The New Year is time for new goals, habits and a focus on wellbeing. While many of us resolve to exercise more, eat better and stress less, an aspect of our health often gets overlooked: our posture.
Posture is the foundation of our overall health and wellbeing, and improving it can have a profound impact on daily life. This blog explores why improving posture should be your number one on the agenda for 2025.
Why Posture Matters
Posture is more than standing up straight. It’s the way your body aligns while you’re sitting, standing and moving. Proper posture allows your muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons and joints to work together in harmony, contributing to better nervous system function and body system functioning. Poor posture, on the other hand, can create strain and interrupt nerve signals to the brain, leading to pain, degeneration and even long term / chronic health problems.
Here’s how good posture impacts your overall health:
- Reduced Pain: Proper alignment reduces musculoskeletal strain, and uneven wear and tear of the joints, allowing your body to function properly without pain and discomfort
- Increased Function: Alignment allows your body to function properly, without interruption, meaning it can be used to its full potential. A proper alignment of our joints, muscle and bones may improve balance and strength allowing you to get the most out of your fitness.
- Boosts Energy: When your body is aligned and your bones, muscles and joints can function easily and freely, it uses less energy leaving you feeling more energised.
- Improves Breathing: Good Posture can open your thoracic (chest) cavity, allowing your lungs to have the space they need to function, improving oxygen flow and boosting your clarity.
- Optimal Nervous System Function: A proper alignment can minimise disruption to the spinal cord, allowing nerve signals to reach the brain uninterrupted, thus increasing brain function. The nervous system controls and coordinates all bodily functions (respiration, digestion, reproduction, hormone regulation etc), misalignments can compress and/or irritate nerves and disrupt signals (3).
The Consequences of Poor Posture
- Pain: Poor alignment can cause strain and tension in your muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints leading to reduced mobility, degeneration and pain/discomfort.
- Increased Risk of Injury: Misalignments can cause instability within the body and reduces function of the musculoskeletal system increasing the likelihood of injuries and muscular strain.
- Lower Energy: Misalignments can cause your body to have to work harder than it has to, to support daily life, meaning your body is more fatigued.
- Poor Nervous System Function: Poor alignment can cause tension on the brain stem/spinal cord and cause nerve compression thus interrupting nerve function and signals to the brain. This may affect bodily functions, and cognitive processes.
You can take steps to improve your posture, here are some ways to get started
- Sit, Sleep and Stand: Help your posture by supporting your body when you sit, sleep and stand. Take a read of this article for tips.
- Be Mindful of technology; always hold your smart device at eye level to avoid misalignments in the spine (known as ‘text Neck’) see this article for more information.
- Take Breaks: Don’t sit for long periods of time, take breaks around every 30 minutes
How Spine Can Help
Spinal manipulation may be a powerful tool for improving and maintaining posture.
We can help by:
- Identifying misalignments that may be causing pain and discomfort and contributing to poor posture.
- Realigning your body to support optimal musculoskeletal and nervous system function
- Providing advice on how to maintain good posture in your daily life
As you work towards your New Year goals, don’t overlook the importance of posture. It’s an effective way to improve your overall health and wellbeing and set yourself up for success in 2025.
If you are ready to start your posture journey, schedule a discovery call with one of our practitioners, who can discuss your goals with you and create a tailored plan.
2025 can be the year you stand tall!
If you liked this article you may be interested in this one: https://spineepsom.co.uk/posture-what-does-it-look-like-when-its-gone-wrong/
References
- Kendall’s Muscles: Testing and Function with Posture and Pain
Vincent M. Conroy (Author), Jr. Brian N. Murray (Author), Quinn T. Alexopulos (Author), Jordan McCreary (Author) - Holt K, Niazi IK, Nedergaard RW, et al. The effects of a single session of chiropractic care on strength, cortical drive, and spinal excitability in stroke patients.Sci Rep. 2019;9(1). doi:10.1038/s41598-019-39577-5
- https://spinalresearch.com.au/chiropractic-and-human-performance-new-pilot-study-looks-at-athlete-population/
- https://spinalresearch.com.au/new-chiropractic-paper-shows-brain-changes-and-impacts-on-pain-mood-sleep-and-quality-of-life/
- Chu ECP, Wong AYL, Lee LYK. Chiropractic care for low back pain, gait and posture in a patient with Parkinson’s disease: a case report and brief review. AME Case Rep. 2021 Oct 25;5:34. doi: 10.21037/acr-21-27. PMID: 34805753; PMCID: PMC8572672.
- Lohman EB, Pacheco GR, Gharibvand L, Daher N, Devore K, Bains G, AlAmeri M, Berk LS. The immediate effects of cervical spine manipulation on pain and biochemical markers in females with acute non-specific mechanical neck pain: a randomized clinical trial. J Man Manip Ther. 2019 Sep;27(4):186-196. doi: 10.1080/10669817.2018.1553696. Epub 2018 Dec 11. PMID: 30935335; PMCID: PMC7025692.
- Goertz CM, Long CR, Vining RD, Pohlman KA, Walter J, Coulter I. Effect of Usual Medical Care Plus Chiropractic Care vs Usual Medical Care Alone on Pain and Disability Among US Service Members With Low Back Pain: A Comparative Effectiveness Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2018 May 18;1(1):e180105. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.0105. PMID: 30646047; PMCID: PMC6324527.
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