One of, if not the, most effective ways to prevent neck and back pain is to maintain good (or at least adequate) posture. And there’s more to it than just, “sit up straight!” Over the next few blogs I want to go over some posture basics and give you 4 simple tips that will make maintaining good posture easier.

Posture is the way you hold your body when you’re performing various tasks, like standing, sitting or lifting. If your posture is good, then the bones of your spine are in the best position for that task. The bones in your spine, vertebrae, are in three groups: neck (cervical), mid-back (thoracic) and low back (lumbar). The curves, or the direction the vertebrae face, determine posture.

The neck and low back vertebrae should be in a concave, curved shape when viewed from the side. Think of concave being like a “cave.” The inner part of the C-shaped curve should face in for both the cervical and lumbar spine. The mid-back curve should face out in a convex manner, rounded like the surface of a magnifying glass.

As a side note, babies are born with a convex spine. As they crawl, they lift their head and push their pelvis forward and develop the secondary, or concave, curves of their neck and low back.  

Now that we’ve got the basics down, the next blog will deal with taking the necessary steps toward good posture.

Your local chiropractor,

Dr. Z

at Main St. Chiropractic

For part 2: click here

For part 3: click here

For part 4: click here