Principles of Posture Relating to Pain

We all know that the three most important factors in determining the value of a property in real estate are location, location and location. In my assessments of pain, my first thoughts are always posture, posture and posture.

I see a postural component in nearly every assessment I do for pain. Unfortunately, this aspect is often overlooked as the healthcare professionals focus on the location of the pain instead of the location of the cause of the pain.

In the last issue we discussed the Psoas and the relationship to seated posture. Tight psoas muscles are one cause of suboptimal posture of the back and the long S-shaped curve of the spine. Here we will discuss another major cause of postural misalignment leading to pain and dysfunction.

When our large muscle groups are being used, the activities tend to be varied and alternately utilize muscle groupings that do opposite movements. Think about digging in the garden, putting up drywall or doing the dishes. We are now doing more types of repetitive tasks in our workplaces and homes: working on the computer or doing fine work on a production line. Often our major muscle groups don’t move. Our arms are usually in front of us and often poorly supported. This causes our pectoral muscles to tighten and the muscles between our shoulder blades to lengthen. This leads to back pain, shoulder pain and dysfunction, and forearm pain, often called tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome. (See exercises in the Dec 2008 issue of The Less Painful Times.)

There is now a chair that is designed to help with this problem by providing a back rest that supports the spine but allows the shoulders to relax back into the chair when you tilt into the recline position. It is called Sguig. Other design features of this chair support the normal lumbar curve in a wide variety of sitting positions, including the commonly seen perching posture of women and the slouching posture of men.