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Complexities with Bad postures you must be aware of

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We all have been taught for making right posture since our childhood. However, the reason behind this saying means a lot. A bad posture not just disturbs the aesthetic appeal of a person but also give birth to unsound health hazards that sometimes lead to long term complexities. Hence, the complexities with bad postures can in turn end in hefty medical expenditures.

Kinds of bad postures:

  • Leaning forward

The sedentary lifestyle and long sitting hours in front of computers and handheld devices makes people tired and compel them to lean forward that creates the bad posture.

  • Inappropriate seating

Crossing leg over leg or sitting too far or on the edge of the chair causes strain on the spine.

  • Slouching

Most of the crowd is guilty falling into this posture. When a person while standing, sitting or walking with the shoulders hanging forward and the head bent slightly over is addicted to slouch.

Health related disorders due to bad postures

  • Gastrointestinal reflux
  • Headaches
  • Disturbed sleep patterns
  • Lower back ache
  • Carpal tunnel syndrome
  • Poor circulation
  • Fatigue
  • Soreness and pain all over the back
  • Leg and hip pain
  • Shoulder stiffness
  • Tingling sensation and weakness in the muscles
  • Poor breathing
  • Increased risk of cardiovascular disease
  • Subluxations
  • Exacerbating arthritis
  • Forward head posture

However, maintaining the right postures is quite important for the overall wellbeing. If anyone realize suffering from any of the symptoms, it is suggested to make a consultation with concerned physician before it is too late to cure. Once avoiding maintaining correct postures can lead to invasive and painful treatments at the end.

If you are facing any issue regarding posture or any trouble relating the same, visit Innovation Spine and Wellness. We are expert wellness facility delivering high-end technology in providing solutions to spine related heath disorder. Our well educated doctors suggest the right treatment to the patient after visualizing the whole matter. Make your bookings now. For further queries, call us at 905.868.9090. We are available round the clock to serve you the best.

Ways to Maintain a Good Posture

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The spine must always be maintained in a healthy posture for the body to do normal activities. A good posture means that all the bones and the skeletal system of the body is aligned. On the other hand, misaligned bones and skeletal system leads to a bad posture which in turn leads to several other problems of the spine and thereby the entire body.

Good posture happens when all the bones of the body fit properly with one another respective of their joints and there is no problem in being upright against the force of gravity. When the muscles and bones are aligned in the right manner, the muscles, bones and joints do not go through any type of pain. On the other hand, a poor posture of the body leads to pains in the joints, bones as well as the muscles leading to several other health issues.

There are many ways in which a good posture of the body can be maintained:

  • Yoga: Yoga is an ancient holistic system that helps the body maintain a good posture. The technique focuses on poses and achieving peace of mind. Yoga must be done under the guidance of an instructor who tells people on how to work on the different muscles and parts of the body. Yoga helps in pain management and also in injury healing. In fact, yoga is known as a successful and effective technique for managing chronic back and neck pain.
  • Chiropractic: This is a technique that focuses on manual spinal adjustment. The technique does not make use of any medicines or surgical processes and works to adjust spinal bones. The method helps to restore the natural alignment of the spine thereby enabling the human body to maintain a healthy spine free from all types of problems and pains.
  • Massage therapy: Massage therapy works on different muscles and bones of the body. Massage therapy includes massaging the muscles of the body in different ways to bring about relaxation in the muscles. This in turn helps the muscles to stay aligned and also help to keep the bones of the body in correct position. Massage therapy also helps in bringing about relief from injuries and relieves pain in different muscles of the body. Massage must however be done by a specialist therapist for it work in the most effective manner. Massage done in the right manner goes a long way in restoring the natural posture and alignment of the spine.

Innovative Spine Wellness is a facility that helps people maintain a healthy spine. Our professionals offer posture correction Aurora techniques that help one to keep the spine fit and fine. We believe that a healthy spine results in a healthy body and therefore we ensure that our clients always get the best and the most reliable wellness facilities from us.

Tips to Maintain a Good Posture

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Posture refers to the position in which our bodies are held when we sit, stand or lie down. It is very important to maintain the correct posture of the body. A good posture means that the body parts are aligned in the right manner supported by the right amount of muscle tension against gravity. A good posture is essential for good health of the body as well as the spine.

A good posture is important as it:

  • Helps to keep the bones and joints in the correct alignment so that the muscles can be used properly.
  • Reduces stress on ligaments that hold the spinal joints thereby reducing chances of injuries to the spine.
  • Allows the muscles to work efficiently and in the right manner.
  • Helps to prevent muscular strains and also their improper use.

In general, we do not maintain a good posture when sitting, standing or lying down. Instead we like to maintain a posture that we feel comfortable in which is not the right thing to do as it leads to several health issues.

A poor posture can put excess strain on the muscles of the body thereby hampering their functioning. Poor posture may lead to injuries and pain in the muscles that can in turn lead to different health issues.

Tips to maintain a good posture when sitting:

  • When sitting, one must keep the feet on the floor or a footrest if the feet do not reach the floor.
  • When sitting, there must always be a gap between the seat and the back of the knees.
  • It is important to support the low and mid back when sitting and therefore the backrest of a seat must be adjusted accordingly.
  • When sitting, the shoulders must always be relaxed.
  • It is important to ensure that one does not sit in the same position for long time periods.

Tips to maintain a good posture when standing:

  • When standing the weight must be borne by the balls of the feet and not the toes.
  • When standing one must bend the knees a little and stand straight and tall with shoulders held backwards.
  • It is important to maintain the head level when standing. The ear lobes must be in-line with the shoulders when standing and the head must not be pushed forward, backward or on the sides.
  • When standing for long time periods, one must make sure to shift the weight from one leg to another or from the heels to the toes so that the muscles of the legs and back do not get strained.

Innovative Spine Wellness is a wellness facility in Newmarket. We help people cope with their spine and back problems in an effective manner. For posture correction, Newmarket, we are the best and the most professional facility.

Power Plate – What’s all this hype about?

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By Melissa Baird, RMT & Dr. Oakley

There are constant fitness trends emerging, most of them leaving the customer disappointed; the Power Plate is not to be mistaken as a fitness trend. The Power Plate machine is a three-dimensional platform providing a consistent, safe and controlled level of vibration in an up and down, back and forth, and side to side motion.1

There are many benefits to using a Power Plate platform such as improving muscle tone, increasing range of motion, improving coordination and balance, increasing blood flow, reducing body fat and boosting metabolism, decreasing cellulite, increasing bone mineral density and alleviating pain by promoting recovery of damaged muscles and tendons.1

How does the Power Plate work? Constant vibration in three-dimensions forces the body to seek out stability, contracting muscles involuntarily to compensate.2 Not only does the Power Plate add to ones’ workout regime but it is also providing a different treatment option for those suffering from cerebral palsy, osteoporosis, neck and back injuries, chronic pain and even kidney stones.2

In one study, 61 obese adults were split into 4 groups: a control group (no changes made to their lifestyle), a diet only group, a fitness group, and a Power Plate group. The study took place for 6 months with a follow-up after an additional 6 months of no intervention. The Power Plate group had significant decreases in visceral fat (fat surrounding the abdominal contents), and after 6 months post intervention the Power Plate group maintained their decreased visceral body fat levels whereas the other groups of diet and fitness returned to their baseline values.3

Bottom Line:

Whether searching for pain relief, are new to fitness and seeking long-term results or are looking to maximize your current fitness level, incorporating the 3D Power Plate technology will ensure you get the best results!

 

Call to book your Free Trial Power Plate workout Today! Read more →

Hunched Posture is more than Just a Cosmetic Deformity: Dr. Kado, MD Proves it’s Correlation to Cancer, Heart Attack and Stroke

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By Dr. Oakley

Hunched posture is more than just a cosmetic deformity! It commonly starts with a forward head posture (see my blog on ‘text neck’) and then affects the upper back, as well as the lower back. Eventually it is a whole body collapse against the unrelenting gravitational forces.

The health effects of hunched posture, aka hyper-kyphosis, were assessed by

Dr. Deborah Kado, MD (UCLA) and colleagues and published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in 2004. Kado examined 1353 persons aged 45-98 for hunched posture. These researchers measured hunched posture as the number of 1.7cm blocks necessary to place under a persons’ head to allow them to lay on their back with a neutral head position with upward gaze (without extending their head backwards). Follow-up exams were done on the survivors (267 persons died) an average of 4.3 years later.

Hazard rates statistical methods determined that for the whole group, hunched persons (requiring at least one block or more) had a 44% greater chance of dying than non-hunched persons. The more blocks that were necessary to use showed a greater chance of dying (1.25x risk for one block, 1.56x risk for two blocks, 1.50x risk for three blocks) as compared to having good posture. [Although there appears to be a slight better chance of living having 3 or more blocks than requiring only 2, the difference is small, albeit it may show that some individuals can adapt to worsening posture better than others – then again, they were still 50% more likely to die!]

The authors also looked at the cause of death – they already proved poorer postured people die earlier, but how? As it turns out they found that if you have hunched posture, you have a 2.38x greater chance of dying from atherosclerosis, a 1.84x greater chance of dying from cancer, a 2.44x greater chance of dying from pulmonary causes, and a 1.37x greater chance of dying from any other disease. Yes, hyper-kyphosis or simply, hunched posture predisposes you to early demise from a variety of diseases including cancer!

Risk & Cause of Death from Hunched Position

1.37X

Variety of causes

1.84X

Cancer

2.38X

Atherosclerosis (heart attack/stroke)

2.44X

Pulmonary causes

Obviously this may be new information for you. In fact, chances are your medical doctor will not have heard of this information either – when’s the last time they checked your posture?! This is one of the reasons why you need to take the responsibility of health into your own hands and educate yourself on what is actually important to achieve and maintain your health. Posture is certainly a central pillar to your health! (See my book: Shotgun to Health).

Call to book your spine and posture check-up now!

 

 

References

Kado DM, Huang MH, Karlamangla AS, Barrett-Connor E, Greendale GA. Hyperkyphotic posture predicts mortality in older community-dwelling men and women: a prospective study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2004 Oct;52(10):1662-7.

‘Text Neck’ – Are You Inadvertently Giving Yourself Poor Health?

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By Dr. Oakley

‘Text neck’ is a modern term describing the forward head and neck positions adopted while using your smartphone. According to Dr. Hansraj,1 chief of spine surgery at New York Spine Surgery and Rehabilitation Medicine, it is an epidemic. As he states in an interview in The Washington Post, “Just look around you, everyone has their heads down.”2

According to Dr. Hansraj, an average head weighs about 12 pounds. The more forward your head angle becomes, the greater ‘effective weight’ of your head. At a 60° angle, the head feels like it weighs 60 pounds (as opposed to 12lbs)!1 This adds an extraordinary amount of stress to the structures of the neck including the discs, muscles and ligaments, as well as the bones and nerves.

Poor posture is truly an under-diagnosed modern epidemic. Postural alterations are known to be associated with a plethora of human afflictions from general pain syndromes,3-11 to problems with specific joints such as the hip12,13 and the knee,14 to problems with specific spinal regions such as the flat-back syndrome,15 and cervical kyphosis,11 to local organ ailments such as uterine prolapse,16,17 gastric herniation,18 and respiratory function,19-21 to thinking,19,22 and even to morbidity and mortality.23-27

An ideal neck in neutral posture should have a backward curve, or ‘C’ shape, as in a piece of a circle.28,29 The more often one bends their head forward, the greater the chance of loosing the normal or ideal ‘C’ shape alignment. This leads to a straightening of the neck curve, which predisposes you to neck pain and headaches, as well as numbness and tingling in the arms and hands as in carpal tunnel syndrome.28,29

Even worse, the forward leaning of head posture leads to a worsening of your whole spine. Those older people with excessive forward hunchback postures (termed hyper-kyphosis) have had their bad postures start somewhere – and it typically starts with only a forward head position. As your posture can continue to lean and hunch forward as the years go by, a simultaneous deterioration of your health occurs.

So to avoid and prevent the deterioration of your health by poor postures, it is of prime importance to not only be aware of what postures you adopt throughout the day (including while using your smartphone), but also to get a spine and posture assessment to see where your spine and posture currently is as compared to where it should be.

Innovative Spine & Wellness uses state-of-the-art ‘BioPhysics’ techniques (www.idealspine.com) to correct faulty posture. By using corrective exercises and corrective stretching procedures, we can get great improvements in posture and therefore, improve your health!

 

Call For Your Spinal Check-up Today!

References

  1. Hansraj KK. Assessment of stresses in the cervical spine caused by posture and position of the head. Surg Technol Int. 2014 Nov;25:277-9.
  2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/11/20/text-neck-is-becoming-an-epidemic-and-could-wreck-your-spine/
  3. Cailliet R. Low back pain syndrome. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1981.
  4. Harber P, Bloswick D, Beck J, Pena L, Baker D, Lee J. Supermarket checker motions and cumulative trauma risk. J Occup Med 1993;35:805-811.
  5. Genaidy AM, Karwowski W. The effects of neural posture deviations on perceived joint discomfort ratings in sitting and standing postures. Ergonomics 1993;36:785-792.
  6. Rys M, Konz S. Standing. Ergonomics 1994;37:677-687.
  7. Powers C, Maffucci R, Hampton S. Rear foot posture in subjects with patello-femoral pain. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1995;22:155-160.
  8. Eklund J, Odenrick P, Zettergren S, Johansson H. Head posture measurements among work vehicle drivers and implications for work and workplace design. Ergonomics 1994;37:623-639.
  9. Watson A. Sports injuries in footballers related to defects of posture and body mechanics. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1995;35:289-294.
  10. Beaman DN, Graziano GP, Glover RA, Wojtys EM, Chang V. Substance P innervation of lumbar spine facet joints. Spine 1993;18:1044-1049.
  11. Ganju A, Ondra SL, Shaffrey CI. Cervical kyphosis. Techniques in Orthopaedics 2003;17:345-354.
  12. Davies JW. Man’s assumption of the erect posture: Its effect on the position of the pelvis. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1955;70:1012-1020.
  13. Offierski CM, Macnab I. Hip-spine syndrome. Spine 1983;8:316-321.
  14. Tsuji T, Matsuyama Y, Goto M, et al. Knee-spine syndrome: correlation between sacral inclination and patello-femoral joint pain. J Orthop Sci 2002;519-523.
  15. Lee CS, Lee CK, Kim YT, Hong YM, Yoo JH. Dynamic sagittal imbalance of the spine in degenerative flat back. significance of pelvic tilt in surgical treatment. Spine 2001;26:2029-2035.
  16. Lind LR, Lucente V, Kohn N. Thoracic kyphosis and the prevalence of advanced uterine prolapse. Obstet Gynecol 1996;87:605-609.
  17. Mattox TF, Lucente V, McIntyre P, Miklos JR, Tomezsko J. Abnormal spinal curvature and its relationship to pelvic organ prolapse. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2000;183:1381-1384.
  18. Winans HM. Anemia in the aged (Syndrome of kyphosis, gastric hernia, and anemia). Texas J Med 1938;34:422-423.
  19. Hansson KG. Body mechanics in geriatrics. J Am Geriatrics Soc 1954;2:429-433.
  20. Lennon J, Shealy N, Cady RK, Matta W, Cox R, Simpson WF. Postural and respiratory modulation of autonomic function, pain, and health. Am J Pain Manag 1994;4:36-39.
  21. Weiss HR. The effect of an exercise program on vital capacity and rib mobility in patients with idiopathic scoliosis.       Spine 1991;16:88-93.
  22. Riskind J, Gotay C. Physical posture: Could it have regulatory of feedback effects on motivation and emotion? Motivation Emotion 1982;6:273-298.
  23. Keller TS, Harrison DE, Colloca CJ, Harrison DD, Janik TJ. Prediction of osteoporotic spinal deformity. Spine 2003;28:455-462.
  24. Freeman JT. Posture in the aging and aged body.       JAMA 1957;165:843-846.
  25. Milne JS, Williamson J. A longitudinal study of kyphosis in older people. Age Ageing 1983;12:225-233.
  26. Cutler WB, Friedmann E, Genovese-Stone E. Prevalence of kyphosis in a healthy sample of pre- and postmenopausal women. Am J Phys Med Rehab 1993;72:219-225
  27. Anderson F, Cowan NR. Survival of healthy older people. Br J Prev Soc Med 1976;30:231-232.
  28. Harrison DD, Harrison DE, Janik TJ, et al. Modeling of the sagittal cervical spine as a method to discriminate hypo-lordosis: results of elliptical and circular modeling in 72 asymptomatic subjects, 52 acute neck pain subjects, and 70 chronic neck pain subjects. Spine 2004; 29(22):2485-2492.
  29. Harrison DD, Janik TJ, Troyanovich SJ, Holland B. Comparisons of lordotic cervical spine curvatures to a theoretical ideal model of the static sagittal cervical spine. Spine 1996;21:667-675.