The Sports Injury Clinic Newsletter

Children and Posture

Hey kids stop right there, now without moving your body take a look at how you are sitting. Do you have rounded shoulders? Is your back bent over? If so you may be like a lot of people that sit at a computer or on the couch with a rounded posture.

You may have heard the word "posture" before but never really known what it really means. Posture is what your body looks like when you are standing or sitting or even when you play games or sports.

Perfect posture occurs when our body is balanced so well that our muscles and joints do not have to work very hard to keep you sitting or standing upright. Poor posture means that your body has to work hard to be able to keep you sitting or standing and this can lead to many different short and long term problems.

What is the benefit of having a good posture?

Keeps our spine bones healthy
Makes us taller!
Stop us from getting head, neck, shoulder or back pain
Lets you get more air in your lungs so that you can run faster, swim longer
Improves concentration
Reduces fatigue

What does good posture look like?
If we have good posture when we are standing; our ears, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles will all be roughly in line with each other (see picture).

What do we have to do to get good posture?

Tuck chin in
Shoulders relaxed
Shoulder blades together
Tummy in
Knees in line with toes
Hips even
Walk tall with tummy pulled in and eyes looking forwards

Your posture can be affected by many things that you do throughout the day. For instance, carrying your school bag or spending time in front of the computer.

Unfortunately, you have to carry your school bag 5 days a week for 40 weeks!! But there are things that you can do to help you make sure that you do not get any pain from carrying it.

Always wear both shoulder straps
Tighten your straps so that the weight is close to your body
Try to keep your backpack above waist line
Put the heaviest items closest to your back and try to make sure that you have no loose items to move around.
Try not to carry a backpack that weighs more than 10 to 15 percent of your body weight. So if you weigh 35 kilograms should not carry more than 3.5 to 4.8 kilograms in your packs.
Repack daily so that you only take what you need for that day

What about the computer or playing on the playstation? The following hints may help you to stop pain or prevent it from starting:

Take plenty of breaks
Hold your game pad (or joystick) close to your lap and lightly in your hands
Change positions - you might try lying down on your stomach for a change
Try not to slouch by sitting up tall with your shoulders relaxed and back
Make sure your feet touch the ground if you can reach!
Have the laptop or screen in a position that you can look straight ahead at.

Reducing postural stress through the day will not only reduce the risk of injury, but will also improve your concentration and that is priceless. If you are particularly concerned your local physiotherapist can provide treatment and exercises to help achieve that perfect posture.