How Your Standing Posture Effects Your Back Pain

If you suffer from back pain, you may have the suspicion that your poor posture at work, hunched over a computer for hours at a time, may be to blame. However, your standing posture may also have something to do with the aches and pains you experience in your back, whether you realize it or not.

As it turns out, an article by Bodi Empowerment points out that the way you stand and walk throughout the day can really have a major impact on how your neck and back may feel and react to outside stressors at the end of the day.

It would be a good idea for you to do a quick wall posture check in order to see whether your natural posture is healthy or is contributing to your back pain. To do this, stand with your back to a wall, with the backs of your feet pressed back into the wall. From here, see what parts of your body are touching the wall. If you have correct posture, your hips, shoulder blades, and the back of your head should be naturally resting against the wall without any effort on your part.

If any other parts of you body are touching the wall, or if you need to manipulate your head, shoulder blades, or hips into a seemingly unnatural position in order to get the right posture, this means that you need to work on correcting your natural stance. Don’t feel bad if this is the case, because good posture is hard to achieve and maintain (I for one have done this test and have noticed that my head does not touch the wall naturally).

So how can you work on improving your posture, so that your back pain can lessen or even disappear? Here are some things to take into consideration as you assess your natural stance. Stand up and relax your muscles, and take note of the way your body feels, and where certain body parts are resting naturally.

First, you should check to see that your weight is evenly distributed between your toes and your heels. Moving up the body, your legs should be straight, but your knees shouldn’t be locked at all. Meanwhile, assess your lower back. There should be a very subtle and natural arch going forward, while the middle of your back should curve slightly in the opposite direction. Finally, compare your neck to your lower back. Both should be arched in the exact same direction. If you have trouble with this, ask your chiropractor about exercises you can perform at home to improve your posture naturally.

Used under Creative Commons Licensing courtesy of Florent Chretien