What Causes Poor Posture?

Poor posture is commonly caused by misaligned bones in the spine.  When spinal bones misalign in certain ways, they cause the spine to tip forward.  The shoulders then droop down and forward, and you can start to get what is called forward head posture.  (See the picture).

Forward head posture not only causes neck and back pain, but can cause a whole smorgasbord of conditions like shoulder pain, carpal tunnel symptoms, headaches, dizziness and fibrositis/fibromyalgia.

The bones of the spine misalign because of trauma like car accidents, falls, lifting or sports injuries.  Also, people who are depressed often carry themselves in a droopy forward head posture that eventually warps the spine and causes pain.  Sometimes the toxic effects of drugs or a bad diet can affect the muscles in such a way that the spine is effected.

Many spinal mis-alignments are self-correcting.  Meaning the muscles of the body can re-align the spine all by itself.  Unfortunately, the body has a hard time correcting mis-alignments in the forward direction, because the muscles don’t have enough of an angle to pull a bone straight back.  There is nothing behind the spine to pull it backwards.

So, when a bone misaligns forward, it tends to get stuck.  As time goes on, more and more bones get misaligned forward until the spine starts to lean forward and droop.  All you have to do is look at a group of elderly people and you will usually see a lifetime of forward misalignment.

Many posture correction treatments focus on making the muscles of the spine stronger in order to pull itself upright.  The problem is, that the angle just isn’t there to get it accomplished.  With these methods, even the slightest correction takes heroic effort.

New advances in chiropractic technique make it possible to correct posture without muscular effort.  Once the spine is re-aligned, the body weight is supported by the spinal bones.  The muscles then relax and give the person greater ease of movement.  To find out more about this method log on to www.new-chiropractic-solutions.com.

Or, you can call Jennifer or Leah at 262-251-8306 and set up a FREE consultation and posture evaluation to see if I can help you get pain free-great posture.