9 surprising ways bad posture can mess with your health

Posture is an issue for older people, right? Not at all, say experts. “It’s a concern for everyone,” says Dr Eeric Truumees, director of spine research at Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas, Austin. In fact, health conditions that affect the spine also impact your brain and nervous system, and can have a huge effect on your wellbeing. “While some conditions are more easily understood and treatable, spine and posture issues sneak up on you and can be hard to manage once they appear,” Dr Truumees says. Here’s what you need to know about keeping your posture, and your overall health, in great shape.

There are two types of posture: dynamic posture (your body position when moving) and static posture (your body position when sitting, standing, or sleeping). Good posture means that your head sits above your shoulders and your shoulders are over your hips, a position that maintains a neutral spine.

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Our phones and tablets aren’t going away, but “the problem is that as we become more and more dependent on these devices, we are getting used to sitting or standing in a hunched-over position that contributes to poor posture,” says sports-medicine doctor Dr Stacy Spivack. While electronics use tends to affect your neck and shoulders, your spine also can be harmed.

It’s hardly surprising – but worth a reminder – that if you sit while slouched over, which drives your head and neck forward, you may be left with significant neck pain and spasms, says Dr Spivack. Correcting bad posture may offer a significant source of relief for the nearly 20 per cent of the population with neck pain, according to a 2018 study in the Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy.

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The body likes to be in alignment. But when you’re sitting and standing with poor posture day in and day out, your body gets used to it. It accepts it as the new normal – something that can spell trouble for you. “When your muscles become accustomed to being in a shortened position, it may hurt to move,” says Dr Spivack. Getting ahead of these bad posture habits now can help prevent nerve damage, osteoarthritis and musculoskeletal problems later in life, says Dr Truumees.

Even if you’re not feeling it, stand tall. In one 2016 study on 33 people published in the journal Biofeedback, people took turns standing erect or slouched. When they stood with better posture, they had greater arm strength during a strength test than when they stood in a saggy position. Studies published in 2016 in the Journals of Gerontology, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, suggest body-weight workouts such as yoga that improve flexibility as well as body strength are best to keep the spine strong, supple and pain-free.

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If your shoulders remain rounded for much of the day, your body will compensate. “The chest wall will become tight, causing rib and sternal [sternum] pain,” says Dr Spivack. Rib pain can also be a sign that something else is going on – including shingles or costochondritis (inflammation of the cartilage between the ribs), notes physical therapist Dr Szu-Ping Lee. Shingles is a reactivation of the chicken pox virus that can cause pain and blisters on one side of the body that has nothing to do with posture.

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A droopy body leads to a droopy mindset. While research shows upright posture improves self-esteem and mood in just about everyone, a 2017 study published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, suggests adopting an upright posture may also help depressed people feel happier and less fatigued, and self-conscious. The lesson? Instead of letting the day get you down, sit up and see how you feel.

If you’re suffering from arthritic changes in your shoulders, hips, or spine, poor posture can worsen the pain, says Dr Spivack. Plus, if you’re dealing with arthritis in your neck, the head-forward position can pinch a nerve, resulting in tingling that radiates down your arm, she says.

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Feeling as if you’re not breathing easy these days? It might be due in part to your phone usage. For a 2016 study published in Journal of Physical Therapy Science, researchers compared people who used their smartphones for less than four hours a day with those who used their phones longer. They found that people who spent more time on their phone had worse posture, which may compress the lungs and compromise respiratory function.