Neck & Upper Back Pain
Body Posture, Positioning & Balance
What is Good Posture?
By Amjad Yahia
Good posture is something that we should all strive for because of the large amount of health benefits that are associated with it. The video on the right is a lesson is by Murat Dalkilinc which was published on Ted-Education. The video explains that posture and your body's positioning is the foundation for every movement that you make and can determine how well your body adapts to stresses on it.
Daily activities such as carrying heavy weights and typing on your computer takes a serious toll on your body and may cause problems like being hunched over. Over time your poor posture will cause certain muscles on one side of your body to become tight and the muscles on the opposite side to become loose. This has serious effects on your joints, ligaments and spinal cord. This "wear and tear" as the video calls it may make you prone to accidents and may cause some organs to be less efficient. According to the video, poor posture has been linked to:
Why Should I Care?
What are the Risks?
According to the video, poor posture has been linked to:
1- Scoliosis 2- Tention headaches 3- Back pain 4- Emotional State 5- Sensitivity to pain
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What Does Good Posture Look Like
The video explains that our body curves should be identicle to your spinal curves. The picture on the rightillustrates the "S" shape of your spine and everytime you bend in an awkward position you compromise this shape.
When standing in a straight line, the video suggests that you should be able to draw a line straight from a point just infornt of your shoulders to the back of your hip and to the front of your knee. This keeps your centre of gravity directly over your base of support. You may work around this by trying to redesign your environment like your desk and height of you computer monitor which the video goes into more details about.
Academic Study on Posture
The purpose of the article is to identify the extent of pain (neck, upper back, and lower back) experienced by school children as a result of sitting in a static posture. The research design is quantitative which involves an observation of the students sitting posture and an evaluation of their posture angles. The observational method used is one that has been previously established which is Portable Ergonomic Observation Method (PEO). The sample was taken from a larger pool of kids (n= 679) and the sample used in the study were simply the ones available on that day (opportunistic sample). The final sample was 66 children consisting of 34 males and 32 females. The children were directly observed and their posture was recorded in real-time in the classroom. A number of parameters were recorded for the study including the frequency, magnitude and duration was recorded. The data collection took between 45 minutes and 1 hour 15 minutes which was the length of the class. Following observation, a self-reported pain questionnaire was conducted. Finally, statistical analysis including Mann-Whitney U-test was performed.
Some of the relevant outcomes of the study include:
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Taller children reported significantly more neck pain in the last week.
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Long lesson length was significantly associated with self-reported low back pain.
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Trunk flex more than 20 degrees was associated with self-reported low back pain
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High percentage of time spent on a work desk was also associated with self-reported back pain
The researcher discussed why the work is important in relation to other researchers like Troussier et al (1994) and Brattberg and Wickman (1992). This study helps paint a full picture because it looks at school children, other studies have looked at adults and older adults. This study has many implications for schools, some of those discussed include the design of school furniture. Furthermore, information is highly relevant for the future work force which may have many young people entering the workforce.
More Information
A good site to check out is Big Back Pain, the purpose of the website is to discuss the causes, prevention and treatment of back pain. The posture information under the pain prevention is very interesting and it would be most useful to people with bad posture. Also, the strengthening, stretching, and low-impact aerobic exercises may also be beneficial to people with bad posture. Taking stretching breaks is important while sitting and typing on a computer for too long.