Not only does it look bad it also has other health factors associated with it like rounding of the shoulders which can cause a 30% decrease in breathing capacity, headaches, problems with your nervous system, digestive system, hormone system and more.

According to www.NeckSolutions.com, for every inch that your head is held forward from perfect alignment, its weight on the neck increases ten pounds. That puts a lot of stress on your neck and facial muscles, which is transferred back to your head in the form of a headache or migraine as these muscles grow fatigued.  Read more:

What can cause poor posture? Injuries to the back that where never treated  or not treated properly. Sitting at the computer for hours on end (sound familiar) sitting there looking down and texting (for hours on end), lack of exercise, kids carrying to heavy of a back pack and not fitted to the properly, poor mattress or sleeping on your stomach, and the list goes on.

So what can you do about it? make sure your work station is set up properly for YOU, schedule stretch breaks when at the computer, start to exercise and strengthen the muscle in your upper back, neck and shoulders the right way. A really good website with stretches and exercises is www.straightenupamerica.org Go to a Chiropractor who can help restore the normal alignment to the spine while you are strengthening the surrounding musculature. There is even computerized programs out there like the one we use in our office called Posture Pro(tm) that allows use to measure your posture and monitor if it is getting better.

I had a patient today ask me the difference between PCP and SCP on her insurance card, besides the extra amount in the copay. PCP stands for primary care physician and SCP stands for specialist care physician. We as Chiropractors are now considered to be a SPECIALIST. It wasn’t long ago that Chiropractors were not being treated as real doctors. We were considered “alternative care”. In other words, if a medical doctor couldn’t help with medications then you might as well try Chiropractic care. We were lumped in with Massage Therapy as an either-or scenario. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good deep tissue massage and they have great therapeutic benefits when used properly, but massage therapists are not doctors and can not diagnosis a person’s condition.

Chiropractors have now become known as the “back specialists”. While we are, we are more then that. Chiropractors are really more specialists of the nervous system as we work on relieving the pressure on the nerves that are causing you the pain that you feel. We also work on more then just the lowback and neck. So next time you are experiencing pain in the neck, lowback or any other joint you might want to seek out a Chiropractor first instead of waiting till other things have failed.

You should also know that Chiropractors can’t fix everything like some like to believe and if it is something we shouldn’t be treating or is out of our scope of practice we will make sure to get you to the appropriate doctor.