Most of us had good, balanced posture when we were toddlers. We held our little heads directly over our bodies and had nice curves in our lower back.
But, then…we went to school and sat on furniture that didn’t fit us. Sometimes we had to sit for hours at a time instead of running around using all of our muscles.
That’s part of the problem. We stopped using all of our muscles.
Most of us use only the same 60 or so. Since we have over 600 muscles, that means we use only about 10% instead of 100%. That gets us “out of balance.” This creates poor posture and back pain.
Or, maybe you continued using most of your muscles but in ways that caused some to be much stronger than others. Your posture might look pretty good but still you feel strain and pain in your back. That’s a clue that your posture isn’t balanced. This causes back pain.
What causes poor posture?
When you hold your head and arms in front of your body for most of the day, like most of us do, the muscles in the front of your body get short. They pull, or round, your shoulders forward. They pull your head forward and down and make your chin stick out.
When your back muscles get weak because you’re not flexing (strengthening) them, they get overstretched and strained. Instead of holding you upright, your weak back muscles let your spine round at the top and you lose the curve in your low back, too.
Then what happens?
Your bones are the support system for your body.
When your posture gets weak, or collapses, your poor muscles start acting as bones to hold you up. Your muscles are straining to hold your heavy head up while gravity is pulling it down. (Remember why? Because your head has moved in front of your body instead of being held directly over it.)
So what can I do?
There are several natural things you can do to improve your posture and get rid of your back pain.
1. Assess your posture. Have someone take a sideways photograph of your whole body and examine it to see where your head is. Is it over your body or is it several inches in front of your body? Are your hands hanging next to your body or are they in front of your body?
If your head and hands are in front of your body, that indicates that your back muscles need to be strengthened. If you don’t know how to do that, there are lots of articles at Simple Strengthening that will help you get better posture. It also indicates that the muscles in the front of your body are tight, or short.
2. Learn about causes of back pain at Back Pain Natural Relief.
3. Stretch the muscles in the front of your body that are tight and short.
4. Balance your workouts. It’s much easier for us to strengthen the large muscles in the front of our thighs than the hamstrings in the back of the thigh. But the hamstrings need to be strong, too.
It might make you feel more powerful if you have well-developed pectoral (chest) muscles but they can pull you into poor posture unless you also strengthen your back.
5. If your lower back is “flat,” practice flexing it slightly backward and forward. Push the front of your waist forward. Stick your tail out. The goal is to develop a small curve in your lower back. However, if your lower back has too much curve to it, lie on your back and practice pressing it into the floor to help normalize the curve.
When the muscles in front (from knees to head) are relaxed, or in a neutral resting length, and the muscles in the back of your body are strong enough to hold you up, you are in an ideal posture.
Correcting poor, or “forward” posture, will take the strain off your back muscles. Less muscle strain equals less low back pain.
