Improving Posture with Daily Habit

Have you ever wondered why your neck always hurts? What about why there is that nagging discomfort in your upper and lower back? How about the nagging pain in your shoulders, hips, or even feet? Well, all of those aches and pains could be down to one very important aspect of your life: your posture. Yes, that’s right. For those of you who have never considered your posture important, or who haven’t really given the way you sit, stand, or walk much thought, we’re giving you some advice: it’s time to take notice. Your posture affects almost everything about your body, from muscle health through to bone structure and overall mobility. It’s no wonder, then, that today’s blog is all about posture. So, get ready, sit up straight, and start diving into why your posture matters.

Having a good posture is important for more than self-confidence. Sure, it’s great to enter a room like Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing, but walking balanced and upright means a lot more.

For one thing, a good posture directly affects the health and suppleness of our muscles.

Practicing good posture ensures that our muscles remain strong and mobile, thereby allowing them to offer much-needed support to our skeletal structure. Back, neck, and hip pain is often result of uneven, unbalanced posture. Why? Because the muscles in those areas are not strong, supple, or mobile enough to step-up to the plate. They can only function correctly if good posture is enforced.

We can picture you adjusting yourself in your seat, now. And that’s good! Far too many of us forget that the small, daily habits we have actually effect our posture the most. From sitting incorrectly in a desk chair, through to carrying uneven amounts of weight and overcompensating on one side when driving, we’re all guilty of practicing bad posture throughout the day. The good news is, though, we now know there is room for improvement!

First things first, though: how do we know if our posture is off? Well, the key to knowing if your posture isn’t quite right is to listen to your body. Pay close attention to the little things you do.

For example, do you always carry your bag on one side of your body and then lead away from the weight in order to balance? If so, you’re practicing incorrect posture: your spine curves unnaturally in order to accommodate the uneven weight. Another example is this: when you drive, do you lean your elbow into the driver’s door? If so, your spine is once again curving unnaturally. How about when you walk? Do you lean very far forward or do you tend to curve your lower back/coccyx out? If so, your walk is off and your incorrect posture could cause back pain down the road. All three of these examples are just a tiny few compared to the various ways in which incorrect posture can rear its ugly head in your daily activities. For this reason, it’s extremely important to be aware and to get the right advice immediately.

Always remind yourself of your posture and, where applicable, aim to improve it. For example, you could start sleeping with a pillow between your legs so as to align your spine. You could also start sitting upright in your chair at work, lift the height of your computer monitor, and refrain from using laptops where possible. Remember to get up regularly and go for a walk, too!

Furthermore, when you’re standing, make sure you’re upright with your spine aligned. Ensure that your shoulders aren’t hunched and that your weight is spread evenly across your legs. The same advice is true for when you walk: distribute weight evenly and ensure that your spine is always supported. Be sure to wear appropriate footwear, too, as your shoes can directly affect your posture and, therefore, your health.

Having said all that, we also know that it can be tricky to self-diagnose potential posture issues.

Oftentimes, habits are formed over years and years, and that’s exactly why breaking them, or even recognizing their damaging effects, can be very difficult. However, if you’re serious about tackling your posture – whether to ensure prolonged health and a pain free life, or to eradicate existing pain – it’s imperative that you see a physical therapist. Professional, hands-on physical therapy is the safest, most effective way of tackling posture-related issues. Not only will a physical therapist diagnose and treat the root cause of the problem, thereby eradicating the pain, but he/she will also give you tailor-made exercises and invaluable advice in order to equip you with the tools to maintain a pain-free life filled with great posture!

At the end of the day, just as a lifetime of bad habits can lead to injury, so too can the practice of correct, targeted habits improve your posture and thereby undo the damage. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the improvement of your posture doesn’t hinge on a large, extreme gesture:

it takes the accumulative effects of daily, conscious changes to alter bad posture. Listen to your body and make the changes needed to move forward into a pain-free, long, mobile life.

We understand that bad posture has the potential to hinder mobility and active lifestyles. We also know that it may well lead to serious injury or prolonged suffering… and we really don’t want that for you. If you’re not sure whether you have bad posture and you just want some answers in order to avoid negative repercussions, or whether you’re suffering from pain related to bad posture, then we invite you to contact one of our friendly, knowledgeable physical therapists today. Make the change needed to create positive habits that will last a lifetime.

Good posture paves the way for a healthful, pain-free life, and we cannot wait to give you the foundation you need to start implementing them correctly and safely. Call us today – we look forward to hearing from you!

The Road to Normalcy

Getting back to normalcy is what we are all looking forward to these days.  The pandemic has been life altering to everyone.

The vaccine is something we hope will get us back to some sort of normalcy and living the lives we want to freely.  No worries, just living life.  Ok, some worries, but nothing that would necessarily impact the people around us adversely.  

As a health care provider, a deemed essential worker, I am fortunate enough to be near the front of the line for the vaccine.

Admittedly, at first, I was hesitant in getting the vaccine.  Partly because, like many, I felt like it was rushed and we would be the guinea pigs.  The other part was feeling a little guilty.  I wasn't a front line worker in the trenches of treating patients fighting COVID.  I was a secondary line of defense to help people avoid having to go to ERs, urgent care facilities, or going to their doctor's office for their orthopedic issues.  It was to help take the strain off the frontline invasion.  

I was willing to wait a bit to let the frontline health care providers and workers get inoculated before I would get mine.  

However, my thought process quickly changed.  Despite all of my best efforts to stay safe and minimize my risks, someone (unknown to them at the time) informed me they had exposed me.  The encounter was brief in the face to face moment.   I had my mask on, I kept my distance, I washed my hands and wiped down all the surfaces.  Nonetheless, my heart sunk into my stomach.  Shit.  Thankfully, I don't go anywhere, but still.  I had to inform the other member of my household to which I wasn't sure how he was going to take it (he took it surprisingly well, but he, too, later confessed had the same stomach sinking feeling).

Following the CDC guidelines, I self quarantined and waited the obligatory time until it was ideal to test (5 days out from exposure).  My anxiety was a little high as mild paranoia set in.  Feeling my face and forehead, "Am I running a temperature?"  Use digital thermometer.  "97.8"  "is my throat scratchy?"  Use digital thermometer again.  "97.8"  Not that checking my temp was any litmus test of why my throat was a little scratchy.  Nonetheless, any sense of rationality starts to diminish.  The constant wondering if the virus has entered your system and waiting to emerge.  I scheduled my PCR test thru my PCP. The PCR test, the one where the Q tip is shoved up your nose to tickle your brain stem, is not something I care to do on a regular basis.  It felt like water had just got up my nose at the pool when the tester was done swabbing.  Tears well up in your eyes as the unpleasant stinging sensation dissipates over the course of 20 seconds.   

Just when you thought the quarantine was bad, waiting for the results further heightened the anxiety.  I still felt fine, energy good, temp normal, nothing was out of sorts aside from the anxiety.  24 hours later, "COVID PCR negative."  Oh thank goodness!  The relief of the weight lifted felt like you won $5 on a scratch off ticket.  All was good except I was still in quarantine for another day or so.  Per CDC, I get out of jail after 7 days with a negative PCR test.  Ok, another day and half.  I got this.  

Once freed, my mind had changed about the vaccine.  How can I get the vaccine and where do I sign up?  I'm done with this crap.  I want my life back.  Granted, I was expressing the same thing about 2 months into the pandemic last year.  Now I was really feeling done, knowing that there was some sort of light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine out.

Knowing that ALL health care providers qualified, I began looking into the process.  The issue for me, I'm an independent, private practitioner with no hospital affiliations.  How in the world does a provider like myself get vaccinated?

I started hearing from other people in the same position about how to go about it.  I checked the website and there wasn't a lot of information.  Was there some secret members only phone number?  After more checking, and a few days into the process.  I called one number, get another number.  I called that number, and failed to get to a live person.  Ok.  Time to play the game.

5 calls later and some extra time on my hands, I surprisingly got through.  The guy told me he needed to transfer me, but the hold time was longer than normal.  I was invested.  Ok.  So I waited.  And waited.  An hour and fifteen minutes later to my startled surprise, a nice lady answered the phone.  For the next 7-10 min she is going through the qualifying questionnaire with me.  She submitted my "application" and said I would get a response within 48 hrs.  20 minutes later, I received the email with my acceptance and a scheduling link.  At the click of a button, I was scheduled for my first shot 3 days later.  

I was eager and felt extremely lucky to have gotten through since I heard of others waiting on the phone for HOURS before they got a live person.  The county had yet to implement their online pre registration system.  This whole roll out was a learn as you go process for the county health departments.  

3 days later at my scheduled appointment, everything went as smooth as it could be.  After hearing nightmare stories from others who had been vaccinated a week earlier where they waited for HOURS in the parking lot WITH an appointment.  So to my surprise, my morning appointment was painless.  Everything was done thru text.  Check in via text.  Invitation to come in via text.  The organization of the vaccination process was as steamlined as an Ironman race check in process.  Go station to station, follow the arrows, answer a few questions with the vaccinator, get jabbed, go wait, check in for your holding time, receive text when your time is up.  From the moment I received my invitation to go in to when I walked out was less than 25 minutes.  Easy peasy.

Now the big thing everyone was talking about were the side effects.  My experience with the first shot (Moderna, BTW):

8 hours after the shot, arm got achy and sore

12 hours after, soreness increased to the point lifting my arm was impossible without a little help

Day 1, arm soreness was intense trying to reach overhead.

By day 3, little to no arm soreness and functioning fine.

Day 4, slight axillary lymph node soreness and swelling

Day 5, mild day 4 symptoms

Day 6, diminishing day 4 symptoms

Day 7, raised bumps and slight itchiness to the injection site

Day 8, full dermatological reaction (raised, red, swollen) covering my deltoid and itchiness to the injection site

Day 9, day 8 symptoms decreasing

Day 10, day 8 symptoms negligible

Then the drama was over with shot #1.  

4 weeks later, I scheduled my second shot.  The process was just as smooth as the first time.  

Here was my shot #2 experience (which apparently can be all over the map in severity, but seems everyone gets some sort of reaction):

3 hrs after the shot, arm started to get sore, but not as intensely as the first.  I could still reach overhead without assistance.

12 hrs after the shot, the fatigue hit me like a ton of bricks.  It's the I feel sick fatigue, but you aren't sick.  Then the chills set in.  I resigned to going to bed early.  

After burying myself in my covers, a few hours later I was hot and wide awake, but tired.  Started getting chills again and fell back asleep.

Day 1, residual grogginess by morning, but feeling ok.  No temperature.  By the afternoon (36 hrs later), I felt fine.  Arm was sore and swollen but still functional.  Nothing like the first shot.  There was some itchiness as well.

Day 2-7, gradual reduction in soreness, swelling, and itchiness to the injection site and otherwise feeling good.  

So overall, nothing dramatic.  About 24 hrs worth of "excitement", and then I was completely fine.  Most others I heard from had similar experiences.  A few developed mild fever and felt bad for 2-3 days.  

I wasn't concerned of the side effects of the vaccine, but it was nice to have some idea of what to possibly expect.  For those of us who have been vaccinated, we share our experiences as if comparing notes.  Others who are still waiting, want to know more about what to expect taking comfort in those that went before them.  

Now that I've been vaccinated, I have some comfort that I will be ok if I should contract the virus (trust me, I don't want anything to do with it).  Some of the unknowns are what we are navigating through right now.  My behavior and habits haven't changed nor will they change for the foreseeable future.  Until we get the "all clear" from the CDC, our degree of normalcy is within reach, but not just yet.  If we can all do our part, we can get there.  

For those that are hesitant, you have to make an informed decision about what is best for your own health and others around you.  If you choose to defer, because you have history of adverse reactions, then yes, be cautious.  For those that are hesitant for other reasons, do so with factual information and please be considerate of those around you.  Please follow the recommended guidelines to mitigate the spread of the virus, so we can get back to normalcy sooner.