Posture

Suffering from a persistent pain that you just can’t explain or noticed that your frame looks out of place? You may be suffering from poor posture.

Posture is the way that you hold your ​shoulders, ​neck and back or the ​particular ​position in which you ​do a certain activity, such as sitting. If your posture is strong and in balance, then all of the parts of your body are correctly aligned and work properly; if it is poor, then your body may be misaligned in some way and can start to cause problems such as pain.

Your body likes to be in balance. If it isn’t, sooner or later, the problem of poor posture rears its head. If your body is working differently from how its designed to, it works harder. If your body is working harder, it breaks down and gets injured more easily.

You may be experiencing pain in your lower leg when you climb the stairs, for example. Whilst we will investigate many possible causes behind this, it could be that you have poor hip alignment which is a postural problem putting too much pressure on your lower leg and causing your pain.

Alternatively, your poor posture might be plain to see. Forward head posture, for example, is misalignment of the neck which leaves the head jutting forwards rather than sitting correctly on the shoulders. It’s something we’re seeing more and more often at Chislehurst Chiropractic Clinic, especially in younger patients, due to the excessive time many of us now spend hunched over looking at various screens and phones every day.

If poor posture is left untreated, you could experience chronic pain or, worse, end up with your core structure being permanently misaligned.

Moreover, poor posture has a real impact on how well you do everyday things and the activities you love. A rugby player with poor posture will find that they have reduced power when they take part in a scrum, for example.

Beyond the physical repercussions of poor posture is the much deeper impact the condition has on your psychological well being. As such, it is always in your best interest to seek help if you’re in pain or have concerns about your posture.

If we discover your complaint to be a result of postural imbalances, the first step will be to treat any immediate pain through targeted Chiropractic adjustments.

Then, once we have relieved your pain, we will begin to focus on how best we can help you recover your strength and stability in the problem area, often through specific exercises, before directing our attention to ensuring your posture remains correctly aligned going forward.