Posture is how you hold your body. Good posture is an important part of your long term health and wellness. Making sure that you hold your body the right way can prevent pain, injuries, and other health problems. The key to good posture is the position of the spine. It is because of this that routine chiropractic care may help improve your posture.
How Chiropractic Care Can Help Fix Bad Posture
When you go to a chiropractor, part of the assessment a chiropractor will do is to check on postural imbalances. Over time any imbalances can have a serious impact on the body’s central nervous system.
Chiropractors will first ask you a few questions to assess your posture and lifestyles. Next, the chiropractor will examine your posture. Once they know what’s off about your posture, they can get started on fixing you.
The Adjustment
A chiropractor typically starts by making adjustments to your shoulders to get you into the best position for good posture. When certain muscles become weak or injured, other muscles will become tense or tighten up to compensate. In response, this pulls your shoulders and spine into an unhealthy position. A chiropractor will use muscle release techniques, and strengthening exercises to correct this imbalance in your soft tissue.
Your chiropractor should also provide you with deliberate exercises and stretches to make sure your muscles get worked properly. This will ease some of the tension that causes bad posture. More importantly, it allows your weaker muscles to grow stronger, fixing your posture for good.
Some of the postural problems chiropractors can help with include: hunchback, uneven hips or pelvis, forward head posture, scoliosis and any other damages to the curvature of the spine.
Effects / Results of Poor Posture
We already touched upon how poor posture can be bad for your health. Bad posture or slouching can cause:
- Misalignment of musculoskeletal system
- Increased pressure on the spine, making it more prone to injury
- Neck, shoulder, and back pain
- Decrease flexibility
- Affect balance, which could increase risk of falling
- Makes it harder to digest food
- Induced breathing disorder
- Affect how well your joints move
These effects of poor posture can carry over into your physical, mental, and emotional health. This is why it takes a professional, specifically a licensed chiropractor, to help get you into the right place and properly aligned.
If you or someone you know is concerned with your posture, please call us at (518) 380-2432.