Tag: Postural Problems

Physiotherapy Helps Postural Problems

Postural problems have always been a problem; they are even worse in the modern workplace. Too many times people have to reach for their computer mouse, putting them in unnatural positions. There is help for both kinds of postural problems in physiotherapy.

Posture is the way one stands, sits, or walks. It can refer to any normal position that the body usually holds. When the shoulders are hunched forward or the arm is extended in an awkward position, these are postural problems. They can lead to muscle and joint pain, headaches, and other unpleasant symptoms.

Some postural problems are caused because a person has pain in one part of her body. She might count on other muscles to do the work of the ones that hurt. This could lead to an unbalanced or awkward posture. It could cause more pain in the long run.

Postural problems can be treated with physiotherapy such as heat, massage, exercises, and chiropractic manipulation. The first order of business is to reduce the pain. Patients with postural problems usually go in to the doctor with painful symptoms. Heat can be used to ease sore muscles that have been holding the body in unfamiliar poses.

Next, postural problems can be treated by an attempt to reverse the affect the awkward positions have had on the muscles. This can be done by massage. The muscles that are tightened because of poor carriage of the body can be worked until they are less tender.

Some muscles may have contracted, or shortened, due to postural problems. Other muscles which oppose them might have lengthened and weakened. It is necessary to stretch the shortened muscles before trying to strengthen, or tighten, the longer muscles. Physiotherapy exercises have been invented for just this purpose.

Anyone who works with a mouse that is not close enough to their keyboard is prone to postural problems. The first step is to make a better arrangement of the work space. Then, exercises can correct the neck, shoulder, and wrist problems that have resulted from postural problems.

Surgeries, like the Carpal tunnel surgery, are the last resort, as physiotherapy can take care of most of these postural problems before such drastic measures are needed. If one wants to avoid surgery, getting physiotherapy early on is a key. Then, with adequate rearrangement of the workplace, the surgery should never be needed at all.

Chiropractic doctors practice physiotherapy techniques to put the body back into alignment after postural problems occur. They can do manipulations to help the patient regain full range of motion. They can also work on the muscles to ease tension there.

Postural problems are common for people of all ages. They can all find help for these aches and pains. A strict regimen of physiotherapy, along with a restructuring of the work and other environments, can be a positive influence on postural problems. With the right physiotherapist, these patients will be able to sit and stand comfortably again. They will not be defined by their postural problems.

Causes of Upper Back Pain

It is uncommon to hear someone complaining of upper back pain as compared for the numberless people who seek medical help due to excruciating lower back pain. This may be due to the fact that the lower back is much more susceptible to injuries and muscle strain rather than the more protected upper back. However, this still does not negate the fact that every year millions of patients are diagnosed of upper back pain.

What causes upper back pain is still an argument until these days. Not that the medical community is divided into what should be believed in but because there are too many and complicated reasons underlying a simple upper back pain. Often the physician finds no abnormalities concerning anatomy so he deems the pain only as psychological. As such diagnosis is not thoroughly taken and neither the cause nor the symptoms are identified.

The pain is usually felt on the upper back between the shoulder blades. Though the pain felt in this location, the actual anatomical cause may probably be situated somewhere else. Or they may be no actual anatomical cause only defaults on the trigger points. The trigger points re normally located nearest to the muscles covering the bones. This is why patients don’t normally recognize the exact sites of pain and consequently feel them on another site. This case is normal and is known as referred pain.

The most common cause of upper back pain is postural problems. The upper body needs to be properly associated with the lower section of the body. And the components of the upper body themselves must have precise coordination. This can be achieved by placing the parts on their normal positions using proper postures. With this, not only the overall posture is severely affected but also the state of each component, especially the framework.

With improper posture often arises the problem of herniated or degenerated discs. Some may also experience displaced discs. With this, pressure may be put on the nerve roots since bulging may occur. This will result to agonizing pain and may last for a number of months.

The majority of people undergoing pain in the upper back due to displaced discs are women and office workers. For obvious reasons, females are more susceptible to this cause as compared with the male population, recent studies support the statistics that the number of upper back pin causes is more prevalent in females in as much as four times than that of male.

The causes of upper back pain vary from person to person and sometimes even gender to gender. However, the underlying truth still remains to be the same- the actual cause or causes are often not diagnosed properly due to the nature of the ailment itself.