Stand up straight with your shoulders back! Posture, pain, and mood:
There are multiple schools of thought when it comes to posture, with conflict within and between different healthcare professionals and the scientific literature. Whilst there is no clear research on what is ‘good’ and ‘bad’ posture, most MSK professionals look toward anatomy and biomechanics and there is reasonable consensus between healthcare practitioners on what is good and bad; ‘good’ posture being based on a position that balances the muscles and bones to protect the supporting structures of the body against injury or progressive deformity, bad posture being the opposite. As far as posture and pain goes, although most people intuitively know that sitting slouched or hunched for long periods of time at work, on the sofa or in the car is often linked to the aggravation of the aches and pains they experience, the research is mixed; For example for neck pain, whilst some studies show links in certain people between a forward head posture and neck pain (Mamoud et al. 2019), others show there to be no link at all (Damasceno et al. 2018). Similarly for Low back pain whilst there is research that shows altering patients posture can reduce the incidence and level of discomfort in their low back pain, there is limited evidence that any specific spinal posture causes low back pain (Korakakis et al. 2019).
This is why every patient at Wimborne Wellness Centre is thoroughly assessed and treated as a unique case. Treatment at the clinic is patient dependent: unique to that individual, their pain presentation and their goals. What works for one patient might not for another; this is why the patient is always at the centre of what we do.
But I wanted to use this blog to take a different angle on posture; the link between posture, mood and stress. Because if bad posture isn’t the cause of your pain, I have another reason for you to reconsider how you are sitting and standing.
Research shows that when we are in a bad mood our postures can become more slumped and the muscles that maintain an upright posture may be effected (Michalak et al. 2009; Kitoaka et al. 2004). Most of us have probably experienced this and don’t need research to tell us such. However its not just mood that can affect our posture! Nair et al. (2015) have demonstrated how a more upright posture can lead to higher self-esteem and a better mood in the presence of a stressor. This mean that by improving posture in times of stress, our resiliency to that stress goes up. Furthermore Carney et al. (2010) shows how certain expansive postures (think superhero, chest puffed out) can decrease levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and Wilkes et al. (2017) have shown how an upright posture can lead to more positive emotions and less fatigue in those with mild to moderate depression.
So even if your posture is causing you any pain, think about what changes you could make to your mood, your stress levels and your resiliency to stress with the simple act of sitting or standing up taller.
Ben
References
Carney, D.R., Cuddy, A.J. and Yap, A.J., 2010. Power posing: brief nonverbal displays affect neuroendocrine levels and risk tolerance. Psychological science, 21(10), 1363-1368.
Damasceno, G.M., Ferreira, A.S., Nogueira, L.A.C., Reis, F.J.J., Andrade, I.C.S. and Meziat-Filho, N., 2018. Text neck and neck pain in 18-21-year-old young adults. Eur Spine J. 27 (6), 1249-1254.
Kitaoka, K., Ito, R., Araki, H., Sei, H. and Morita, Y., 2004., Effect of mood state on anticipatory postural adjustments. Neuroscience letters 370 (1), 65-68.
Korakakis, V., O'Sullivan, K., O'Sullivan, P.B., Evagelinou, V., Sotiralis, Y., Sideris, A., Sakellariou, K., Karanasios, S. and Giakas G., 2019. Physiotherapist perceptions of optimal sitting and standing posture. Musculoskelet Sci Pract, (39) 24-31.
Mahmoud, N.F., Hassan, K.A., Abdelmajeed, S.F., Moustafa, I.M. and Silva, A.G., 2019. The Relationship Between Forward Head Posture and Neck Pain: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med, 12 (4), 562-577
Michalak, J., Troje, N.F., Fischer, J., Vollmar, P., Heidenreich, T. and Schulte, D., 2009. Embodiment of sadness and depression—gait patterns associated with dyshoric mood. Psychosomatic medicine, 71 (5), 580-587.
Nair, S., Sagar, M., Sollers, J.3rd., Consedine, N. and Broadbent, E., 2015. Do slumped postured and upright postures affect stress response? A randomized trial. Health psychology, 34 (6), 632-641.
Wilkes, C., Kydd, R., Sagar, M. and Broadbent, E., 2017. Upright posture improves affect and fatigue in people with depressive symptoms. Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry, 54, 143-149.