Wanted to take some time today to talk about posture and its role in injury and chronic pain. Let’s focus on an upper body postural fault that is commonly seen in the office called upper crossed syndrome. Essentially, upper crossed syndrome is a postural fault that causes the shoulders to round forward and the head to slouch forward. This posture not only increases stress placed on the vertebrae in the neck, which will cause early degeneration and arthritis, but it can also lead to a shoulder issue. When the shoulders round forward, it creates a mechanical disadvantage, which can increase risk of injury at the shoulder. Posture is not directly related to pain, meaning some people can have poor posture and not experience any pain, but it does have a direct relationship on your biomechanics. It’s not a question of “if” poor posture will cause pain, but “when”. Eventually, poor posture and movement faults will drive some kind of dysfunction leading to a repetitive stress injury or a chronic nagging issue that can be avoidable. If you are spending long hours working a job that involves a lot of sitting or desk work, you are more susceptible to developing these movement and postural faults. If you are experiencing a chronic nagging issue that you believe is due to poor posture then let’s get you on a plan to get you out of pain.
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