We have all likely been told to sit up straight at some point in our lives, but is there a good and bad posture and is this the same for everybody?
Whilst some positions can lead to pain, it is often not the position itself that is hazardous but how often we are staying in this position (hello desk workers!). Keeping one position for a long period of time, even with a “perfect posture”, can lead to pain and discomfort. The evidence is now showing us that good posture is not as important as we once thought but instead we want to look at why a body chooses a certain posture or becomes immobile so we can take an individual approach to your pain.
Our bodys can opt for a certain posture due to:
– Avoiding pain in another area (even if you are unaware of this issue)
– Shortening of muscles and structures limiting your ability to move out of certain postures
– Weakness causing the body to reduce movement in order to protect itself from injury or reducing its tolerance to hold certain postures
– Chemical- type problems such as inflammation or lymphathic drainage issues, causing poor movement in areas of the body
– Poor breathing patterns, leading to a lack of stretch in our thoracic spine/ribs causing stiffness
So if you have tried to improve your posture but it hasn’t helped your pain you may need to delve deeper into what the causes of your issues really are.
