Could Better Posture Mean Less Back Pain?

There are many different causes of back pain. Many people who suffer from chronic back pain have been in car accidents. Or they’ve had sports injuries. Sometimes it’s more of a temporary symptom, caused by the stresses on your body from pregnancy or weight gain. Some people’s back pain is caused by something more complicated, like arthritis, spinal stenosis, or a herniated disc.

But sometimes it’s caused by simple poor posture.

Poor posture can cause back pain

It’s true. Did you know that many people who suffer from chronic back pain are having their pain caused by something as simple as not sitting up straight? Hard to believe… but very true, and very common. Many doctors say that back pain can be caused by someone simply not knowing how to sit or stand properly. This continued misuse of one’s body can end up leading to very painful back and neck problems.

Improving your posture to decrease your back pain

Because poor posture can be a leading cause of chronic back pain, there have been many techniques created to assist people in correcting their poor posture, thus decreasing or even eliminating their back pain symptoms. Slouching and poor posture can create muscle tension and decrease mobility.

These things can create great back and neck pain symptoms. Posture improving techniques help teach students how to improve their posture and stop slouching to help decrease muscle tension and reestablish mobility, thus decreasing or eliminating back and neck pain symptoms as well as decreasing tension headaches.

The Alexander Technique

The Alexander Technique is one of the most popular and most successful posture improvement techniques to help with back and neck pain. This technique was created by Shakespearean actor Frederick Matthias Alexander in the 1890s as a way to help lessen his breathing problems during public speaking engagements. As he created this technique to help relieve his breathing problems, he found he also improved his posture. This technique has since been advanced and adapted to become a posture improvement technique. Many have found the practice of this technique very useful in eliminating chronic back pain symptoms.

How the Alexander Technique works

Unlike some posture improvement therapies, the Alexander Technique less of an exercise or relaxation program, and more of a reeducation program. It aims to teach its students proper forms of posture: how to properly hold their head, sit, stand, walk, and run. By learning and training their minds and bodies how to do these things properly, students are left with better posture.

As explained above, this better posture increases mobility and releases tension. By retraining the body, removing the strains and misalignments that cause a lot of back pain, many students find their back pain significantly decreased or many times completely eliminated.

There have been numerous studies done on the effectiveness of the Alexander Technique, all with very encouraging results. These studies found that the Alexander Technique greatly helped back pain sufferers and even Parkinson’s patients.

Some of the reported results included “long term benefits for patients with chronic back pain,” “less back pain and significant improvement in their quality of life,” “sustained improvements in their physical functioning,” and “improved pain behavior and disability in patients with back pain.””