Think Posture is Insignificant?

As a professional who looks at the spine, I believe we’re at an all-time low in postural awareness.  In my experience, you will find less than 10% of the general population who displays the ideal anatomical posture.  Why is this?  Most likely there are a multitude of reasons from too much time sitting in desks, in cars, on the couch or in front of the computer, to a general lack of exercise, to the stress of heavy backpacks and purses, to improper mattresses and chairs.  In regard to the neck and shoulders I believe all the time people spend looking down to play handheld games, to text, and even to read, places undo stress on the neck and shoulders.  Get the books and gadgets up so that you aren’t looking straight down!  More than anything, I believe the problem is poor habits simply because most people don’t care that much about proper posture.  Here’s some research to hopefully make you care.

In the past I’ve discussed the model of tensegrity which proves that the bones of our spine and skeleton are never supposed to be rubbing together.  Only when posture and alignment are compromised do our joints “rub” creating the imbalanced stress that contributes to arthritis.  If this greater risk of arthritis is not motivation enough, a recent journal article proved the relationship between head/neck posture and pulmonary (lung) function.  As the head goes forward in posture (as it does with most) the resulting loss of the proper curvature of the neck will reduce normal motion of the head neck and shoulders and as the study showed, it will reduce breathing, oxygenation to the cells, and proper nerve flow.  They even found that incidence of asthma was greater in those with improper neck curvature.  This really should come as no surprise as the first chapter of any physiology book will state that our anatomy dictates our physiology!  The researchers found that proper posture is critical to your autonomic nervous system which contains the nerves that run all your organs and glands.  In particular, they found that changes in neck posture affected the Vagus nerve that controls the heart, lungs, and much of the digestive system.  The positive side of the study is that they found that loss of curvature to the neck could be restored through, chiropractic, specific exercises and improved habits and awareness.  And when the curvature improved, so did breathing, oxygenation, and nerve flow to the organs.  Watch your posture and especially make proper posture a priority to your kids!