Posture

Sagittal Standing Posture and its Association with Spinal Pain

By Frank M. Painter|December 31, 2018|Posture|

Sagittal Standing Posture and its Association with Spinal Pain: A School-based Epidemiological Study of 1196 Flemish Adolescents Before Age at Peak Height Velocity

SOURCE: Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2012 (Sep 1); 37 (19): 1657-1666

Mieke Dolphens; Barbara Cagnie; Pascal Coorevits; Guy Vanderstraeten; Greet Cardon; Roseline D’hooge; Lieven Danneels

Department of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy,
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences,
Ghent University, Artevelde University College, Ghent, Belgium.

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional baseline data set on the sagittal standing posture of 1196 adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To describe and quantify common variations in the sagittal standing alignment in boys and girls who are in the same phase of growth and to explore the association between habitual standing posture and measures for spinal pain.

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Data on postural characteristics and spinal pain measures in adolescence are sparse, especially when somatic and biological maturity status is to be considered. Our understanding of the relationship between standing posture in the sagittal plane and spinal pain is also deficient.

METHODS: A total of 639 boys (age [mean ± SD], 12.6 ± 0.54 yr) and 557 girls (10.6 ± 0.47 yr), with predicted years from peak height velocity (PHV) being 1.2 ± 0.71 and 1.2 ± 0.59 pre-PHV, respectively, were studied. Postural examination included the assessment of global alignment and local spinopelvic characteristics, using post hoc analyses of digital images and direct body measurements (palpation, digital inclinometry, and wheeled accelerometry). Spinal pain experience was assessed by questionnaire.

RESULTS: A wide interindividual variation in sagittal posture characteristics was observed. Logistic regression analyses yielded global alignment parameters to be associated with low back pain (lifetime prevalence), neck pain (lifetime prevalence, 1–mo prevalence, and doctor visit), and thoracic spine pain (doctor visit) outcome measures. None of the included local spinopelvic parameters could be identified as an associated factor with measures of spinal pain.

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Move the fig leaf – how to bend properly

By John Wiens DC|February 26, 2018|Posture|

Source NPR

By Michaeleen Doucleff

To see if you’re bending correctly, try a simple experiment.

“Stand up and put your hands on your waist,” says Jean Couch, who has been helping people get out of back pain for 25 years at her studio in Palo Alto, Calif.

“Now imagine I’ve dropped a feather in front of your feet and asked to pick it up,” Couch says. “Usually everybody immediately moves their heads and looks down.”

That little look down bends your spine and triggers your stomach to do a little crunch. “You’ve already started to bend incorrectly — at your waist,” Couch says. “Almost everyone in the U.S. bends at the stomach.”

In the process, our backs curve into the letter “C” — or, as Couch says, “We all look like really folded cashews.”

In other words, when we bend over in the U.S., most of us look like nuts!

But in many parts of the world, people don’t look like cashews when they bend over. Instead, you see something very different.

I first noticed this mysterious bending style back in 2014 while covering the Ebola outbreak. We were driving on a back road in the rainforest of Liberia and every now and then, we would pass women working in their gardens. The women had striking silhouettes: They were bent over with their backs nearly straight. But they weren’t squatting with a vertical back. Instead, their backs were parallel to the ground. They looked like tables.

After returning home, I started seeing this “table” bending in photos all around the world — an older woman planting rice in Madagascar, a Mayan woman bending over at a market in Guatemala and women farming grass in northern India. This bending seemed to be common in many places, except in Western societies.

“The anthropologists have noted exactly what you’re saying for years,” says Stuart McGill, at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, who has been studying the biomechanics of the spine for more than three decades.

“It’s called hip hinging,” McGill says. “And I’ve spent my career trying to prove it’s a better way of bending than what we do.” (more…)

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Straighten Up for World Spine Day: New Free App Launches to Help All Ages Improve Posture and Spinal Health

By John Wiens DC|October 20, 2014|Posture|

Source Newswire

Musculoskeletal issues are the cause of one-third of missed work − second only to the common cold; poll reveals almost half of Canadians suffered from four or more MSK conditions in the last year.

TORONTO, Oct. 16, 2014 /CNW/ – The Canadian Chiropractic Association (CCA), in partnership with the 10 provincial chiropractic associations, has launched a new app today to mark World Spine Day. The 2014 World Spine Day theme is “Straighten Up and Move”, and the aptly named Straighten Up Canada app aims to accomplish just that—improve posture and spinal health through simple preventative posture exercises. It is the first free Canadian app of its kind.

The Straighten Up Canada app provides users with 12 short exercise videos as well as a tracking feature to monitor progress and share with others through social media. It also includes a “Find a Chiropractor” search function to locate musculoskeletal (MSK) experts nearby.

“Canadians are becoming more sedentary and are experiencing postural issues at an earlier age, due to the increased use of technology in both their personal and professional lives,” explains Dr. Robert David, Chair, Canadian Chiropractic Association. “What most people don’t know is that practising simple exercises daily to adjust poor posture habits is one of the best ways to reduce aches and pains.”

Musculoskeletal conditions account for one-third of missed work in Canada.
Each year, over 11 million Canadians suffer from at least one musculoskeletal condition.¹ In fact, low back pain and other MSK conditions account for one-third of missed work in Canada − second only to the common cold. Many MSK problems are the product of poor posture, resulting from using poor body mechanics while engaging in everyday activities, like hunching over computers, tablets or smartphones, lifting children, slouching at a desk or even carrying heavy purses, laptop bags and groceries. Sitting for prolonged periods at work and heavy manual labour can put further strain on the body’s MSK system.

Alison Dantas, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Chiropractic Association, explains that adopting good posture habits early on is key to minimizing and even avoiding chronic MSK pain in some cases. “As a vital part of every Canadian’s healthcare team, chiropractors are experts in musculoskeletal health and can provide people with preventative measures to promote and maintain a healthy spine. The posture exercises in the Straighten Up Canada app are not only fast and easy, they will help people of all ages prevent, and in some cases even eliminate, their habits around poor posture.”

Almost half of Canadians were afflicted by more than four MSK ailments in the last 12 months; leading symptoms are back pain, stiffness, headaches/migraines, neck and joint pain.
According to research conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of the CCA, 43% of Canadians have suffered from four or more MSK issues within the last year. The leading health concerns are back pain and stiffness (53 per cent), headaches and migraines (44 per cent), neck pain (35 per cent) and joint pain (35 per cent). In fact, MSK disorders account for the highest disability costs among all chronic conditions in Canada ($15 billion). ²

“The main goal of the Straighten Up Canada app is to help people become regularly aware of their posture so they can start to correct it themselves,” explains Dr. David. “Another advantage of this app is these exercises can take as little as three minutes to help you reset and become more mindful of your posture. Everyone can find three minutes in their day, and if they do, it may just help them lead a more active and healthy lifestyle resulting in a wide range of long-term health benefits.”

The Straighten Up Canada app is available for free download through the Apple App Store, Google Play Store and on www.straightenupcanada.ca.

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Miss Correct Posture

By John Wiens DC|September 12, 2014|Posture|

Source Neatorama and Google Life Archives

In the 50s and 60s, American chiropractors held a series of rather unusual beauty pageants where contestants were judged and winners picked not only by their apparent beauty and poise, but also their standing posture (backed with X-rays of their spines, of course).

The contests were a publicity stunt, Reginal Hug, past president of the Association for the History of Chiropractic, told Scott Hensley of NPR, and was meant to burnish the reputation of the profession. The message, he said, was that good posture led to good health and that chiropractors could help with that. “In those days, nobody was concerned about radiation,” Hug added, noting the use of X-rays to check for spinal structures.

Why not contests for men? Actually, there were some but they weren’t as popular and didn’t last very long. “The guys always slouched,” Hug added.

Like many things that were hot back in the early 20th century (like flagpole sitting, goldfish swallowing and phone booth stuffing), the popularity of the chiropractic beauty pageant waned. The last big contest was held in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1969.

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Musculoskeletal Abnormalities in Chronic Headache

By Frank M. Painter|January 15, 2014|Chiropractic Care, Forward Head Posture, Headache, Posture|

Musculoskeletal Abnormalities in Chronic Headache: A Controlled Comparison of Headache Diagnostic Groups

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: Headache. 1999 (Jan); 39 (1): 21–27

Marcus DA, Scharff L, Mercer S, Turk DC.

Department of Anesthesiology, University of Pittsburgh (Penn) School of Medicine, USA.

The presence of postural, myofascial, and mechanical abnormalities in patients with migraine, tension-type headache, or both headache diagnoses was compared to a headache-free control sample. Twenty-four control subjects were obtained from a convenience sampling and each was matched by age and sex to three patients with headache (one with migraine [with or without aura], one with tension-type headache, and one with diagnoses of both migraine and tension-type headache [combined diagnosis]) who had been previously assessed by a physical therapist at a headache clinic. Physical therapy assessment findings were compared among the four groups.

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Posturing for Wellness: Good Health Begins with Good Posture

By Frank M. Painter|February 13, 2013|Backpacks, Chiropractic Care, Posture|

Posturing for Wellness: Good Health Begins with Good Posture

The Chiro.Org Blog

SOURCE: The ACA

Doctors of chiropractic have long emphasized the importance of posture and other lifestyle factors in the body’s ability to function optimally. In a broad sense, good posture can be considered an ongoing battle against bad habits. “The body endures hundreds of insults each day,” says Scott W. Donkin, DC, DACBOH, “but we have the choice of controlling how they affect us. Once destructive habits are identified, people can change, prevent, and relieve both present and future physical problems. The quality of our later years can be enhanced and many physical problems prevented if we understand and deal early on with the underlying issues.” Dr. Donkin is the author of Sitting on the Job. [1]

Lifetime Regimen

What most people don’t know is that the following should be a lifetime regimen-for everyone-and not just when the back hurts. ACA Council on Chiropractic Orthopedics vice president Gary L. Carver, DC, DABCO, says that when they first get up in the morning, “People should use their hands and arms for support to get into a seated position. Next, they should swing their legs to the floor and stand up-using the hinge of the hips, rather than the back.”

But once the body is upright, is it up right? In other words, are the muscles, joints, and skeleton in a balanced posture? Too often, the answer is “no.” “As long as our body is performing, we take it for granted. We don’t concentrate on what we need to do to maintain good posture habits,” says Leo Bronston, DC, DABCO, DACAN, CCSP, and secretary of the ACA Council on Chiropractic Orthopedics. “Generally, we tend to hunch forward when we should be rolling our shoulders back and opening up the chest wall. That is something we need to practice-activating the proper postural muscles. We see many patients who simply don’t know how to achieve a more balanced trunk and neutral spine. Just as we learned to eat with a fork and that became automatic, we can train our muscles for good posture and balance, whether we’re standing, rising from a seated position, or getting out of bed.”

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