Sit in the car. Sit at the computer. Sit at a desk. Sit to play video games. Sit to watch a movie. Sit to watch TV. St Peters kids (and some adults!) sit a lot. It’s the curse of our modern society, but how can we prevent all that sitting from harming our kids’ backs? We don’t want them to suffer back pain unnecessarily. Old Mill Chiropractic is here to help! Teaching St Peters kids now to set some good habits when they do sit may well prevent back pain later.

First, just how much do St Peters kids sit? In a 2007 study (1), kids spent 14 hours a week with TV/DVD and computer games and only 4 hours a week with sports activities. The 20% of the kids who didn’t do any sports activities were at a higher risk of poor posture. How many of our St Peters children are non-activity kids? Poor posture is seen in 38.3% of children, more often in boys. Common posture linked injuries found are 

• protruding scapulae (shoulder blades) (50%).
• increased lumbar lordosis (32%).
• round back (31%).

Old Mill Chiropractic is committed to working with parents to keep their kids’ spines in line!

Second, how does all this sitting affect the kids’ spines anatomically? Old Mill Chiropractic knows that it does! Well, a recent study of 11-13 year old kids who are certainly not much different from our own St Peters kids pointed to some curious facts. One is that sitting results in a decreased angle of inclination of the thoracolumbar spine (lower mid spine to upper lower spine). The normal thoracic spine’s kyphotic curve and the lumbar spine’s lordotic curve are both lessened. And lastly the pelvis is uneven. (2) These aren’t good occurrences. Your St Peters chiropractor likes to see curves where they belong and symmetry of the pelvises as is normal. Chiropractic care at Old Mill Chiropractic can help adjust these and educate our young patients to prevent these outcomes.

How? Posture education is a good start. Adults often attend “back wellness school”. It’s now time for children to have a back school of their own! During this back school the students could be shown what good posture is and how to sit with good posture. Children can be encouraged to maintain their normal spinal curves when sitting.  Talk with your St Peters chiropractor about ways to help your school child with posture.

So contact Old Mill Chiropractic today. Make a St Peters chiropractic appointment for your child to have a good spinal examination. That sets up a great opportunity for us to talk about posture in school and out of school, when sitting and when playing. Rely on your St Peters chiropractor to be on your side and have your and your child’s back!

*picture from Microsoft