Many of us feel back pain at some point in life, which may be due to some injury, spinal disorder, or bad posture. Among all these factors, poor posture is one of the leading elements of back pain; therefore, if you are facing this issue while laying down, walking or sitting, you should work on your posture, utilizing the tips provided in this article.
Ignoring poor posture can affect your overall health, causing strain in your neck and shoulders, back pain, and even worse, long-term joint damage. Therefore, whether you are sitting at your desk in front of the computer, or sleeping in bed, you should follow proper guidelines for improving posture to alleviate strains and backaches.
Continue reading this article, and you’ll get to know how poor posture can lead to back pain and other back problems. You’ll also gain some tips in the light of improving posture, on how to sit, stand, sleep, and perform everyday tasks like lifting, bending, or pulling, etc., to adjust your posture accordingly for perfect spine alignment. Furthermore, you’ll get to know about some fantastic exercises and posture correcting devices you can use to improve your posture.
How Poor Posture Causes You Back Pain?
When you sit or sleep improperly, your uneven position exerts pressure on the spine and compresses the nerves. This strain affects the joints attached to the spine and leads to back pain. Furthermore, unsupported posture bends the spine permanently in the long run, degenerates the spine, causes inflammation in the nerves and herniated discs. All these elements lead to long term back pain.
Common Mistakes in Posture Causing Back Pain
We will discuss below, several common posture mistakes that badly affect your spine and cause acute back pain:
- Slouching on the chair is the most common posture mistake by millions of people worldwide. Slouching or slumping can cause muscle tension as well as joint pain, back pain, and reduced blood circulation.
- Sleeping on your stomach or lying on your belly also causes strain on your spine and back. Because uneven distribution of weight moves the spine away from its natural position and causes back pain.
- If you have an exaggerated curve in the lower back while standing, it's a sign of Hyperlordosis of the lumbar. This curve puts excessive pressure on the spine in the wrong direction and deteriorates the spine's ability to absorb shocks and prevent severe injuries.
- Prolonged hunching while performing everyday tasks like typing on the keyboard or washing dishes causes muscles in the core, back and abdomen to become strained. It also results in reduced blood flow in the spine, developing stiffness and weakening the trunk.
- Instead of using core muscles and buttocks to support posture while standing, leaning on one leg may cause muscle imbalance in the pelvis area, producing muscular strain in the buttock and lower back.
- If your shoulders do not correctly align with the spine, it can cause many posture-related issues like backache and stretching of the shoulder.
Tips on Improving Your Posture
Here we will be sharing a few tips for posture improvement that you should follow in everyday life to relieve back pain and other posture-related issues.
Proper Sleeping posture
First, you should focus on sleeping posture because everyone spends at least 8 hours lying on the bed. The first sleeping tip is that you should avoid sleeping on your stomach and belly. Always try to sleep on your back with a rounded pillow under your neck to support its natural curve. However, if you have a habit of sleeping on your sides, never use a cushion that is too low or too high. If you suffer from back pain symptoms, it is a good practice to keep an additional pillow between your knees to support the spine and prevent pain.
Proper Sitting Posture
Proper sitting posture is compulsory for everyone because the average person spends more than 50% of the day sitting in the office, home or restaurants. Always sit with your head up, keeping your back straight and shoulders at the back such that your buttock touches the back of the chair. Evenly distribute your weight on both hips and make sure that your head is level-up with the spine. Keep your feet flat on the ground and flex your arm at a 75- angle. To avoid all this hassle, you can place a simple posture correction device like the Posture Pal Back Stretcher against your chair for a few days to improve sitting posture.
Proper Standing and Walking
Most of us don't give attention to whether we are walking correctly or not. While walking, stand tall with your ears aligned above your shoulder and chin parallel to the ground. Elongate your spine and avoid hunching, slouching, or leaning forward. Maintain high shoulders in shrug-like motion and focus on tightening and engaging your core muscles at each step. Move your arm back and forth gently from your shoulders, not from your elbows. Remain conscious of this practice and keep doing it until it becomes an involuntary habit, and your posture improves.
Properly Lift Things
If you don't give importance to posture while bending and lifting heavy things, it can cause injury to your spinal discs, joints, and core muscles. For raising anything, your feet should be shoulder-width apart, with one foot marginally ahead of the other. Bend your hips and knees only. Hold the object with your shoulders back and hips sticking outwards. Look straight up, and slowly lift up while straightening your knees and hips. Additionally, keep the load closer to your belly.
Exercises to improve posture to relieve Back Pain:
Here, we will share a few great exercises that will help you improve your posture, strengthen your core and lower back, and alleviate back pain. Let us see these exercises.
Bridges
This exercise strengthens your hamstrings, gluteus muscles, and spine, which are the main muscles of the posterior chain. It is performed by lifting your body up from the ground, with your knees bent, feet flat on the ground, and at a comfortable distance from hips. It significantly helps to improve spinal curvature and posture.
Seated Rotational Stretches
This exercise works with core muscles to strengthen the lower back and help to relieve pain. You can perform it on your chair by sitting straight, keeping feet flat on the ground, spine tall, and twisting the core to the right and then to the left.
Partial Curls
It plays a significant role in supporting the spine and keeping the hips adequately aligned with it. Further, it strengthens weak abdominals, provides stability, and prevents lower back pain. To perform this, raise your head 2-inches above ground while lying on the floor, keeping your feet flat and half-width apart. Hold this position for 5 seconds and repeat it around ten to fifteen times.
How Posture Pal Back Stretcher is Effective in Back Pain?
Posture Pal Back Stretcher is a fantastic device that can help you improve posture to alleviate back pain. It effectively combines Magnetic Therapy, Acupuncture, Chiropractic, and stretching to improve blood flow in the spine, heal muscle strain, pinched nerves, unbalanced spinal curvature and much more. Furthermore, it is very easy to use. You just place it under your back and lay on it for 5-10 minute stretching sessions daily, and it will provide you significant comfort and heal your back pain. Click here for more info.
Bottom Line
Among many other causes of lower back pain, poor posture is the leading factor that badly affects the spine and core muscles. Therefore, you should pay special attention to your posture and make maximum efforts to improve it. Initially, it may not be the easiest task, but you will eventually become habitual to a great new posture.
Review and analyze the above mentioned points in this article to identify faults in your posture routine and follow the given tips and exercises to bring improvement. Furthermore, we highly recommend you to try out back stretching devices like the Posture Pal Back Stretcher to strengthen the spine and improve posture to relieve back pain.