Do You Have Tight Neck and Back Pain? Check your posture.

Do you suffer from chronic upper body pain or tightness? Or in need of a daily back massage from stress?

If you are using your smartphone, tablet, or hunched over a keyboard all day (whoops, like I am now writing this) you may have “tech” neck with related stress and pain running from your neck down your back to your hamstrings.

Time to straighten up.

Years ago my 5th-grade English teacher told our class over and over to bring the books up to our eyes rather than hunch over our desks to read. Now in 2018, we have books and technology. She was clearly on to something.

Stand and sit tall and bring that book and tech to you.

Alas, that book-tech neck is no longer relegated to the readers and code jockeys. With all the e-readers and technology we use daily, everyone at risk. But if we fix our posture sooner than later, we will reduce our chance of a widows hump, pain, loss of energy and chronic stress.

Here is a 10-second good posture lesson for you:

• Get tall: Take a second to inhale and lengthen your spine. As you exhale, drop your shoulders. Imagine you are being pulled up by the crown of your head.
• Get aligned: Stand up and align your skeleton. Align your shoulders, hips, and ankles in a vertical column. Check in a mirror to ensure you connect the dots.
• Get relaxed: Tense? Shake out your arms and shoulders like Rocky.
• Get engaged: Engage your lower abdominals. This will stabilize the upper body and provide a natural brace your back. And, can help prevent you from hunching over.
• Check it out: Look at your new posture and smile. Shazam! See how much better (leaner, taller and happier) you look? Remember this.

Make posture and alignment a priority in your life. Elevate your book, smartphone, tablet, computer to meet your eyes at eye level, so you don’t have to look down.
Think about your posture the minute you get out of bed in the morning. If you have back pain, this is crucial. Pull your stomach in as you get out of bed and get tall. Visit ThriveCarolinas to get you on the road to a better neck and back health. We have excellent doctors, classes, massage therapy and acupuncture to help you.
Forgetful? Put a sticky note on your mirror or try an app. Posture apps have posture reminders, stretches, and exercises. Check out Great Posture, MyNeck, and ChiRunning in the app store.
Cheers to you and your new posture.
Amy Peacock