Did you know that your mother was right when she told you to sit or stand tall?  

Why? Read on. 

THE SPINE 

In an earlier blog I mentioned the spinal curves. The neck and lower back bend one way (lordosis) and the thoracic (mid-back) and tail bone (sacrum) bend another way (kyphosis). 

The line of gravity is supposed to pass through the vertebrae (big bony parts).  What happens when you slouch is: 

• Flattening of the lower back
• Increased roundness of the mid-back (thoracic spine)

 If you were standing with this posture, you would end up looking down at the ground all the time. It’s hard to avoid not bumping into things when you are looking down (although you won’t trip as much). So to avoid bumping into objects around you, you lift your head up. 

 THE NECK  

When you’re hunched over but the head is lifted, you get a kink in the lower part of your neck. Typically, this is at the C5-6 level. What would happen if you took a twig and bent it in the same spot again and again? Yes, it would wear in that spot. So, is it surprise that the C5-6 part of the neck is the most common area for “wear and tear”?  No. 

When you are in the “poking chin” posture, the muscles at the back of the neck get short and tight. When this happens, you get compression of the joints and possible impingement (pinching) of the nerves. This is often a contributing factor to headaches (refer back to my April 22 blog on headaches).  

The muscles at the front of the neck become long and weak. When muscles at the front of the neck are long and weak, you lack stability (for more, go back to my April 15 neck stability blog). This has also been shown to contribute to headaches.  

So you can often get all the treatment that you want but if you don’t correct your posture, you’ll be back more often than you would like, or tell us that the treatment is not working.  

THE SHOULDERS 

When you slouch, the shoulder blades are positioned more outwards and can often be tilted forwards. Ask a friend to look at your shoulder blades to see if the lower part is sticking out. It shouldn’t be. It is possible that the Pectoralis Minor muscle is tight. So why is this a problem? Not only do you look like you’re not confident, but there can also be compression nerves and blood vessels that travel in front of the shoulder. When you compress these, you will often experience symptoms (tingling, numbness, aching) in to the elbow, wrist or hand. This can be part of the problem with diagnoses of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.   

The other problem with having the shoulder blades resting in the wrong position is that the muscles that stabilize and those that move the shoulder muscles are not in an optimal length—meaning they won’t work properly. When you raise your arm overhead, the shoulder blade needs to rotate up about 60 degrees so that the rotator cuff and biceps tendons don’t get pinched under the arch at the side of the shoulder (for more on that too, see my March 26 frozen shoulder blog or should fix one dated March 19). So muscle imbalances from poor posture contribute to rotator cuff attenuation (thinning) which makes it easier to tear. Poor posture also contributes to rotator cuff or biceps tendon tendonitis.  

THE BACK 

When you slouch, the long muscles of the back are stretching (long and often weak). They will tire faster. You get more compression of the disc with the pushing of the inner part of the disc more to the back and more strain to the back of the disc contributing to disc protrusions or herniations (check out my April 1 blog on the spine).  

Standing when there’s an increase in the lower lumbar curve or in the neck curve (rather than a decrease) means the line of gravity is no longer through the large bones (vertebral bodies) but is now through the smaller joints at the back.  The joints are not designed to take this kind of stress and will wear out.  This is what is often referred to as Osteo (bone) arthr (joint) itis (inflammation).  

CORRECT POSTURE 

So if you don’t want to contribute to nerve compression, headaches, joint irritation, arthritis, disc injury, carpal tunnel and thoracic outlet syndromes, and muscle imbalances, correct posture is important.  

HOW SHOULD YOU SIT? 

One of the best cues that I picked up from Diane Lee on getting people to sit properly was to have the back of the thighs touch the chair first (rather than the buttocks). The hips should stay slightly higher than the knees. The using of a roll behind the lower part of the back is good too (if you use a back rest). The downside to not using a backrest is that the muscles at the front of the hips have to stay turned on to keep you from falling backwards. You may feel more muscle fatigue if you have to sit for longer periods of time.  

STAND? 

First of all, you should not be standing with your buttocks sticking way out to the back. This puts the pelvis into what we call an anterior pelvic tilt (front part of the pelvis is lower than the back). 

The head should be centred over the shoulders. When looking from the side of the ear, it should line up with the shoulder. The shoulder should line up with the hip. The hip should line up with the ankle.  

I never suggest that someone stand with their shoulders pulled back like they were in the military. This posture can also create problems. But lifting the chest (standing tall) is a more ideal posture (than slouching). 

So that’s what was behind your mother’s orders to not slouch! Do you get it now?

IF YOU’RE MOTIVATED: 

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