Back to basics: Good posture

Arlington resident Michael Jackson avoided back surgery by changing his posture and standing up straighter.

The 41-year-old tried acupuncture, yoga and chiropractic for a herniated disk in his lower back. It was the treatment of chiropractor Kevin Maggs that ended three years of pain caused by poor posture, prolonged sitting and improper exercising, he says.

“I’m pretty much in a position where the pain is subsided, and I can deal with it as long as I continue to do my exercises,” Mr. Jackson says. “I know if I don’t do it, my back will start hurting again.”

Poor posture — such as slouching, rounding the shoulders or holding the head too far forward —can result from an acute injury such as whiplash, a sedentary lifestyle, occupational demands, aging, and unbalanced exercising that focuses too heavily on one part of the body, metro-area physical therapists, chiropractors and orthopedic surgeons say.

A person’s genetic makeup, bone growth pattern or having sclerosis or osteoporosis can give the appearance of poor posture but may not cause postural problems, they say.

The professionals give tips for improving posture while defining what makes for good and poor posture.

“You want to be aware of your posture. It’s a conscious habit like anything else,” says Bruce Nordstrom, chiropractor and owner of Downtown Chiropractic in Northwest.

About 85 percent of Americans develop back pain and seek a physician’s assistance during their lifetimes, says Dr. Wiemi Douoguih, coordinator of sports medicine services at the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Washington Hospital Center in Northwest. He serves as a consultant for the University of Maryland athletic teams and the Baltimore Ravens football team.

“It’s difficult to link poor posture and back pain,” Dr. Douoguih says. “The biggest issue is if it is associated with pain and if it’s different from what your usual posture is.”

Posture comes, in part, from how the spine sits. The spine consists of a series of bones stacked on top of one another — seven cervical bones in the neck, 12 thoracic bones in the upper and midback and five lumbar bones in the low back. They are separated by flexible pads called disks and a pair of facet joints that help control movement.

“Muscles in the front and back balance each other out,” Mr. Nordstrom says.

Poor posture, or a musculoskeletal imbalance, is caused by some muscles being shortened, or overly strengthened, and those in the opposing muscle group elongated, or weakened, says Laverne Tuckson, professor and program coordinator for the Physical Therapist Assistant Program at Montgomery College in Takoma Park. The shortened muscles need to be stretched and the elongated ones strengthened to bring the muscles back into balance and provide stability to the joints, she says.

For example, a computer user with poor postural habits can develop a forward head carriage from looking at the monitor, causing the muscles in the front of the neck to shorten and the shoulders to become rounded. A bodybuilder who focuses too much attention on building up the pectoral muscles while ignoring the back muscles can weaken the back.

“Posture plays a role in every position of your body,” Ms. Tuckson says. “It’s like a car out of alignment that doesn’t drive straight down the road, the same for the body. … When you’re out of alignment, that causes pain, joint deformity and even tingling and weakness.”

Postural problems in the spine are most commonly associated with low back pain, says Dr. Christopher Silveri, spine surgeon for Fair Oaks Orthopedic Associates and chairman of the Department of Orthopedics at Inova Fairfax Hospital, both in Fairfax.

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