Achieve_How Bad Posture Effects You

Performance For Life

March 2020

N E W S L E T T E R

HOW POSTURE AFFECTS NECK AND BACK PAIN

There are certain ways that you can tell if neck or back pain may be a result of poor muscular endurance and prolonged postures, including: • The pain in your back is worsened at certain times of day. For example, after you’ve spent a day at the office, or after a few hours on the couch. • The pain frequently starts in your neck and moves into your upper and lower back. • The pain will subside after switching positions, such as switching from sitting to standing or vice versa. •Back or neck pain that develops soon after a change in circumstances, such as starting a new job with a new desk chair, or getting a new car. Working with a physical therapist to improve your balance in strength and mobility is a great way to overcome chronic neck and back pain related to reducedmuscle endurance and prolonged postures or positions. In physical therapy, you will be guided through a series of stretches and strength building exercises that can help you begin training your body to improve your ability to sustain different positions and movements throughout the day, thereby reducing your back and/or neck pain.

Remember back when your mother used to tell you that if you wouldn’t stop hunching your shoulders, they’d be stuck that way forever? An idle threat, one that barely anyone took seriously. Yet, fast forward a few decades and it turns out that mommight have been on to something, after all. A poor habit of bad posture can have an impact on your neck and back. The more prolonged poor posture is, the more intense back and neck pain can become. Unfortunately, once you start experiencing neck and back pain, simply squaring your shoulders isn’t likely to be much help. Working with a physical therapist can help you to strengthen and re-train the muscles in your back, neck and shoulders so that you can improve your ability to maintain various postures during the day permanently, and in doing so eliminate neck and back pain. THE POSTURE AND PAIN CONNECTION: Back and neck pain are not directly caused by poor posture, and it is true that you can have poor posture for years without any consequences at all. The problem often arises over time if you are sustaining the same posture for extended periods, i.e. sitting at a desk for your entire work shift with minimal standing or walking “breaks”. Our bodies are meant to be fluid and mobile; thus if you are in the same position/movement for too long (that includes sitting, standing, or walking), and you are lacking the muscular endurance to maintain that position/movement for that amount of time, that is often when things may start to catch up with you.

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Experiencing back pain, call us at 866.320.3562 or visit achieve-therapy.com today!

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