ignored as they can lead to negative results throughout the body. The good news is that postural changes can be corrected and future changes can be prevented with care and advice from your chiropractor.

Upper Crossed Syndrome

Upper Crossed Syndrome is one such condition where the muscles in our chest and posterior neck become increasingly weak. This creates excessive stress through our muscular and skeletal systems causing imbalances in the spine and increasing our propensity for chronic pain and spinal degeneration.

Symptoms of Upper Crossed Syndrome may include:

• tensions at the base of the skull
• forward head posture and rounded shoulders

These changes result in decreased blood flow to the brain, pressure on blood vessels surrounding the heart, and reduced oxygen uptake in the lungs.

Lower Crossed Syndrome

Lower Crossed Syndrome is another condition where the muscles in our anterior hip and mid to lower back become increasingly tight, while our abdomen and gluteus muscles become increasingly weak. this once again creates excessive stress through our muscular and skeletal systems, causing imbalances in the spine and increasing our propensity for chronic pain and spinal degeneration.

Symptoms of Lower Crossed Syndrome may include:

• tension
• stiffness or spasm in the lower back, hips and side of the leg

These changes can lead to joint pain, reduced flexibility, impaired range of motions, chronic back pain and increased susceptibility to lumbar disc injuries.

It is imperative that you pay attention to your posture and see your local chiropractor if you have any issues. By increasing the wellness of your spinal cord, and making the necessary adjustments to your posture, you will feel the positive effects to your body.

Feeling like your posture is affecting your overall health? Please feel free to call us at (610) 750-9131 or use our online contact form.