Mid back pain?

Does it hurt to straighten up your posture? If this is something you experience often and wonder what is going on and what can you do about it, so it doesn’t keep annoying you, then read on.

Chiropractors see this in all AGE groups

It’s not only adults that experience this. Parents of school age children and teenagers may often hear them complaining. ‘Can you sit up please and stop slouching!’ parents can hear themselves saying to these children and teenagers. Children and teenager get pain too.

In on study done this year, 1000 Danish children aged between 8-16 were analysed for pain. They found that 71.5% had experienced pain that lasted for more than a week and of this percentage, 28.7 had back pain.

So whatever the age of the person suffering with this pain, what is the cause?

1.Postural issues. This is what it looks like:

  • Rounding of the upper and mid back
  • Forward head carriage, where the head is sitting in front to the shoulders
  • Excessive sitting, from studying, working or on electronic devices
  • Incorrect ergonomics, where the desk height, computer screen or chair support are not correct
  • Insufficient breaks with sitting
  • Not enough exercise to strengthen mid back and stretch front of chest

2. Structural issues.

These are more serious in nature and it is important to get a child, teenager or yourself checked to rule out this possibility. Appropriate examinations need to rule out anything nasty or anything structural that may be causing the pain on straightening up.

What’s the pain from?

Let’s assume we have ruled out any medical or structural issues. Overloaded muscles due to the postural changes is one cause of back pain and this often a result of stiff spinal joints. Stiff joints and tight muscles can make it difficult to further maintain a neutral and upright posture. The slumped and rounded shoulder posture is often the default posture in these people.

What can you do?

See a practitioner that deals with the spine, such as a chiropractor, osteopath or physiotherapist. Stiff spinal joints can be realised by specific imput into the joint. Muscles in the mid back need strengthening and the muscles at the front of your chest and shoulders will need stretching.

Addressing poor sitting habits will help to prevent creating future aggravation.

An important note to add is that there is a connection between posture and stress, CLICK HERE to find out more. For a four minute core workout to get you moving, CLICK HERE.

If you feel this information will be of value to someone you know as they answer YES to the question ‘Does it hurt to straighten up your posture?’,  then pass this information on.

Lisa Smycz, director

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1.Fuglkaer S, Vach W, Hartvigsen J, Boe Dissing K, Junge T and Hestbaek L (2020), “Musculoskeletal pain distribution in 1,000 Danish Schoolchildren aged 8-16 years,” Chiropractic and Manual Therapies, 45(2020), https://chiromt.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12998-020-00330-9

 

Categories Neck & Shoulder Problems, Posture
 
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