- Don’t use a shoulder bag – Use a backpack instead!
Uneven weight distribution through your body can lead to muscle imbalances and postural and biomechanical problems as structures on one side of your body become weaker or stronger than the other.
People imbalance their bodies in a number of different ways but the main one is, the choice of bag that they use. If you’re heading to work and wearing a shoulder bag packed with a laptop, books, chargers or any other daily essentials might not seem like it’s putting a lot of pressure on your body, but overtime can have a massive impact over the years.
Backpacks are naturally the healthier option for the balance of your posture as they evenly distribute the load across both shoulders, while also helping to pull your shoulders back.
2. Resting your chin on your hand can increase your neck pain
Many of our clients have developed postural problems from minor habits that have gradually caused neck pain. A very common one is resting your chin on your hands when you’re on a tube, desk or table.
The reason why it causes neck pain is because you move your neck into a forward, extended position that can put a strain on your muscles and tendons along the back of your neck and on top of your shoulders.
3. Do you sleep in the sleep position?
Whilst we spend an average of 40 hour or more at an office job whilst this results in getting majority of the blame for your postural problems. However, we spend EVEN MORE hours a week sleeping, a time that has much more of an impact on your postural health.
For example, sleeping on your belly can flatten the natural curve of your spine and can lead to your lower back and shoulder pain. Simply putting a tennis ball in the front pocket of a reversed shirt can encourage you to sleep the right way up.
If you have soft pillows you can also end up with a severe neck pain from a lack of support while you sleep, tilting your head for hours.
To help alleviate neck strain, keep your screen at eye level. This can be tricky with laptop where the screen and keyboard are tight together, so if you have to do prolonged desk work, we highly recommend using a desktop instead of a sofa or sitting on the floor.
If you’re feel affected by poor posture or want advice on how to introduce more movement into your life, get in touch with us now at info@medicalhomevisit.com or 0203 305 6186 or WhatsApp for FREE on +44 (0) 7467 609 385.