Common Posture Problems And How To Fix Them

Lots of people aren’t aware of their healthy posture and they don’t know what their body looks like when they’re casually sitting or standing. Bad posture is very common and the way you sit and stand is more important than people tend to realise. Your posture isn’t just about how you look to yourself in the mirror or to other people, it’s at the core of everything you do and developing poor posture habits can result in daily aches and burning pain.

If you’re often told to “sit up straight” or “stand up straight” then it’s likely that your lumbar spine is out of its neutral position and your tight muscles, joints and ligaments aren’t correctly aligned. This can result in additional pressure being placed on different parts of your body and in addition to aches and pains, you may experience flexibility and balance issues.

Below we have looked into some of the most common posture problems people experience these days and the best way to fix them.

Head drifting forwards

In this digital age, more people are experiencing posture problems where their head starts drifting forwards. This is referred to as ‘tech neck’ or ‘text neck’ and when they use a computer, laptop, tablet or mobile phone regularly, people are developing a forward head posture.

When you have a neutral spine, which is key for maintaining good posture, your ears should be in line with your shoulders. If you spend a lot of time hunched over different devices, you may notice that your chin starts pushing forward and your head becomes out of line.

Shoulders rounding forwards

Slouching and leaning back in a chair can make your spine bend and shoulders round forwards. Commonly, people call this type of posture a ‘hunchback’ and lots of teenagers struggle with this particular posture problem. If poor posture isn’t corrected, rounding of the upper back can also affect adults in later life too.

An easy way to check whether you have rounded shoulders is to let your arms hang naturally by your side and look at which direction your knuckles face. Ideally, they should face the sides and if your knuckles face forwards then your upper spine might not be properly aligned.

Back curving inwards

When you wear high heels frequently or you’re pregnant, for example, you may have noticed that your bottom sticks out and your lower back curves inwards. This exaggerated posture is typically referred to as the ‘Donald Duck’ posture.

Your spine will naturally curve in an S shape and when you have a neutral spine, the curves will be gentle and slight. Having a curve is important and a flat back can be equally as damaging as having an exaggerated curve. However, the more your back curves inwards, the more constant pain it will become. So, finding your natural position is really important.

How do you fix posture problems?

Developing poor posture habits is so easy and without realising, over time your posture can get worse and worse. Thankfully, fixing your posture can also be easy and there are lots of different muscle strengthening exercises you can do to help keep your body in perfect alignment. You need to know more about your posture before you can start to correct it though. Visiting a chiropractic clinic for a good posture screen will be useful and it will help you to become aware of your posture habits, enabling you to strengthen the right muscles.

Chiropractic adjustments can also be beneficial for common posture problems and an expert can provide the chiropractic care you need to realign your spine and prevent muscle tension. A chiropractor can create a bespoke chiropractic treatment plan for you, focusing on your posture problems and helping you to achieve a neutral spine. By realigning your spine, stretching and strengthening your weak postural muscles, and focusing on sitting and standing properly, you can avoid lots of painful issues in the future caused by bad posture.

Visiting a chiropractor for a posture screen

If you have bad posture and you’re worried about how this is affecting your overall health and wellbeing, don’t hesitate to contact us at ChiroCulture. We offer a free posture screen to our patients and we can highlight any postural imbalances you may have. During the posture screen, we use Digital Analysis Software to analyse multiple posture points and we can develop a bespoke treatment plan for you to improve the alignment, mobility, correct bad posture and strength of your spine.

Looking after your body and mind is the kindest thing you could do for yourself, and we can help you to improve your posture and, in turn, your quality of life. We aim to rid you of aches, back pain, neck pain and shoulder pain as quickly as possible, and help you to develop good postural awareness. We look forward to welcoming you to our chiropractic clinic in Chertsey.