In today’s society, we do so many things that are terrible for our bodies and posture. It might not seem like a big deal but after so many hours, days, months, and years, bad posture and improper ergonomics while sitting at work or at home can have a huge negative impact on your health.

What negatively affects posture?

Sitting

Sitting for long periods of time without any sort of break is terrible for your body. Humans are designed to be upright, walking, and moving. Being in a seated position can put 40% more pressure on your lower back in comparison to standing. This pressure increases even more with slouching or a hunched over posture while sitting. One in four American adults sit for more than eight hours a day, according to new federal research from investigators at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s no wonder so many Americans have back issues!

Computer work

Sitting is bad enough, but when combined with staring at a computer screen it has exponentially worse negative effects. When you are typing on a keyboard, you are contracting the anterior muscles in your shoulders and neck. Eventually, not only will this cause tension and tight muscles, it will cause an imbalance in the overall function of your body. Contracting your anterior muscles leads to “turning off” the posterior muscles, and turning off the posterior muscles is what can lead to back pain, neck pain, headaches, and even sleep issues.

Being on the phone

Your cell phone can combine all of the negative factors for your posture by looking down and being hunched over. It usually creates even worse posture issues if we are tilting our head to hold up our phone, or staring down at the screen for extended periods of time. This is true especially in kids and teenagers. Have you seen your kids glued to the phones or laptops while sitting in an extreme slumped over position? Eventually, they complain about neck or back pain because of this posture. This is known as “text neck” and it can cause all types of issues, even in kids as young as 7 or 8 years old!

How does chiropractic help with posture?

The main job of a chiropractor is to get the spine functioning properly and restore motion to the spine. Sitting, computer work, and prolonged phone use can cause the spine to get “stuck.” This dysfunction causes pain signals to fire to the brain and let your body know that something is wrong. By delivering spinal adjustments and getting these joints unstuck, less pain signals will fire to the brain. Getting adjustments will also help you get your head properly positioned over the rest of your body and you will naturally have better posture.

What our typical patient looks like:

Usually people don’t come into our office until “something is wrong.” It usually starts with a tight neck or feeling tired from work all day. Then the pain gets worse and it starts to interfere with their daily life. Either work starts to suffer or they can’t do the things they love to do without pain. At this point, they decide they need to get some help. This is when they call our office. The first thing one of our doctors does is a thorough exam to see how the spine is functioning. From there we can provide specific treatment for whatever issue they came in for. Most people say “I feel so much better, why didn’t I come in sooner?” once they leave. We LOVE to hear that!

Here at Atlas Chiropractic we are passionate about getting people functioning and feeling their best. Are you suffering from back pain, neck pain, or headaches? Do you sit at a desk all day long? Do you feel like your posture is “off”? If you said yes to any of these questions, you are a perfect fit for our office. Don’t just “deal with it”; come in and feel better! To speak to one of our doctors simply fill out the form below or call the office at 303-442-5911.