Posture Lessons To Teach Your Children To Avoid Back Pain

Many chiropractic clinics in your community accept children as patients and will happily work to alleviate your child's back aches and pains, but it's ideal to be as proactive as possible in the hopes of your child not ever having to suffer in this manner. Many children can develop back soreness as a result of sitting for long hours, whether it's in the classroom, at home on the couch, or at the desk in their bedroom. Your children, especially when they're young, might not have a clear indicator of what makes up "good posture." Here are some lessons that you'll want to teach them.

Hold Your Shoulders Back

Allowing the shoulders to slouch forward is a common posture mistake that can result in upper or lower back pain. Teach your children the importance of holding their shoulders back. When they're seated in a chair with a back support, you can make this into a game — try to sit in a manner such that the backs of your shoulders remain in contact with the back support of the chair. By instilling this habit when your children are young, they'll be able to focus on using good posture as they age — and hopefully not developing back pain that requires chiropractic adjustments.

Keep Your Head Above Your Shoulders

Upper back pain can often arise as a result of young child allowing his or her head to fall well ahead of the shoulders. In this position, the weight of the head can pull the neck or upper back out of alignment, leading to pain. Encourage your children to keep their heads directly above their shoulders by offering them this simple visualization — imagine that a string in alignment with your spine is hanging above your head and pulling it upward in a perfect line with your spine. Your kids can then try to mimic this idea.

Keep Your Feet On The Floor

Ideal posture also includes keeping one's feet flat on the floor, rather than tucking them up on the chair or crossing them. The latter two positions put the back at risk of being pulled out of alignment, which can cause your child pain and create a need for a chiropractic adjustment. Stress the importance of keeping both feet flat on the floor while seated.

If your child has poor posture, it's worthwhile to schedule a chiropractic visit; the chiropractor can perform an adjustment and offer some additional posture tips. Click here for info.

 

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