Postural Supports

Dr Kyle has the solution to ensure sitting, standing and sleeping all have a positive influence on your posture. Contact us to register for one of our complimentary sitting, standing and sleeping workshops today. Below there are several brief illustrations and explanations to get you started.

Sitting

The majority of seats made today especially car seats are very bucket shaped. This leads to a loss of your low back curvature (lumbar lordosis) resulting in ultimately a forward slumped posture. We see many Carindale based taxi and truck drivers for this exact reason.

In the illustration of sitting posture, we notice the lady with the black seat insert is in a much more upright position.This is due to her hips being above her knees resulting in her lumbar lordosis being maintained. The lady on the right you can see has lost her lumbar lordosis and has a forward head carriage. This is placing vast demands on her postural musculature leading to fatigue and chronic pains.

Standing

With stand up desks becoming more popular, the way we stand has a far greater influence on our posture. Whilst standing, similarly to sitting we want to maintain our neutral spinal curves to allow the body to be as upright as possible. This has a lot to do with the footwear we use and the quality of the sole in our shoes.

We can see the lady in the middle of the illustration has a small posture support wedge under her heal. The height of this wedge will vary dependent on the type of shoe you are wearing. Our heel bone or calcaneus has a small spur on its underside and this acts in the same manner as the heel wedge. Unfortunately, most shoes have a concavity underneath the heel which results in the heel spur not being effective in keeping our body upright as possible. The use of a heel wedge can rectify this issue and ensure we maintain an ideal lumbar lordosis and perfect posture throughout the day.

Sleeping

Sleeping is a very important part of our recovery and influences the way we feel each day. Sleeping incorrectly alone can cause many postural concerns and lead to pain in many different regions on the body. Sleeping in a neutral position with no extra strain on the spine will lead to you resting better and waking up more refreshed.

Options for sleeping include either back or side sleeping, typically sleeping on your stomach will lead to increased mechanical stress on your body and reducing your quality of rest. Side sleeping is mainly focused on getting your pillow height perfect to support your body in a neutral position.

The lady in the top of the illustration has her shoulders square meaning her pillow is at the correct height as there is no further tension on the spinal cord. If your pillow is too low it will lead to rotation forward of your upper shoulder. This is seen in the middle image and it is clear this is leading to forward rotation of her torso whilst resting. If your pillow is too high the will lead to rotation backward of the upper shoulder.

This is seen in the above image and it is visible this lady has rotation backward through her torso.

Alternatively if you prefer to sleep on your back. It is best to sleep without a pillow. All you require is a small towel folded to give some support to your neck curvature (cervical lordosis). This is demonstrated in the image above.

The above Postural supports are available for purchase from the team at Brisbane Posture and Performance.

If you want to learn more please contact us to book an appointment.

The above Postural supports are available for purchase from the team at Brisbane Posture and Performance. If you have any further queries please Contact us to book in for one of your complimentary sitting, standing and sleeping workshops.