LITTLE ROCK — Personal trainer Janet Roget answers questions submitted by readers of ActiveStyle.
Take a moment and analyze your posture as you sit and read the paper.
Are your shoulders slumped and is your chest concave? If you are reading the paper online, is your chin jutting forward as you strain to see the screen? If so, your thoracic spine is rounded forward to hold up your head, similar to a fishing pole with a large fish on the end. For the pole not to break, the flexible rod bends to accommodate the weight of the fish.
While reading the paper in this position for a short period of time will not cause lasting problems, sitting in this way for hours at a time over a period of weeks or years will eventually cause your spine to round. This forward rounding of the upper and middle back (called excessive thoracic kyphosis or ETK) will lead to severe problems if actions are not taken to reverse it.
There is a simple way to test for ETK. Stand sideways to a mirror and place your right index finger on the indentation between your collarbones at the front of your throat. Place the index finger of your left hand on the spot at the base of your neck on the vertebrae that is immediately below the ones that stick out the most.
Look at yourself sideways in the mirror and notice if both fingers are at approximately the same height. If the finger on the front of your chest is lower than the finger on the back of your neck, then you have excessive kyphosis.
In junior high school I was the tallest girl in my class and taller than most of the boys in school. I was used to sticking out in this way, but for the first time in my life I found my height to be embarrassing. I learned to slump to reduce my height, but instead of attracting boys, it caused my mother to panic. The mantra I heard repeated many times every day was, “Stand up straight and be glad you are tall.”
Eventually I realized that being tall was an advantage on the tennis court, and as my tennis improved, I forgot to slump.
Having good posture is more challenging these days because our everyday activities and lifestyle encourage forward slumping. Using hand-held devices and sitting at a computer cause us to strain our head forward. Overarching the neck to compensate for a forward head can create headaches and jaw pain.
Sitting for long periods of time with poor posture leads to excessive rounding of the spine. Slumping causes a chain reaction to occur: Chest muscles become chronically shortened, shoulders round forward, and the spine bends forward to compensate for this series of events.
Our bodies are similar to stacked dominos: if one part gets out of whack the entire system breaks down. If the head and neck are too forward-leaning, it causes the upper and middle back to overcompensate, causing the hips, knees and feet to adjust. Excessive rounding of the spine results in lower back pain, disk degeneration, knee and ankle pain and plantar fasciitis.
Exercises that involve spending prolonged periods of time in spinal flexion (i.e., leaning forward), such as cycling or freestyle swimming, also contribute to excessive thoracic kyphosis. In addition, asthma and severe allergies restrict the diaphragm from contracting and relaxing normally. Breathing problems can cause rib cage restrictions that result in thoracic spine immobility and ETK.
You can make changes to alleviate or reduce the risk of getting excessive kyphosis.
If you sit at a desk for long periods of time, buy a stand-up desk to give your body relief from sitting. Stand with your ears in line with your shoulders, your shoulders over your hips, and your feet hip-width apart pointing straight in front of you. There are many desk designs, such as the one at myupdesk.com, where the desk and computer rise and lower at the push of a button.
Sit on a big ball at your desk instead of a chair. Sitting on a ball allows you to position your body close to the screen and helps you engage your back muscles. Go online to performbetter.com or powersystems.com and talk to a customer representative to get advice on the size of the ball you need based on your height and the height of your desk.
During your breaks you can use the ball to do chest, shoulder and back stretches that help relax the overly tight or shortened muscles.
Join a yoga class or buy an instructional DVD to learn stretches and breathing techniques you can do at home or in the office. Get massages to relax muscles and allow shoulders and chest to open and the spine to straighten.
Massage your tight muscles with a foam roller. Place a foam roller on the floor vertically and sit down on one end. Slowly ease your body onto the foam roller by lying down with your bottom on one end, your head on the other and your feet on the floor with knees bent. Relax and allow your spine to sink into the foam roller with your arms out to the side. If your chest is tight, your arms will not be able to touch the floor at first. Hold this relaxed position from three to five minutes.
Be aware of your posture at all times. Small changes can make a big difference in the health of your spine. The spine is designed to bend for us to function normally, but sitting at a computer all day or riding a bike for four hours can put tremendous strain on even the most perfectly designed spine.
And always remember that mothers know best: Stand up straight and be as tall as you possibly can.
Write to personal trainer Janet Roget in care of ActiveStyle at P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203, or e-mail [email protected]
ActiveStyle, Pages 27 on 02/18/2013