POSTURING FOR GOOD HEALTH

Elbows off the table! Sit up straight! Hold your head up! Mothers and often teachers yell these phrases at kids who innocently treat these rules thrown at them with as much regard as they hold for every instruction they dislike. While some of them correct their postural problems to fit into the modeling industry, most of them grow into adulthood with terrible postures and battle its health consequences.

The most common problems resulting from poor posture are headache, back and neck pain, knee, hip and foot pain, shoulder pain and impingement, jaw pain, fatigue and breathing problems. Looking at the aforementioned health issues, one may consider it preposterous to label poor posture the cause of these problems.

Poor posture causes strain in the muscles at the back of your head, neck, upper back and jaw, putting pressure on nearby nerves which trigger tension-type or muscle-spasm headaches. When this strain persists especially in the back and neck regions, tightness and pain occur over time in those areas and may be chronic affecting your quality of life. Lack of flexibility, weakness of the muscles, poor knee, hip and feet alignment, tightness or imbalances may prevent your patella from sliding over your femur smoothly. The friction that results can cause pain in the knee also known as patellofemoral pain. Poor alignment of the foot and ankle may cause heel pain because of the inflammation of the plantar fascia (a thick band of tissue connecting the heel to the ball of the foot), a condition called plantar fasciitis.

The rotator cuff connecting the upper arm to the shoulder becomes irritated because of muscle tightness, weakness or imbalances from poor posture. The result is pain or weakness in this area. Hunching can impinge the rotator cuff tissue to such extents that it tears causing severe injury. The forward head posture may weaken the jaw muscles or cause popping because this posture overworks the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) and the muscles under the chin.

Also, poor posturing over time may reduce lung capacity, causing shallow breathing because the rib cage is restricted, and the lungs compressed from a lifestyle of poor postural habits.

Since maintaining good posture is more for the sake of health than for securing a place in the modeling industry or pleasing your parents and teachers, you may be curious about how to improve your posture. It is quite doable if you include these three simple tasks in your daily routine:

• practice standing tall while walking;
• do seated pelvic tilts;
• try a wake-up or bedtime bridge pose.

Written and Edited by- EZEBUIRO LOIS

REFERENCES

1. Posture: Align yourself for good health retrieved from: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/posture-align-yourself-for-good-health/art-20269950#:~:text=Good%20posture%20supports%20good%20health,use%20your%20muscles%20more%20efficiently.