How to Have a Better Posture by Dr. Giancarlo Licata

SIT UP STRAIGHT! says the mom to the slouching teenager, attempting to help him or her have a better posture.

Just hearing those 3 words may make some of us remember our childhood. A slumping teenager in a sitting or standing position is nothing new. Parents have been trying to get their kids to stand up straight for decades.

An Article About Poor Posture

Dr. Sue Hubbard a pediatrician and TV host, recently wrote an article on poor posture in tweens and teens.

Dr. Hubbard discussed doing postural exams in her office: “At times a parent will even ask me to discuss posture with their child. The 3- to 10-year-old generally stands up fairly straight, but tweens and teens are often guilty of poor posture. This is interesting, as most kids this age talk about wanting to be taller, yet they don’t even stand up straight!”

She goes on to say “Then, there are my patients who, for various teenage reasons, feel they are too tall and try to hide their height by slumping. In either case, slouching and slumping not only looks bad but it’s also bad for the back.”

Not only do many teens have poor posture while standing, but have you ever watched as they hunch over computers, tablets, video games and smart phones? Adolescents often spend in excess of eight hours or more a day on these devices without paying any attention to how they’re sitting.

Here are 3 quick tips to help with better sitting posture:

1. Sit as little as possible  

If you can stand to do a task then do it. A least once every hour you want to get out of your chair and walk around.

2. Drink lots of water

This will help you with tip number one. Drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day or preferably more will help you get up to go get water refills. A good rule of thumb is to drink only water and drink approximately 1/2 of your body weight in ounces per day. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you should drink 75 ounces of water per day. 

The more you weigh the more you need to drink to be healthy. If you are drinking water all day, you will need to get up and go to the bathroom, which will greatly benefit your spine… it’s a win-win.

3. Change positions as much as possible when you are sitting

Change the angle of your chair, the height of your chair, move things around throughout the day.  Your body gets bored sitting in the same position all the time!  Move around!  Our bodies were made to move!

Here are some tips to help improve standing posture:

1. Practice standing up straight

As Dr. Hubbard suggests, you can try the good old-fashioned technique of standing with the back and shoulders against a wall; see if you can step away from the wall and maintain that erect posture.

2. How about the old book-on-the-head trick?

Younger children find balancing a book on their heads is fun.

3. Do the standing Bruegger Exercise

Doing the standing Bruegger exercise against a wall is a terrific way to reposition the head over the neck and pelvis over the feet, strengthen the shoulder stabilizers, and stretch the pectoral muscles.

To better understand the Bruegger exercise, please watch this:

Dr. Giancarlo Licata, D.C. is an Upper Cervical Specialist and Children’s Chiropractor in Pasadena California, trained by the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association (NUCCA). He is in private practice in Southern California in the city of Pasadena. He specializes in correcting problems in the upper cervical spine (upper neck). This vital area is intimately connected to the central nervous system and problems in this area have been shown to be an underlying cause of a variety of different health problems. The NUCCA approach is a gentle and precise approach perfect for families with no crunching, twisting or cracking necessary.  More information can be found on his website at http://www.licataclinic.com