San Antonio, TX — Posture commonly refers to the position of your body when standing or sitting. Good posture can bring to mind images of people balancing stacks of books on their head as they practice poise, or a classroom full of students sitting at their desks straight as boards. Yet understanding proper posture and how posture affects your back and spine and the area around is more involved than these images suggest.
Maintaining a healthy posture is not just a matter of sitting like a board or balancing books on your head, it involves the balanced function of the entire system of your back. Exhibiting a healthy posture is an indication of being balanced and can help keep your spine and back healthy which lessens your chances of incurring back pain.
Your spine and the system of tendons, muscles, and ligaments that make up your back allow your body to move and support your body against forces such as gravity. Maintaining adequate posture involves carrying your body in a way to avoid injury by allowing all of the aforementioned aspects of your back, such as your bones and muscles, to work together.
When one aspect of your back is out of alignment the balance is thrown off. As other aspects attempt to make up for the misalignment by overcompensating or stretching, injury can occur. Practicing healthy posture helps keep all of these elements in sync and can provide you with increased mobility, circulation, and breathing.
You can asses the health of your posture by observing your posture habits. It is incorrect to think that good posture necessitates a completely flat back. Your spine has natural curves to it that both balance and support your body. There should be a slight curve inward at the neck, a slight curve outward at the chest, and a slight curve inward at the lower back.
You can get a rough idea for the healthiness of your posture by doing the following test. Stand against a wall with you feet 6 inches from the baseboard. Make sure the back of your head and your bum are touching the wall and with your hand measure the space between the wall and your neck and the space between the wall and your lower back. Due to the natural curves in your spine a measurement of about 2 inches at the neck and about 1-2 inches at the small of your back indicates that your posture is in good condition.
Since improper posture can be a concern (because it can be an indicator of problems with your spine), contact Barrows Chiropractic Clinic located at 1611 Commercial Ave. San Antonio, Texas 78221-1004 for an assessment.
Call us at: 210-922-0942.
