Most kids get admonished by their parents for poor posture. I know that I did. My mom and dad, both, were always on me to "Sit up straight!" when I was relaxing on the couch and "Stand up straight!" whenever I happened to walk by them. Well, all that nagging stayed with me through chiropractic school, especially when I started learning about how bad posture can actually cause muscle strain and pain and diminish a person's overall health in a number of ways. So, I was happy to come across recently the "Top 5 Consequences of Bad Posture" on the chiroeco.com website, which I'd like to pass along to you:

February 11, 2010 — Prevention and awareness is the best care for health-related problems. One of the easiest and most logical ways to prevent bad posture habits is to think about the consequences.

1. Tension Headaches: Sitting hunched over at your job, most commonly caused by your hands reaching for the keyboard when typing on your computer leads to your shoulders and head slumping forward. This posture tightens the muscles in your neck, upper back and shoulders. After awhile, the tightness causes nerve irritations and muscle spasms which restrict proper flow of blood to the back of your head. This leads to tension headaches.

2. Diminished Breathing: Poor posture can lead to severe kyphosis (hunched back) causing the torso collapse leading to breathing difficulties. Rounded shoulders and overly bent or imbalanced spine restrict the expansion of the rib cage, which restricts the rise and fall of the breathing diaphragm. Reduced rib and spinal mobility will affect the normal breathing movement. If the diaphragm can't rise, it won't be able to draw in as much oxygen during inhalation.

3. Fatigue: Fatigue is one of the most common causes of bad posture. Tired and tight muscles cannot support the skeleton as they are designed to do. Your muscles have to work extra hard just to hold you up if you have poor posture, leaving you without energy. Lack of adequate muscle flexibility and strength, abnormal joint motion in the spine and other body regions will lead to overall muscle fatigue.

4. Make you look older: Never underestimate the beauty and health benefits of good posture. Often poor posture is just a bad habit that is easily corrected. Poor posture not only makes you look older, but could be the first step toward dowager’s hump, double chin, potbelly, and swayback as well as some internal problems too. When a person is hunched over or not standing straight that person may be perceived as older than they actually are. Good posture is not only beneficial to your body; it also makes you look taller and slimmer. What's more, good posture can convey self-confidence, which may just be the best accessory you can have.

5. Back pain: Most common consequence of poor posture, due to muscle strain, especially lower back pain. The back muscles, ligaments, and discs are under extra stress when the spine is not in proper alignment. Strong muscles help keep the spine in proper alignment and prevent back pain. Strong muscles also prevent the spine from extending beyond its normal range of motion, which is essential to protecting the ligaments and disks from injury.

Source: T. Moses Public Relations and Consulting, http://tmosespublicrelations.com

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As a chiropractor I treat many children who have suffered an injury due to an accident or as the result of a sport or other play activity. However, what might surprise you is that I also have begun seeing children in my clinic who have weight-related musculoskeletal problems (conditions that in the past usually didn’t occur until adulthood), and more children who suffer from asthma and/or ADHD. Though chiropractic treatment can be very effective in reducing some of these problems, I find the fact that I am seeing more and more cases very disturbing. And, I’m not the only one noticing an increase in children’s health problems. A recent study by U.S. researchers has found that chronic health conditions, such as obesity and asthma, are indeed rising among children. Dr. Jeanne Van Cleave of Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston, who worked on the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, used data from a government survey of three groups of children — each group with about 1,000 or more children — aged 2 through 8 between 1988 and 2006. 

Van Cleave and her group found that the rate of chronic health conditions, such as obesity, asthma and learning problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, had doubled to 26.6 percent in 2006 from 12.8 percent in 1994. The study also found that for about half of these kids, their conditions will go away over time. “The trick,” Van Cleave said , “is finding out why conditions go away so that more children may be helped.”

However, Dr. Geetha Raghuveer of Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, who was not involved with the study, said that while it was heartening that chronic conditions went away in several children, it was worrying that such a large percentage of children had a chronic health problem at some point. These problems “will need prevention strategies geared toward larger environments such as families, schools, communities,” and laws that make nutritious foods more accessible and affordable.”

I am in agreement with Dr. Raghuveer. Children (and parents) need education regarding the importance of good nutrition and regular exercise, and children also need environments that encourage both. Even though some of the health issues went away over time in half of the children in the study, the fact remains that the number of children experiencing such health problems is on the rise. Therefore, the number of children in “the other half,” the children who continued to experience chronic health conditions, is growing ever larger each year.

Posted via email from chiropracticnews’s posterous