Sitting Posture
Our sitting posture is one of the biggest drivers of neck pain. You don’t need trauma to end up with neck pain. With us all sitting more, and the progress in technology we are finding more and more that sitting posture is getting worse.
Commonly we find rounding of the shoulders with a forward head posture. This comes from long periods of time sitting on phones, laptops, desktops, and tablets where we start to assume the “slouch”position
Overtime the load of our head being forwards leads to:
- undue stress on the vertebrae of the lower neck, contributing to degenerative neck problems.
- the muscles of the upper back overworking in an effort to counterbalance the forward head posture.
- shoulder impingement due to rounding of the shoulders.
In general, optimal sitting posture originates from the pelvis up. Get the pelvis aligned and the spine should follow. Some simple steps to help ease neck and shoulder pain:
- Sit on your seat bones (under your bottom cheeks), not your tailbone.
- Think about sitting tall through your spine
- Gently draw your shoulder blades back
- Lift up through the crown of your head.
Small changes to your sitting posture can make a big difference. These changes are not easy to make and take some patience. At Village Physio we work closely with clients to aid in achieving optimal posture and function through all daily tasks.
Stay posted for our desk ergonomic blog – directly linking in with your sitting posture.