June 21, 2011

"Stand up straight. Walk straight. Sit up straight." Can you just hear your mother's voice? Posture is important. The spine is made for balance and stability, and posture control improves balance.

How does posture affect spine health and back pain relief in St Peters?

Posture Education Relieves Back Pain Better Than Exercise

The effectiveness of a Global Postural Reeducation program as compared to a Stabilization Exercise program in subjects with persistent low back pain at 3 and 6 months was studied. Postural education is more beneficial than stabilization exercises in controlling persistent low back pain. (1)

Furthermore, an alarming paper surfaced stating that young people with non-specific low back pain demonstrate a reduced capacity to switch to a more multi-segmental postural control strategy during complex postural conditions. This leads to decreased postural healthiness.  They also have more trouble balancing due to reduced spinal input for balance control. (2)

Posture Even Affects Incontinence

Posture affects vaginal pressure and subsequently incontinence for women. Pelvic floor muscle activity is affected more by posture - sway back posture activates more muscle activity - than by the activity being performed (standing versus laying). (3) Another strong reason to work on your posture.

What to Do about St Peters's Posture? Incorporate Both Exercise and Posture Education.

 standing man with good posture
 
Teach yourself to consciously sit and stand. When you must sit, sit properly with a straight back. While sitting in the bleachers at a little league game in St Peters or in the chairs in Old Mill Chiropractic's waiting room, resist the temptation to slouch. Slouching magnifies the pressure in your spine. You want to decrease spinal pressures or at least keep them to a minimum when your back hurts. Same with prolonged standing like waiting in line at the St Peters grocery store: don't slouch. If you have to stand for an extended period of time, take a break to walk a little. Tell the young kids around you in St Peters, too. Good posture is a habit that takes time to develop.
 

abdominal exercise on ball to improve posture
 
Exercise for Better Posture. Building strength in your spinal muscles and abdominal muscles go far to support your upright posture when moving around St Peters. Simple exercises like standing on one foot and abdominal strengthening on a stability ball re-establish nerve endings' sense of position and encourage the up-right posture needed for low back pain relief and prevention.

St Peters Posture and Back Pain Relief with Old Mill Chiropractic

Contact St Peters's Old Mill Chiropractic for posture education and exercise as well as a chiropractic treatment plan to relieve back pain with Cox Technic which is research-documented to reduce intradiscal pressures in the spine as well.

Click here for References for "Stand Up Straight" Posture is Important.