If you have suffered from acute or chronic neck, shoulder/back pain, the underlying cause may be related to your posture. Neck/shoulder pain is common in adults, with significant socio-economic costs to the individual and the health system. Many of us spend long hours in a prolonged sitting and/ or standing position. Without appropriate body awareness, we tend to slump into a poor postural position that may lead to various pains and injuries. The good news is postural related pain can be managed with cues and exercise.
Improving Posture to Avoid Pain – We provide below information that outlines appropriate posture guidelines:
SITTING POSTURE
- Avoid slouching or hunched positions
- Correct sitting setup is important. Ankles, knees, hips and elbows should be aligned at 90 degrees. Maintain the natural curvature of the spine with lower back support if needed.
- Widen the collar bones/ clavicles
- This simple cue will help position the shoulder blades (scapular) into a relative neutral position. The cue to ‘pull’ the shoulders back and down is often instructed to correct posture, however by excessively positioning the shoulders into this position, flaring of the rib cage can occur, affecting the back and neck negatively.
- Think ‘tall’
- Imagine a helium balloon, attached to the crown (top) of your head, lifting your head and neck vertically. This movement should help the chin ‘tuck’ backwards along a horizontal plane.
- Note: if you are growing a second or third chin this indicates your tilting your head down, not backwards. This is the incorrect position.
STANDING POSTURE
- Level pelvis
- Imagine your pelvis is a bowl of water. Ideally the bowl is in ‘neutral’ and no water is spilt.
- Tight hip flexor muscles will cause the hips to tilt forward (anteriorly), imagine water spilling forward out of your bowl. This position is common, usually a result of sustained sitting or standing with poor posture.
- Completing a hip flexor stretch 2x daily, held for 30 to 60 secs x 2-3 will help reduce the anterior tilt
- Find your pelvis ‘neutral’
- This step can be completed standing. If you have issues completing this step in standing, try lying on your back with your knees bent and feet placed on the floor, as the floor provides more feedback.
- Place your hands on either side of your hips
- Gently rock your pelvis forwards (anterior tilt) – pouring water forward
- Gently rock your pelvis backwards (posterior tilt) – pouring water backward
- Complete 5-10 rocks in both directions to gauge an idea of your range of motion
- The goal is to find the ‘neutral’ position in between these two points – no water spilt. This sets a solid foundation for your spine and head.
- Imagine your pelvis is a bowl of water. Ideally the bowl is in ‘neutral’ and no water is spilt.
- Complete the SITTING POSTURE steps (above)
At PROHEALTH PHYSIO, we specialise in postural assessment and treatment. If you are experiencing postural related pain, contact us to see one of our Physiotherapists to address your pain and develop evidence-based strategies with you to prevent future postural related pain.
For further information, please refer to:
- Warren, R., Williams, J.M., Glennon, S. and Netto, K., 2007. Postural neck pain: An investigation of habitual sitting posture, perception of ‘good’posture and cervicothoracic kinaesthesia. Manual Therapy, 12, pp.363-371.
- Griegel-Morris, P., Larson, K., Mueller-Klaus, K. and Oatis, C.A., 1992. Incidence of common postural abnormalities in the cervical, shoulder, and thoracic regions and their association with pain in two age groups of healthy subjects. Physical therapy, 72, pp.425-425.
- Straker, L.M., O’Sullivan, P.B., Smith, A.J. and Perry, M.C., 2008. Relationships between prolonged neck/shoulder pain and sitting spinal posture in male and female adolescents. Manual Therapy, 20, p.1e9.
- Szeto, G.P., Straker, L. and Raine, S., 2002. A field comparison of neck and shoulder postures in symptomatic and asymptomatic office workers. Applied Ergonomics, 33, pp.75-84.