Sit up straight: Bad posture can cause health problems

On her birthday in 2005, Irene Namukasa, an administrative assistant jumped out of bed early. In anticipation of the day that lay ahead, she decided to do some quick exercises to get her blood circulation up.
“As I always did, I stretched abit, and then I bent down to touch my toes. I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. After taking some pain killers, the pain disappeared for a long time.”
However, after six months, the pain returned, and over the course of the last 12 years, it is has been getting progressively worse. Today, Namukasa depends on painkillers to relieve her pain.
“I spend most of the day seated at my computer or hunched over my laptop. It took me a long time to connect the dots. Now, I am undergoing therapy with a physiotherapist who is also teaching me about the right position for my back.”
Spending a lot of time with your shoulders and upper back rounded (slouching) can put strain on the muscles and soft tissues around the back, neck, and shoulders. Slouching has a lot to do with bad sitting or standing posture.

Strain on the back
At the office, if you find yourself sitting on the edge of the chair and leaning back to support your head and shoulders, you are slowly damaging the muscles of your back. Most people get into this habit unconsciously, especially when they have been working on the computer for more than three straight hours.
Patrick Ssali, a manual therapist at The Back Pain Clinic in Nsambya, says: “Sitting in a bad posture means there is no balance in the body in terms of weight distribution. Most of the body weight will be on one side, meaning the muscles on that side will be straining more than the muscles on the other part of the body.”
Hunching over your laptop, or computer keyboard with the head leaning forward is also not good for the upper back because over time, it stiffens the muscles. For some people, their computers are on the sides of their working space, meaning they have to twist their bodies to one side to work on the computer.
“If you spend a lot of time sitting in the bad posture, there is a likely chance that you may develop some form of deformity in the back,” Ssali warns.
To protect your back, always sit back in your chair and use a lumber pillow. Make sure that your feet are flat on the ground.
Poor standing posture
According to Ssali, the spinal cord is supposed to be slightly curved. However, for some people, their bottoms tend to stick out, causing a more pronounced curve. There are many reasons the spine can have a pronounced curve such as excessive abdominal weight and wearing high heeled shoes.
“The duration one spends in this posture tends to weaken the muscles that are supposed to support the entire spinal cord. With time, these muscles will not be able to function properly.”
Also, leaning on one leg, carrying a baby on one hip or carrying a heavy bag on one shoulder will place pressure on one side of the lower back. This may cause muscle imbalances around the pelvis area.
The correct way to keep your body in perfect alignment is to stand with the neck straight and the shoulders parallel with the hips.

Sleeping posture
If the body is not properly positioned on the mattress, it can cause pain to the lower back. “The most recommended position is the recovery position,” Ssali says, continuing, “In this position, one is sleeping half on the stomach and half on the side. Also, sleeping on the side is a good position.”
However, if you are to sleep on your side, use a good pillow to support your head. This will ensure that your spinal cord is well aligned and your neck is not held at an awkward angle. Ssali adds that sleeping on the back is not recommended, and neither is sleeping on the stomach.

Lifting
As in Namukasa’s case, many people suffer sharp pains in their lower backs when they try to bend to lift things. Using the wrong posture to lift can hurt the back because the most dangerous position the back can be in is the bending position.
Instead, stand directly in front of the object, pull in your stomach, and then, squat from the knees to lift the object.