When your precious little bundle of joy comes along, your world is changed in an instant. Suddenly, you have a rapidly growing load to carry around with you wherever you go. Whether it’s from the changing table or the floor, you bend over and lift your child more times than you can count every day. As you cradle your baby and marvel at your miracle, you put your neck into flexion for hours at a time. Poor posture and bad lifting habits contribute to the wearing down of your spine. In this article we will explore healthier spinal habits for parents. Your spine is made up of twenty-four movable individual bones called vertebrae. These allow you to twist, turn, and bend in varying directions and degrees, while at the same time protecting your precious spinal cord within. Between each vertebrae is an inter-vertebral disc designed to absorb shock and facilitate movement.
The ideal shape of the spine is an “S-shaped” curve from front to back. You may be thinking, “aren’t curves in the spine bad?” Side to side curves are called scoliosis, and this condition can be a problem if not dealt with. The S-curve from front to back is the norm, and it is the other way that our bodies absorb shock every time we take a step. It takes work to maintain our curves. The first step in spinal degeneration is the loss of curve. If we allow our bodies to follow the path of least resistance, we begin to slouch, roll our shoulders forward, and display forward head carriage. Every inch forward your head sits adds ten pounds to the weight of your head; your posterior neck muscles must work that much harder to hold your head up. Proper posture maintains that if we drop an imaginary line from our ears down when looking at our bodies from the side, this line should pass through points at the top of the shoulder, the middle of the hip bone, the side of your knees and the outer bony bump of the ankle. If this is not the case with you, it may be a sign that the curves in your spine have begun to change.
We’ve all gone to furniture stores and seen the display of the big mechanical hammer pounding into a chair to demonstrate shock absorption. What most of us don’t realize is that our spines are taking hits like this every day in the normal activities of daily living. Every time we bend forward to pick up the baby or twist awkwardly to make the bed, we are compressing the disc and pushing it backwards. Raising a child requires bending and lifting hundreds of times per day. Combine this with poor posture habits which change the spinal curves. Multiply this by years, and you have the recipe for vertebrae and disc degeneration which manifests as back and neck pain.
So what can you do to help maintain your spine? - Avoid sitting hunched over baby with your shoulders rolled forward and chin down. If you notice you have been in this position for an extended period, take a few minutes to drape your body over a yoga ball face up with your arms out at your sides, palms up, and neck back. This will stretch your anterior chest muscles and help the curve in your neck.
- Don’t hold the phone against your shoulder with your head, especially when your arms are full with the baby. Use a hands free headset or speaker phone.
- Switch arms when breast or bottle feeding your baby, even if it feels weird. This is also good for the baby in that it avoids the baby only ever turning it’s head to one side.
- Be aware of your posture when holding your child. Women have wider hips than men, and this can make a very comfortable seat for the child. However, this position usually leads to leaning toward the side the child is on and thrusting the opposite hip out for balance. This can throw the pelvis out of alignment, which is the foundation for our spine. As we all know, if the foundation is tilted, the house will be crooked! Men tend to use the brute strength of their arms to hold a child. Over time, this can stress the shoulders and can cause upper back and neck pain.
- When handing the baby over to someone else, avoid twisting at the waist. Make sure the receiver is standing directly in front of you.
- Use your legs when picking up your child! Don’t bend at the waist. Introduce squats and lunges into your daily routine. For squats, keep feet side by side with an upright upper body. Make sure both heels are planted on the floor. Keep your knees over your ankles as you sink down. For lunges, slide one foot back and keep both feet pointed forward. Bend both knees, but don’t let your front knee come forward; make sure the knee is directly over the foot. Avoid leaning back.
Ultimately, the only way to know how your curves look is to visit a qualified health professional such as a chiropractor. A chiropractor can analyze your spine, correct misalignments, and give you stretches and exercises based on how far your curves have strayed from normal.
If you don’t remember to take care of yourself, then you won’t be able to take care of the people around you! Don’t forget about yourself!
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Our Doctor
Dr. Kelvin Ng Say Koon
Doctor of Chiropractic
(USA, Summa Cum Laude)
Member of The Chiropractic Association (Singapore) & The International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA)
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2.00pm to 7.00pm |
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+65 6336 7714 |
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