Benefits of Postural Therapy to Overall Wellness

Your posture affects more than just your back. Did you know poor posture can lead to headaches, pelvic problems, fatigue issues, hip pain, digestive problems, and more? Postural therapy can help pain related to poor posture. Keeping reading to learn more about how you could benefit! 

What is Posture?

Your posture is more than making sure you’re sitting up straight at your desk or standing up straight. Your posture plays a vital role in your long-term health. Physio-pedia defines the two types of posture:

• Dynamic posture: this is how you hold yourself when you move, like when you’re walking or exercising. It is usually required to form an efficient basis for movement. Your body has to work to adapt to changing circumstances, whether it’s you going for a run or bending down to pick something up. 
• Static posture: this is how you hold your body when you’re not moving, like when you’re sitting or laying down. Body segments are aligned and maintained in fixed positions. This is achieved by coordination and interaction of various muscle groups that work statically to counteract gravity and other forces. 

How to Tell if You Have Bad Posture

If you have poor posture, then you will have signs and symptoms accompanying it. Better Health Channel lists the signs of poor posture as having:

• Rounded shoulders
• Potbelly
• Bent knees when standing or walking
• Head that leans forward or backward
• Back pain
• Body aches and pains
• Muscle fatigue
• Headaches

Risks of Poor Posture

Other than the well-known back and neck pain that is brought on by posture problems, it can also put you at risk for poor balance, headaches, and breathing difficulties. Harvard Health released a study that showed other health problems linked to poor posture to be:

• Incontinence: this is because, when you slouch, your abdomen puts too much pressure on your bladder and causes it to leak when you laugh or cough. This also weakens the pelvic floor muscles to where they can’t handle the pressure. 
• Constipation: poor posture on the toilet can increase constipation problems in some patients. If you have fewer than three bowel movements a week, you have constipation. 
• Heartburn and slowed digestion: slouching can also increase heartburn after a meal, because you’re placing pressure on the abdomen which can make stomach acid move in the wrong direction.

Get Help with Postural Therapy

Postural therapy will help put your body back into balance. Whether you sit at a desk too long each day or have an injury, it’s easy to throw your body out of balance. Postural therapy will help you restore your posture. Our experienced team will give you gentle exercises and stretches that will help restore your posture. When done on a regular basis, postural therapy can help keep your body aligned and prevent further postural problems from occurring. 

Along with postural therapy, our team offers many holistic healthcare treatments to help you live your life free of pain. If you have back pain, our other treatment options can include: 

• Electrical stimulation to calm irritated or damaged nerves
• Spinal alignment therapy to straighten out slipped vertebrae and relieve pressure on discs
• Recommendations for braces or other support appliances to protect the back during actives that might otherwise put it at risk
• Steroid shots to reduce pain in one area 

Your Initial Visit

When you come in for your first visit, Dr. Shaner or a member of our team here at Texas Spine and Sports Therapy Center, will learn more about your health history and what your current pain is like. We will develop an individualized treatment plan that will help you find relief from your pain. Whether it’s postural therapy or something else, there will be an option for you. Call us today to learn more: (512)-806-0015.