March 8th, 2022: Dr. Saleem Yusuf
The Hunchback
of Notre Dame
In this day and age being glued to our phones and stuck behind the a computer is the norm. You may have even noticed while you’re sending a quick text or getting those notes done for work that you’re hunched over. I know, that I personally sometimes catch myself hunched over while typing out my patient’s notes. However rest assured that having bad posture every now and then isn’t the end of the world. You read right! your friendly neighbourhood Chiropractor said that bad posture here & there isn’t bad. However it is bad posture over extended periods of time, left uncorrected which may cause greater affects than just appearing like one of my favourite Disney movies, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
What happens when you have a hunched back?
As you may have seen or heard, there are 33 vertebrae in a human spine. Between each vertebrae is a disc which acts like a shock absorber, evenly spreading out the load. But what actually begins to happen as we hunch forward and adopt this forward head carriage position, is that the spine begins to straighten. Once that happens the load is no longer evenly distributed, one or more discs will begin to take the brunt of the load and begin to wear prematurely.
When patients come into the practice they are more often than not coming in complaining of headaches, excessive back pain &/or numbness, tingling or weakness in the arms or feet. What people may not be aware of, is that there are nerves which exit out of the holes on the side of the spine. These Holes, also known as intervertebral foramen are roughly 1cm in diameter. When you are in the incorrect posture, the spine may exert pressure onto these nerves which causes a reaction in the muscles, exhibiting pain.
What treatments are available?
Now, how to fix it? First and foremost, what needs to be considered is that your body has gotten itself into this position over many years, which may mean that your vertebra(s) have been stuck in these incorrect position for a long period of time also leading to array of muscles imbalances. The goal is to get these vertebra moving and back to their proper positions. Once that has been achieved, implementing postural exercises to correct these imbalances while in turn keep you in the right position getting out of pain, but also keeping you out of pain.
Keep an eye out on our blog if you’re a gym enthusiast who has been experiencing low back pain, the reason might just surprise you
How can Chiropractic care help?
Chiropractic care has been proven to be an effective modality to help with back pain of different causes. Depending on your condition, a qualified chiropractor may perform specific Chiropractic manual adjustments which aim to improve mobility and reduce pain. Massage therapy and muscle rehabilitation may also incorporated into your “Get Well” program to help maximise your body’s healing potential.
When seeing one of our chiropractors at Spinal Health & Co. Chiropractic, we will digitally analyse your posture from head to toe. The posture screening process will allow the chiropractor(s) to identify musculoskeletal imbalances and compensations present. Chiropractic manual adjustments, soft tissue therapy as well as muscle rehabilitative exercise may be used solely or in conjunction to address and rectify these imbalances.
