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Body Mechanics: Posture and Care of the Back and Neck

Introduction

The Facts About Posture

  • Good posture has aesthetic benefits.
  • Proper posture allows the body segments to be balanced.
  • If one part of the body is out of line, other parts must compensate to balance it, thus increasing the strain on muscles, ligaments, and joints.
  • Chronic postural problems can lead to a variety of health problems.
  • Maintaining proper alignment requires a balance of flexibility and strength in areas supporting the trunk.
  • In addition to body alignment problems hereditary, congenital, and disease conditions, as well as certain environmental factors, can causes of poor posture.
  • Approximately 80 percent of the adult population suffers from acquired foot defects.

The Facts About Backaches and Neckaches

  • Most people (more than half) will see a physician about a backache during their lifetimes.
  • The causes of backache are varied, but it is rarely a dramatic event such as trauma in a diving or an automobile accident.
  • The overwhelming majority of backaches and neckaches are avoidable.
  • Poor posture, especially lordosis, can cause back strain and pain and can make the back more susceptible to injury.
  • Some people have a "flat back" (lumbar kyphosis) in the lower back region that can lead to backaches.
  • There is no such thing as a slipped disk.
  • The neck is probably strained more frequently than the lower back.
  • Kyphosis is a contributing factor in neck pain.
  • The exact causes of chronic neck pain are many, and because they vary from individual to individual, diagnose is difficult.

Facts About Prevention and Intervention

  • Practicing good body mechanics and posture can help prevent back problems. ? See guidelines in text.
  • There are some additional general guidelines that will help in preventing posture, back and neck problems.

Facts About Exercises for Posture and Back/Neck Care

  • Exercise is one of the most frequently prescribed treatments for back or neck pain.
  • Exercise can often correct muscle imbalances that are the underlying cause of many postural and back problems.
  • Some people are unable to lift loads safely because tight and/or weak muscles may prevent them from using proper body mechanics.

Strategies for Action: The Facts

  • An important step in taking action to assure good posture and good back and neck care is assessing your current status.
  • It is possible to assess risk factors associated with potential back and neck problems
  • Specific exercises are sometimes needed to prevent or help rehabilitate posture, neck, and back problems.
  • Stretching exercises for the hip flexor and hamstring muscles can benefit most people including those with lumbar lordosis.
  • Muscle fitness exercises that train the muscles of the trunk, stabilize the pelvis, and maintain good posture can help prevent and alleviate back problems.
  • Fit abdominal muscles are important to good posture and prevention of backache.
  • Stretching and strengthening exercises for the neck can help prevent and relieve neck pain.
  • Exercises that strengthen the trunk can help prevent backache.
  • There are exercises that stretch and strengthen muscles to prevent and remediate round shoulders.
  • There are exercises that are therapeutic for people with flat back.
  • Keeping records of progress is important to adhering to a back care program.

Web Review



Increase healthy and active days.

Reduce days with pain and activity limitations.

Increase assistance to those with pain and activity limitations.

Increase proportion of people who regularly -perform exercises for strength and muscular endurance.

Increase proportion of people who regularly perform exercises for flexibility.







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