Simple Tips to Improve Your Posture

We all know we need “better” posture. Here are a few simple tips to help you out!

•Slouching while sitting: Slouching causes the spine to round into flexion, causing posterior tilt of the pelvis, increased thoracic kyphosis, forward head tilt, and forward rounding of the shoulders. How to fix this: Getting up to move frequently, focus on sitting up straight with a small arch in your lower back, and sitting on an exercise ball at work.

•Caring items on one side of your body: Carrying a backpack, purse, briefcase, or groceries on the same side of your body overuses one arm and shoulder. This often causes one shoulder to drop lower and rotate forward. How to fix this: Switching arms frequently, don’t over fill bags making them too heavy. Try to carry one bag of groceries in each arms to even yourself out.

· Backpacks:
It’s that time of year again, back-to-school! As practical as backpacks are, they can strain muscles and joints and may cause back pain if they’re too heavy or are used incorrectly.
Although many factors can lead to back pain, such as sudden increased participation in sports or exercise, poor posture while sitting, and long periods of inactivity, some kids have backaches because they’re carrying around an entire locker’s worth of books and school supplies all day. The American Chiropractic Association recommends that kids carrying no more than 5-10% of their body weight in their backpacks. Heavy backpacks can pull a child backwards, the child may lean forward, flexing or arching the back which cause the spine to compress unnaturally. How to fix this: make sure backpacks weigh no more than 5-10% than your child’s body weight. The backpack should never hang more than 4 inches below the waistline. Wear the bag on both shoulders. Use a bag with wide padded straps, and adjust the straps to fit your child. If the backpack is still too heavy, talk to your child’s teacher and ask if your child could leave the heaviest books at school and bring home only lighter handout materials or workbooks.