What Are the Causes of Bad Posture?

Bad posture can make a person look tired, ill or even older than they actually are. Even worse, bad posture leads to many health problems, including back, neck and shoulder pain, energy loss, even depression and anxiety. Bad posture, when unaddressed, also makes you prone to injuries. By understanding what causes bad posture, sufferers can begin to find ways to correct the problem and stand tall once again.

Foot Abnormalities

• Once foot arches collapse and ankles turn inward, they stop supporting your body effectively. This process is called hyperpronation. Because of this, knees often rotate inward, stomach and buttocks protrude and shoulders curve forward, bringing your head forward with them. These changes throw your body off-balance. Over time, muscles, ligaments and joints deteriorate as well.

Slouching

• Whether slouching results from laziness, bad habits or even a lifestyle change, it often leads to bad posture. Slouching shifts the body's center of balance by allowing muscles to relax to the point where they become incapable of supporting the body properly as they once did. Shifting out of the slouching position becomes painful because muscles are already fatigued. What's worse, back pain can be a lifelong, debilitating problem that cannot be fixed without medical intervention. To counteract the effects of slouching, try to maintain good posture while sitting or standing for long periods of time. Avoid leaning on furniture or against walls for support. Instead, let your body support itself as it was made to.

Lifestyle

• People who work at a desk all day put themselves at risk of developing bad posture, especially those who sit in front of a computer for hours. These people tend to push their necks forward and hunch their shoulders, resulting in habitually bad posture that can be difficult to correct. To prevent permanent changes in posture, use an ergonomically correct desk chair and set aside periods of time for short walks or stretching.

Malnutrition

• Although many people in the Western world have access to adequate nutrition, people in poorer areas of the world may not. Groups living in less developed nations often suffer from malnutrition due to scarcity of resources or low income. Without adequate nutrition, bones and muscle tissue cannot develop or grow in a way that supports healthy development of the body. The skeleton is simply too weak to support the individual and bad posture develops as a consequence.

Weight

• School-age children carry heavy backpacks that impose weight and stress to the spine, leading to bad posture, improper gait and other injuries. Some children try to ease the strain of heavy backpacks by dropping their heads forward into an irregular posture. Others hang their overloaded backpacks on one shoulder, developing the muscles on one shoulder only. This leads to a slumped posture and unnaturally curved spine in children who don't learn to distribute the weight properly.