Many everyday aches and pains could be fixed by correcting poor posture. Poor posture negatively impacts the nervous system, creating stress on the body that leads to back pain. This can affect not only physical health, but emotional health as well. Using poor posture can cause more problems than simple spinal misalignment and subsequent back pain, making it necessary to use good posture in everyday life.
Simple Ways to Have Better Posture in Everyday Life
Maintaining good posture is essential for spinal health, nerve connectivity, and eliminating unnecessary back pain. The following seven ideas are easy ways to improve posture in your daily life.
1. Be Conscious of How You Sit
So many people incur poor posture and back pains from sitting hunched over at a desk staring at a computer. When sitting at a desk, be sure to use a good chair with lower back support. The design of a good chair should encourage proper posture. Be sure to keep your feet flat on the floor, not crossed, to ensure proper spinal alignment. Also, keep your screen at eye level so you aren’t hunched over, creating habits that will carry over to your everyday life.
2. Be Conscious of How You Stand
Like when sitting, be conscious of your posture when you stand to keep from creating bad habits. Stand with knees slightly bent, shoulders back, and arms relaxed to encourage good posture.
3. Drink Lots of Water
Drinking water is essential to having proper posture. Water maintains soft tissue elasticity and joint fluidity. When you’re dehydrated the space between your spinal discs decreases from loss of fluid and can cause several back issues, like a bulging disc or rupture. It also decreases padding between bones and at jones making you more susceptible to injury and pain.
4. Move and Exercise Regularly
Working out and moving regularly helps maintain weight, which relieves the spine of added pressure from extra weight. Staying active also helps maintain range of motion and joint flexibility that allows for good posture.
5. Stretch Regularly
Like moving and exercising regularly, stretching helps maintain a healthy range of motion. It helps keep the spine supple which ultimately reduces the chance of injury. Be sure to always stretch after exercising when the muscles are warm to achieve maximum effect.
6. Lift and Carry Correctly
Whether lifting weights at the gym or carrying heavy boxes at home, be careful not to lift heavy weights using your back. Be sure to bend at the knees and use your legs muscles to lift and carry heavy objects to minimize damage to your spine.
7. Sleep Properly
The two healthiest positions to sleep in are on your side or your back. Sleeping on your stomach places unnecessary pressure on your spine that is easily avoidable. If you are a stomach sleeper, you can slowly change your sleeping patterns by falling asleep on your back or side and correcting it if you wake up in the middle of the night. This slowly creates sleeping habits that encourage good posture.
Chiropractic Postural Restoration Program in Plano
If the above ideas don’t help your chronic back pain, you should consider using chiropractic therapy. Chiropractic postural restoration treats comprehensive back pain and improves overall general health. A typical postural restoration program involves an initial examination to create a course of action for treatment. Once the problem is identified, the program involves spinal readjustment over the course of several visits, in office and at home exercises, stretching programs, and postural correction tools, like back braces.
Better posture leads to better physical health and emotional health, generally improving the quality of life.