How Does Patient Education About Posture Lead to Improved Outcomes in Chiropractic Care?

How Does Patient Education About Posture Lead to Improved Outcomes in Chiropractic Care?

We asked four chiropractors how patient education about posture has improved outcomes in their practice. From active care improving patient outcomes to ergonomic education reducing neck pain, discover how these practices are using posture education to help their patients.

• Active Care Improves Patient Outcomes
• Posture Education Relieves Chronic Pain
• Postural Integrity Requires Spinal Strength
• Ergonomic Education Reduces Neck Pain

Active Care Improves Patient Outcomes

I often give postural exercises as a form of education to combat poor desk posture to my patients. Rather than just telling them their posture is unfavorable, the exercises get them engaging in a more active style of care. Research has proven that an active-care approach increases patient outcomes, especially in chiropractic, which tends to be a relatively passive approach to patient care.

This active approach improves patient outcomes by bringing a sense of responsibility to the patient, decreasing the need for excess appointments, and creating a map in their brain of exactly where the muscular imbalances are. I have found that patients will often hang the exercises up in their office for their coworkers to join in. In turn, this is an avenue for potential patients to come to my office to receive the care that they need plus be engaged in an active-care approach from the very beginning.

Posture Education Relieves Chronic Pain

A 35-year-old office worker came to my clinic with constant neck and shoulder pain. Long hours at a desk had taken a toll, and I quickly noticed their posture was the main culprit—forward-head posture and rounded shoulders.

I started with spinal adjustments to give them immediate relief. Then, I explained how simple changes to their workstation could make a big difference. We talked about raising their monitor, sitting back in their chair, and taking regular breaks. I also showed them a few easy exercises, like chin tucks and wall angels, to help strengthen the muscles that support good posture.

After a few weeks, they were feeling much better. Their pain had almost disappeared, and they were much more aware of how they were sitting throughout the day. Even better, the changes they made at work helped prevent the pain from coming back.

It was great to see such a quick turnaround with a combination of hands-on care and some simple posture education.

Postural Integrity Requires Spinal Strength

Posture is an innate function of your nervous system and how strong your brain-body connection is. A weakened brain-body connection, due to vertebral subluxation nerve interference, will force the body to compensate and lose postural integrity.

First, we instruct our patients on the importance of having their vertebral subluxations corrected for optimal health and performance. All postural correction has to start with spinal structural correction (think of braces for teeth). With subluxations present, nerve flow is interfered with, affecting how the body is able to function.

Once we start a spinal structural correction program, we instruct our patients on the importance of spinal strength and flexibility. I believe that yoga is a great adjunct to chiropractic, as it is the gold standard for spinal flexibility. However, a flexible spine is still weak unless the muscles of the spine are strong enough to maintain the corrected bones in their proper position. Therefore, a "functional capacity" physical training program is recommended to strengthen the whole body in regular everyday movements.

The combination of subluxation correction with yoga and functional capacity training continues to produce quality-of-life and activity-of-daily-living improvements in our clients.

Ergonomic Education Reduces Neck Pain

At BioMotion Physical Therapy, we are deeply committed to patient education as a cornerstone of our treatment approach, although it's important to clarify that our practice is rooted in physical therapy rather than chiropractic care. Educating our patients about proper posture is a fundamental part of our program and has shown remarkable results in improving their overall health outcomes.

One prevalent issue we encounter is neck pain attributed to poor posture, particularly common among patients who spend long hours at a desk. A simple yet effective remedy we advocate involves adjusting the position of the computer monitor. By raising the monitor to eye level, we can ensure that the patient maintains a neutral neck position, preventing the neck from tilting forward and the shoulders from rounding. This adjustment helps in alleviating the strain on the neck muscles and the cervical spine, which often results from prolonged periods of looking downward.

This intervention, though minor, has significantly helped many of our patients. By incorporating such ergonomic corrections into their daily routine, patients report a noticeable reduction in neck discomfort and an improvement in their overall posture. Our aim is always to empower our patients with the knowledge and practical tools they need to manage their conditions effectively, promoting long-term health benefits that extend beyond their time in our care.