Posture

Posture and Spinal Pain

Almost every single patient I see with some form of spinal pain requires input regarding improving their posture. By this I mean how they hold themselves whilst sitting, standing and going about their normal everyday activities. I agree it is not the most exciting subject in the world but I assure you paying attention to it to develop a few key habits will pay dividends over your whole life.

A massive amount of pain affecting the neck and back as well as the upper and lower limbs is caused by bodily position. The symptoms of such conditions develop relatively slowly as the effects of the spinal position gradually develop. There are a multitude of problems that result from this.

Presentation of Symptoms

It will generally begin with discomfort from over stretched muscles and ligaments in the spine. This initially tends to be felt over the spine itself. If the situation is not corrected pain often begins to be felt in the head, shoulders or hips depending on which part of the spine is not aligned correctly.

Should the problem not be corrected, or develop further, there is likely to be compression of spinal joints. This will certainly add to the pain symptoms,often giving a characterisitic low level, deep ache. Narrowing of spaces through which nerves have to pass entering and leaving the spinal cord is also likely to occur. This will likely result in nerve compression and an accompanying markded increase in pain, often being felt at various sites in the limbs supplied by the specific nerve in question.

Pathology

Poor joint position is also likely to have an effect on the intervertebral discs, the structures that act as shock absorbers in the spine and sit between the individual vertebrae. The jelly like centre of these discs is susceptible to prologed postural forces and can bulge against or even herniate through the disc wall. This results in severe pain and inflammation.

The Answer

If you have any spinal pain at all it is highly likely that you would benefit from improvements in your posture. The sooner these are implemented, the better. The longer they are left the more difficult they are to change. However all is not lost and some attention to detail regarding how you sit, stand and perform certain activities, as well as doing a couple of prescribed exercises will, over a few weeks, have a marked positive effect if your problem is a postural one.

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