DOES THIS SOUND LIKE YOU??
Ever experience nagging back pain and discomfort?
Chance are, you like 85% of Canadians at some point in time have experienced back pain! But, unless you have an actual problem with, or injury to your spine, is back pain a necessary part of our lives?
What causes it to happen and can it be prevented?? Why does it keep returning to haunt us??
Here are a few habits that contribute to back pain but can be eliminated with a little re-conditioning and focus!
REPETITIVE MOVEMENT PATTERNS THAT CAN CAUSE OVERUSE PATTERNS…..
WORK RELATED MOVEMENTS ……ROTATING AT YOUR DESK IN ONLY ONE DIRECTION, PROLONGED SITTING, HOLDING THE PHONE WITH YOUR SHOULDER, USING A KEYBOARD ALL DAY ETC….
CARRYING A HEAVY BAG OR BRIEF CASE ON ONE SIDE
CARRYING CHILDREN ON ONE HIP
PUTTING CHILDREN IN AND OUT
OF A CAR SEAT (SPECIFICALLY ON ONLY ONE SIDE)
PLAYING SPORTS
DRIVING (especially standard)
SITTING ON A LARGE WALLET
SLEEPING IN A PARTICULAR POSITION
STRESS
THE SHOES YOU WEAR
HEREDITY AND GENETICS
HOW TO FIX IT......
STRETCHING OF TIGHT MUSCLES
STRENGTHENING OF WEAK MUSCLES
BODY AWARENESS
IMPROVING POSTURE…SLEEPING, SITTING, STANDING
Hmmm....posture you say? Why is that so important?
POSTURE -THE POSITION FROM WHICH ALL GOOD MOVEMENT BEGINS AND ENDS AND IS ATTAINED WHEN ALL THE STRUCTURES OF THE BODY ARE IN BALANCE AND ALIGNMENT WITH EACH OTHER.
The longer we spend in positions that pull our muscles and joints out of their "natural alignment" the more likely we are to suffer from back discomfort, whether it be lower back, neck or shoulders.
Oh, I know what you're going to say...."I can't stop working, sitting at my computer, driving etc"...or whatever it may be that's leading to or exacerbating the issue. No, of course not and I would be crazy to ask you to but what you can do is take matters into your own hands and recondition your body to handle these stresses in a different way so that discomfort doesn't have to be a normal part of life.
Want to learn more about how posture can be improved to prevent back discomfort and what the long term effects of having bad posture are?
Check out next week's post when I dive into the "unchecked effects of poor posture!"
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