Having good posture need for back health
By Kim Hyoung-Bok
What actions are you taking to secure your back health?
People undergo many different measures, such as relying on nutrition by eating foods that are known to be good for the back, or using furniture designed to improve human posture.
However, there is a more important and fundamental principle for ensuring back health ― maintaining correct posture of the back. Many people already know about the importance of posture. However, it can be hard to put into action.
Even the smallest movement can affect the vertebrae, as well as the discs, ligaments, joints and muscles.
Many patients with back pain can easily decrease their pain level by correcting their daily posture.
Thus, making the effort to adjust bad posture that might be causing back pain is the first step toward achieving a healthy back.
What is correct posture? Correct posture refers to maintaining a posture that places the least pressure on the vertebrae, discs, surrounding muscles and ligaments, and creates an aligned back.
This alignment not only benefits the back, but also minimizes the pressure on the joints bearing the body weight, such as the knee or ankle, and this alignment ultimately delays the degeneration of these joints.
Furthermore, as the weight on the back decreases, unnecessary weight on the muscles and ligaments also decreases, bringing the benefit of preventing a flat back or spinal deformity.
However, it is not easy to maintain correct posture all the time, as not many realize that they have poor posture and what needs to be adjusted to maintain good posture.
More importantly, other parts of our body need to present the right function to maintain correct posture.
First of all, since flexibility is important in maintaining good posture, regular stretching exercises are recommended. Also, to prevent limited flexion of the joint, light exercise to gradually increase joint flexion is necessary.
However, even if flexibility and joint flexion are secured, the preparation stage for the right posture requires more action.
To maintain the right posture while not only standing up but also engaging in movement, muscular strength is necessary to maintain an unperturbed posture. It is recommended that you engage in regular light exercises such as walking or swimming in order to increase muscle strength.
If you feel that your posture is not straight or experience back pain without any evident cause, professional physical therapy treatment such as Medx therapy is recommended.
Tips for good posture while standing up:
Head should be straight, not tilted to left or right, with the chin tucked in. Imagine drawing a line from your earlobe down; the line should be in the middle of each side of your shoulder; Keep the head up and imagine the top of your head pushing toward the ceiling, while keeping your shoulders upright. Tuck in your belly, and be sure that your pelvis is not tilted. Try to maintain your weight bearing on the foot to avoid collapsed arches.
The writer is the spine specialist at Bumin Hospital Seoul in Gangseo District.