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Why Won’t My Child Sit Up Straight?

June 20, 2018 by Desire Treski Leave a Comment

All of us has been told as a kid to sit up straight. Did you find it impossible to do? It always seemed more comfortable to slouch, doesn’t it? However, you always see parents telling their children to sit up straight.

Why won’t my Child Sit up Straight?

A child won’t sit up straight for a number of reasons. Usually, it’s because the child has something wrong with the structure of their spine. Because of that, it is impossible for them to sit up straight, no matter how much you try to encourage them to do so. A lot of the habits they do every day, such as using handheld devices, playing video games, sitting slumped at school, all those things can lead to bad posture habits. However, usually, they stem from the structure itself, because we know structural abnormalities start in-utero. They can also happen at birth.

That is why we encourage parents to have their babies and children spinally assessed because they are acquiring subluxations at birth which can influence their posture, which can then influence how they present themselves later on in life as young children, teenagers, and adults.

Are there any exercises that my child can do to help them sit up straighter?

You want to encourage your children to have good posture as they are growing. However, most adults don’t know what good posture is. You see it every day. Parents let their children sit slumped while playing games or using their handheld device for hours on end and don’t realize that this is bad for them. The first step is to understand what normal is and the only way to know what normal is is to see a CBP chiropractor and get a check-up. Regardless of whether or not they have pain every person should have a spinal check-up because that is how you learn what “normal” is. That is how you learn how to identify good posture versus bad posture, not only in yourself but in others.

Is there potential for a child’s growth to be stunted from poor posture habits?

Yes, you can see that the child may grow unevenly. One leg could be longer than the other or their bones will grow in the direction of which they are slumping. Now we’re seeing because of the influx of handheld devices, forward head position on a lot of young children that never existed before. Because these kids have never spent so much time looking at these devices before, it’s actually pulling their head forward and creating structural changes. This is something that previously had only been seen in adults.

How can we correct this?

The first thing to do would be to bring your children to see a CBP Chiropractor for a check-up. Having an understanding of how your child’s spine is structured is very important to identify any structural abnormalities. Knowing to restrict time on handheld devices and encouraging your children to have good posture should be in addition to your CBP care, so make an appointment today.

For more information contact Dr. B @ [email protected]

Filed Under: Dr. B's Corner Tagged With: Active Family Chiropractic, AFC, CBP, CBP care, CBP Chiropractor, Children, Chiropractic Care, Chiropractor, Dr. B, Handheld devices, Spinal correction, Spine

How do handheld devices contribute to spinal damage?

February 21, 2018 by Desire Treski Leave a Comment

Does the above cartoon look like you when you’re on your hand-held device? The world is advancing at an alarming rate and with it, the technology is getting better and better. As time goes by, we find ourselves more reliant on our hand-held and mobile devices. Although these devices make our lives easier, they also contribute to spinal damage. Is my smartphone or tablet causing spinal damage? The short answer is yes.

How is my handheld device causing spinal damage?

Most hand-held devices are designed to be held in your hand, hence the name. However, they tend to have a little bit of weight to them which over the extended period of use can begin to feel heavy. This forces you to seek support for that arm holding the device, whether it be the arm of a chair or a table, or maybe your leg. This causes you to look down at the device. This puts you in forward head projection and causes your shoulders to round.  Holding this position for any amount of time can lead to a weakness in your posture. Have you ever seen Herbert, the old man from Family Guy when he’s walking with his walker? When you continually hold your device in such a way that it promotes poor spinal posture , you are in danger of ending up like him. 

Think about this. For every degree you tilt your head forward, you are adding a pound of pressure to your spine. The way most people hold their cell phones or tablets can put up to 60 additional pounds of pressure on your spine. The Guardian, a British news publication, provided a fantastic graphic to demonstrate this.

But I need to multi-task!

In this busy world, we all tend to try to do several things at once. We talk on the phone while we’re typing on our laptop or tablet. If you’re not using your speakerphone function or your headphones, which the phone company so generously supplied to you, you may find yourself trying to wedge your phone in between your head and your shoulder in order to continue to work. This action can cause spinal damage as well. When you are constantly putting your neck in a side-bending position, you are causing misalignments (subluxation). This can lead to an imbalance in your muscles and you’ll notice your head will start to constantly tilt and eventually if untreated you could look like the picture below.

Not only is this bad for your health, but it is unsightly.

What are some things I can do to prevent spinal damage from using my hand-held devices?

I know it might be hard but try to limit your use of your devices. If that is not an option, think about using your headphones when answering calls. Also, when texting or viewing social media, make sure that you are holding the phone up so that your neck is in a neutral position not tilted or bent forward. Doing these simple things can minimize neck and back pain as well as promote good spinal posture.

For more information or to talk about exercises, you can do to strengthen your spine email Dr. B at [email protected].

Filed Under: Active Family Chiropractic, PC News and Articles, Dr. B's Corner Tagged With: Active Family Chiropractic, AFC, Bad Posture, Chiropractic, Forward Head Projection, Handheld devices, Head tilt, Smartphones, Spinal Damage, Spinal Damage from Handheld devices, Tablets, Text Neck

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