Carpal tunnel syndrome seemed to affect almost everyone before positive steps were taken to identify the culprit in this new epidemic. Many of my patients that work at computer workstations even have the “proper ergonomic workstation design” picture displayed prominently on the back side of their i.d. badges.

Yet these people are patients in my office for conditions and back problems that aren’t being helped by ergonomics for computer workstations. It’s still possible to slouch and slump in your workstation.

Just being seated for long periods of time creates shortened hamstrings and hip flexors. Slouching and slumping will continue to put stress and strain on your upper back and neck.

The one thing I’ve seen repeatedly that even the best ergonomics can’t seem to help is bad posture. I keep seeing new and improved reminder systems that will help you remember to sit up straight, but less emphasis on really making a lasting change.

Alarms can be shut off or ignored. You can only get reminded or scolded so many times about your posture before you start to tune it out. If you engage in preventative things like stretching and strengthening activities to improve your posture, no one will need to remind you to sit up straight and your workstation ergonomics will be less of a factor in keeping your injury-free and out of pain.

It makes sense that no matter what your occupation, if you spend extended amounts of time in the same position, your body will begin to stay that way. Your body loves to adapt. If you lift weights, your body thinks that you must need bigger muscles to accomplish your daily activities. On the other hand, if you don’t lift weights, your body assumes there’s no need for big muscles.

If you are hunched over the keyboard, your body begins the process of creating a computer posture for you. A postural change that will help you stay in the position that you are in the most.

So to solve this problem (yes, computer posture is a problem), you’re going to have to do activities that tell your body that your desire is to sit up straight — and out of pain.

The great thing about your body is that you won’t have to do the additional activities nearly as much as you are doing the position that is contributing to your computer posture.

You just have to do it effectively. You have to target the muscles of your back that support your posture and help you maintain a straight position. Just going to the gym and bench pressing is not going to get you the results you’re after.

Spend time exercising your back and you’ll make it difficult for you body to keep you hunched over your desk.

They are either in pain or tired of seeing their rounded shoulders and since their problems seems to get worse with each passing hour at their computer, it only makes sense that it must be a computer ergonomics problem.

So why doesn’t everyone have the exact same posture? Why do only some of the people sitting at a computer all day get the rounded shoulders and forward head posture while others get low back issues and some no problems at all.

Is it really only about the computer ergonomics?

If we were to following everyone around during the day, we’d probably find that some people have added in back strengthening activities, even if just be accident. They may not even realize some of the good things they’re doing to help their posture.

Maybe they exercise, or hit the gym regularly. It could be that even though they don’t specifically target their posture muscles, they do enough of a well-rounded exercise regimen to positively effect their posture.

Computer ergonomics are a good thing. Since their implementation, repetitive stress injuries have decreased and I think we all have a better understanding about how a small, seemingly insignificant movement can be magnified by doing it over and over again for long periods of time. Still, your posture will play a huge role in how you feel.

There are certainly plenty of shoulder parts that can tear, and each of the tissue types associated with the shoulder area can seem very similar without the benefit of an MRI to really take a look. Recently, a patient came in with shoulder pain and the only trauma he had experienced was having bad posture.

With no history of any real trauma and dealing with someone who performed little if any regular physical activity, it seemed unlikely that he would have torn anything in his shoulder. After he had an MRI, it was determined that he had literally torn parts of his rotator cuff because his bad posture and rounded shoulders had been out of place for so long that gravity had finally taken its toll on his weakened muscles.

Assuming that you’ve checked everything out (by a doctor, not you and your friend deciding) and nothing is torn, you’ll need to decide which muscle has been affected and what you’re going to do about it. Then its time to begin exercises for shoulder pain.

From a postural standpoint, its the back of the shoulders that are going to be an issue. So raising dumbbells over your head or doing military presses will likely have little effect in taking care of any shoulder issue. In fact, if you continue to work out the front of your shoulder while continuing to neglect the back your shoulder exercise program will only make your shoulder pain worse.

Attacking your posterior deltoid and muscles of the rotator cuff should be your focus (from a posture standpoint). You can use small dumbbells (start light) or even look into some resistance tubing. There are varying strengths available to give a wide range of people an effective workout.

Bad posture starts early in life and can have some bad things associated with it. Maybe your mom was always yelling at you about it, or maybe you were very tall and you were looking to hide this fact, or perhaps as a young woman your chest started to develop and you found that slouching brought less attention to them.

Regardless of how it all began, most bad posture can still be corrected. There’s just a lot of information to sort through out there and you have to start looking somewhere. This is why I’m thrilled (and you should be too) that you at least recognize that not only is this something you need to deal with, but you’re actually seeking out information to do something about it.

Continue to hide your spine or worrying about isn’t going to change how your posture looks. A posture support or a posture belt may alleviate symptoms initially, but they won’t change your bad posture and correction is just not something they were designed to do.

Start off with just recognizing where you’re having the posture problem. Sitting? Standing? Standing up tall is surely something you can try and remember. “When I stand up, I will remember to have good posture.” This works okay as long as you’re not required to stand for very long periods of time.

Sitting is another matter altogether. You can sit in very comfortable, but bad for your posture chairs. You can sit in very good for your posture, but not very comfortable chairs that you’re not ready for yet. You can become more ready to sit in these types of chairs once your muscles get stronger.

Take these first steps and you’ll end up at the same conclusion most people do… you’re going to have to strengthen those posture muscles if you hope to have any chance of long term benefits of changing your posture for good.

That trauma may be as easy to remember as a car accident or serious fall, or it could be something more sinister like having bad posture or a poorly set up computer workstation for far too long. The afflictions of the back that can cause poor posture are largely due to repetitive trauma or micro trauma.

These “mini-traumas” are nothing that you would notice if you were only performing the activity once or twice. However, since you perform the offending action thousands upon thousands of times, it can begin to add up. The trauma can lead to such things as degenerative joint disease (DJD), herniated disc, and osteoporosis-related problems like compression fractures.

Degenerative Joint Disease is also known as a “wear and tear” disease. This is usually the result of spinal joints not functioning as well as they should, cause them to simply wear out. DJD may also show up as the result of a more traumatic injury as your body attempts to heal or just bad posture. The visible signs of DJD can be seen on x-ray only after the process has been going on for at least several years.

A herniated disc is usually more painful. The jelly-like substance inside the spinal disc becomes inflamed and begins pushing its way out of the more fibrous outer ring. This can lead to pressure on spinal nerves and lot of associated pain.

Compression fractures related to osteoporosis are also very painful. Once the spine has been pushed out of its normal alignment, it leads to an increase in the amount of pressure and force being put on spinal joints as they resist gravity. Finally, something has to give and the bone begins to collapse on itself. This is called a compression fracture.

The bad news is that once you get one spinal fracture, the increasing stress and body weight will typically lead to more. Prevention is the key, then, to all of these conditions. Since you can’t predict or always avoid the traumas of auto accidents or falls, you’ll have to try and avoid the repetitive traumas in your daily life.

While you will have to remember to sit up straight from time to time, the focus has to be on building stronger postural muscles. By doing this, you will make it easier to sit up straight and keep from slouching.

You will have fewer instances to have to “remember.”

If this is the case, then teaching good posture has to be about getting stronger in your back muscles and, just as importantly, stretching the muscles on the front of your body.

Your body is not trying to slouch. After all, you feel better when you have better posture and your body is all about that. The force of gravity acting on your body constantly just keeps pulling you down.

If your body has an easier time keeping you up (because it’s strong), it will certainly do so. However, if your daily activities involve sitting at a workstation that is not suited for you and you never get around to performing some sort of posture improving exercise, you’re going to struggle.

Your body can only keep up the fight for sitting up straight for as long as your muscles can hold out. If you are trying to teach good posture to someone, you’re going to have to help them understand that bad posture is not about improving memory.

If you spend 1 minute using your computer, it probably matters little what your ergonomics are. If you are using your computer like most people, however, the ergonomics for computer desks can really become more and more important. The size of your monitor, the type of keyboard and the type of mouse you use will all help determine what type, if any, posture problem that may develop.

Establishing good work habits on a properly set up computer workstation becomes even more important. While there are many good set ups out there, there is hardly one that is right for everyone. People come in all shapes and sizes, therefore, determining their perfect workstation setup will vary for each individual.

In addition, the way you use your computer will also be important in determining your ergonomics that will help you the best. Do you spend most of your time doing data entry? The most critical piece to your set up may be where you place the papers that you are using to get information in which to enter.

Spend a lot of time using your mouse for graphic design? Go the extra mile in setting up your mouse area and don’t skimp on having a set up that will allow your hand and wrist to remain relaxed and loose.

If you spend a lot of time “rolling around the office,” choosing the right chair and floor mat will be critical in how smoothly your trips become. Your size will also be important in the size and comfort level of the chair you choose.

In setting up your workstation, just keep the following guideline; your workstation should allow your spine and arms (including your wrists) to remain in a natural, straight and relaxed position. Nothing should hurt. If after a day’s work you are sore anywhere, that is the first place to direct your next move.

This will likely be a process, not a one-time fix. Everyone has different posture, different bodies and different needs.

While improving appearance, standing up taller, and avoiding the dowager hump are worthy goals, it is often usually when pain has occurred and simply will not go away that someone understands how their poor posture has been affecting them.

How can you determine if your upper back pain is related to your posture? How can you tell if you are truly experiencing postural muscle upper back pain? Most people describe the pain a burning, one that will not go away without stopping their work activities for the day or just being able to go home and rest.

If your pain is related to your posture, you typically feel better when you have a chance to lay down for a time. This removes gravity from the equation and requires no work from your muscles. If you are still sitting up and watching t.v., your pain may continue because gravity is still actively pulling on these aggravated muscles.

This is where people get the idea that what they really need is a posture support, not posture exercise to alleviate their problem. After all, they’re using their postural muscles all day right? Why work them out more?

However, using that argument is like saying that you don’t need to go to the gym to build bigger arms because you use your arms all day. You know that going to the gym and lifting weights will make your arms stronger and make simple daily tasks a breeze. After lifting fifty pound dumbbells, holding up your cup of coffee is nearly effortless.

This is the same philosophy behind doing specific posture exercise to help alleviate postural muscle upper back pain. Gravity is pulling on your muscles, more specifically your head, all day long. Building strength in your muscles will make their job easier. It will reduce the strain that is needed to perform simple daily tasks, making them a breeze.

Sound familiar? Maybe it’s time for an alternative low back pain treatment. I like to call it posture exercise.

The idea is that if your muscles are spasming and tightening up over and over again, they must not have the strength to support your daily routine and they tighten up to give a false strength.

So you change your chair, change your mattress and go through the wide array of low back treatments out there. An alternative low back pain treatment is to strengthen the back muscles and create your own muscular back brace.

This takes a lot of the pressure and strain off of spinal joints and allows you to experience pain relief and keep it from coming back again. It may not seem like the easiest route when you’re in pain, but it may likely be the route that keeps the pain from coming back.

If you are having a low back pain issue, certainly address the pain and get feeling better. As soon as you do, this is your chance to strengthen your postural muscles and counteract all the things you do in your day that are getting you to this point in the first place.

Make a lasting change by strengthening your back and improving your posture.