Poor body posture is essentially caused by habitually slouching forward while sitting or standing. Contrary to popular belief, your spine is not meant to be straight like a pole. A healthy spine has three natural curves, which makes it look like the letter S from the side. A forward curve at the neck meets an outward curve in the mid back, which blends into another forward curve in the low back. As such, from a side view, your shoulders should be in line with your hip joints (in the middle of your pelvis) and ankles.  When sitting, standing, and walking, remind yourself to push your shoulders back, tighten your abdominal muscles, lift your chin up and keep your gaze straight ahead. Don't continually lean forward, look down or sit at crooked angles. Poor posture is particularly debilitating for children because their growing bones can be somewhat deformed from habitual slouching and misalignment. These postural deformities are very difficult to reverse in adulthood. Poor posture puts extra strain on muscles and joints, which can lead to chronic aches and pains and increase the risk of arthritis and injuries. Shoulder injuries from playing sports or other traumas, such as car accidents or falls, can also misalign your shoulder girdle and upper body. For example, dislocated shoulders, separated shoulders, upper arm or collarbone fractures, and various degrees of sprains and muscles tears can cause the shoulder joint to sag lower or jut forward more than it should. As such, make sure your shoulder injury is properly treated and fully healed before returning to activities that stress it.  Physiotherapy is sometimes needed after a significant shoulder injury to regain full strength within the shoulder girdle muscles and attain full range of motion within the glenohumeral ("ball and socket") joint. Not being able to fully move and use your shoulder — due to chronic pain, an unhealed joint injury, arthritis — can quickly atrophy and shorten surrounding muscles. Tight, weak muscles then act to slowly pull the shoulder out of normal alignment. Scoliosis is a condition of unknown cause that leads to an unnatural curve (deformity) of the spine, usually in the thoracic (mid back) region. One of the telltale signs of scoliosis is unlevel shoulders.  Not only does one shoulder sit lower than the other, but the related shoulder blade often appears more prominent (sticks out more) than the other. Misaligned shoulders and upper bodies is usually what tips off a school nurse or family doctor that a child has scoliosis.  Scoliosis appears and progresses during childhood (early teens), then stabilizes once adulthood is reached and the skeleton stops growing. Scoliosis is thought to be a little more common and have the potential to become more severe in young girls. If scoliosis is the cause of misaligned shoulders, then virtually nothing can be done to correct it. Instead, the focus should be on making sure the shoulder is strong and fully functional. Practicing good posture is especially important so the misalignment doesn't get worse. Osteoporosis, also called brittle bone disease, involves a lack of normal bone mineralization. Without enough minerals, such as calcium, magnesium and boron, bones are much more susceptible to breaking, particularly in the hip and spine. Compression-type fractures in the mid back (thoracic region) are most common, which tends to cause a humpback (hyperkyphosis) and push the shoulders and neck too far forward. Once the humpback forms, only corrective surgery can help realign the spine and shoulders.  Osteoporosis is most common among elderly Caucasian and Asian women, especially those who are slender and inactive. To help prevent osteoporosis, make sure you get adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D, and exercise on a regular basis. Good sources of calcium include: low-fat dairy products, green leafy vegetables, canned salmon, tofu and fortified cereals and juices.
تجنَّب الوضعيات غير السليمة. تعامل مع إصابات الكتف بشكل صحيح. اسأل طبيبك إذا كنت تعاني من الجنف. حاول تجنُّب هشاشة العظام.