How poor posture harms your health

You have no idea how much poor posture harms your health. Remember when you mother told you to “sit up straight?” Did you listen? Moms are smart and you probably didn’t always heed her advice. This is one reason why most Americans of all ages have a posture problem. Other poor posture contributors can be sitting at a desk or in your car all day, frequently  looking down at a smartphone or sitting slumped over while watching TV.

Most of know and feel how poor posture can affect us – neck pain, back problems, and even headaches. These symptoms may often be the result of years of slouching. Other potential health problems attributable to failing to sit or stand up straight and tall can include poor balance, breathing difficulties, foul mood, sleep disturbance, fatigue, and even poor jaw alignment.

Not paying attention to your posture can put undue stress on certain muscles and joints, forcing them to be overworked resulting in fatigue. It’s not unusual that for many people with chronic pain, sometimes simply addressing poor posture can be one way to improve it.

Here’s a look at 5 surprising ways poor posture may affect your health:

1. Making arthritis worse

When you fail to practice good posture, this can lead to misalignment of your spine or knees putting extra stress on your knees. Over time, this misalignment can make arthritis worse by putting pressure on one part of the joint causing unnecessary pain.  Painful joints can reduce your overall function and quality of life.

2. Poor circulation

Sitting in a chair for hours with bad posture places you a risk of circulation problems. Sitting hunched over prevents circulation of blood being able to easily reach throughout the body. For women and men, this can lead to varicose veins. Frequent movement throughout the day and making postural changes leads to better posture preventing issues with circulation.

3. Forward head posture

Ideally, a healthy head and neck alignment should be when a person’s ear aligns directly with their shoulder when viewing them from the side.  But in people with poor posture, they may have what is called forward head posture in which the head progressively juts forward instead of in line with their ears. This can lead to muscle tightening, neck pain, and tension headaches.

4. Incontinence and constipation

Years of poor posture can cause stress incontinence in which you may leak a little urine if you laugh or cough. When you fail to sit or stand up straight, this increases abdominal pressure, which puts pressure on the bladder. The position also decreases the ability of the pelvic floor muscle to hold against that pressure.

Even poor posture while seated on a toilet can lead to side effects such as constipation. Sitting hunched over with your knees lower than your hips closes the anus somewhat making it harder for the abdominal muscles to help move feces out. By using a low stool in front of your toilet to place your feet on, can help relax the muscles around the anus helping you to eliminate bowel movements easier and completely. Essentially, squatting with your feet elevated on a low stool unlocks the “kink” at the entrance to the rectum helping prevent incontinence and constipation.

5. Heartburn and slowed digestion

Even your digestive tract can get out of whack when you fail to stand up straight. After eating a meal, be sure to avoid slouching. Slouching puts pressure on the abdomen which can force stomach acid in the wrong direction. This triggers heartburn caused by acid reflux or when stomach acid squirts back up into the esophagus. There is also evidence that not paying to your posture slows down transit time in the intestinal tract, slowing down digestion.

5 tips on achieving picture perfect posture

1.  Improve range of motion

Too many years of slouching will eventually reduce your range of motion affecting your posture.  Every day, stretch by opening up your upper body to maintain movement in your upper back and shoulders.  Stay limber by getting up every 30 minutes to stretch, walk, or stand paying attention to your posture. 

2.  Sit up straight

Sitting in front of a computer for hours on end makes it especially important to be aware of your posture.  Sitting up with good, tall posture and your shoulders dropped is a good habit to get into.  Body awareness is critical to achieving this.  It starts by making sure your work station is set up to promote proper posture.

3.  Strengthen your core

A weak midsection often leads to a slouched spine and poor posture.  With a strong and stable core, you’re able to sit up, stand up, and move around more comfortable.  And while the number on the scale certainly isn’t everything, standing up straight helps you look 10 to 15 pounds thinner.  Pilates and yoga are great ways to build up the strength of core muscles found in your abdomen and pelvic area. 

4.  Support your spine

As we age, it is common to experience weakening in the muscles around the spine.  When these muscles weaken and atrophy, it will make it difficult to stand up tall and straight.  To prevent this, perform exercises targeting the back extensors, neck flexors, pelvic muscles, and side muscles.  These same moves can improve endurance in the spine and trunk muscles allowing you to stand up for long periods of time without your back hurting. 

5.  Pump iron

When done correctly, resistance training or lifting weights can improve posture.  Poor posture is usually caused by overuse or over activation of a muscle or muscle group from too much time spent in certain positions.  Examples include poor posture while driving, reading, or sitting in front of a computer.  The resulting appearance over time is that of a forward leaning head and rounded shoulders from over activation of shoulder internal rotator and protractors.  Using targeting resistance training can over time, reestablish the proper joint alignment and improve posture. By performing certain moves that work the back muscles such as rows and pulls can help those with rounded shoulders.