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Act to prevent or relieve back pain by controlling our daily postures
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Fighting against sedentary lifestyle and promoting physical exercises adapted to each person will help us, whatever our age:
- Improve our muscular capital;
- Strengthen our bones;
- Keep tendon problems at bay;
- Prevent the degeneration of our joints;
- Facilitate our ability to move.
Today, our lifestyle has changed. Modern life has progressively eliminated the natural physical activity of our ancestors for most of us. Our increasingly sedentary modern life includes motorised transport, working more often in an office than in the fields!
However, this sedentary behaviour weakens our physical and mental faculties. Our bodies are less well prepared for effort. This is not only the absence of physical activity, but also our involvement in activities with very little movement and low body energy expenditure.
We and our children spend many hours a day in front of our screens. Our chairs have become our constant companions! We use our bodies less and less, except through occasional sports activities.
Overweight and obesity are consequences of this inactivity and can also be the direct cause of back problems, or contribute to the aggravation of this ailment.
Why should we pay attention to our body alignment?
Good posture is the basis for good motor stability and poor posture leads to a breakdown in our body alignment.
In the same way that unstable foundations threaten a building, any defection in our body alignment causes a domino effect on the rest of our body.
Body alignment is too often ignored, because before starting any physical activity programme, it is vital to check our body alignment in order to correct any imbalance.
Poor body alignment has a destabilising effect on the whole body and we need to be aware of our body alignment whether our body is still or moving.
The best position, whether lying, sitting, squatting, standing, etc., cannot be maintained for long without pain. Most of the time, we misplace our backs unconsciously, and the questions and thoughts only come to us when pain appears.
We need to feel and maintain simple movements, to execute our exercises correctly to maintain and strengthen our body, including our back, in order to adapt more easily to our needs in everyday life.
Prone or supine position
In the course of our lives, we spend a lot of time lying down. This may be for a short period of time (when we are sleeping or relaxing), or for a long period of time (during illnesses, etc.). These passive positions impose an alignment of the spine on the support, for our greatest comfort.
We sleep 1/3 of our life during our existence; at the age of 75, a human being has slept about 25 years. However, sleep is not a waste of time, it is a vital need during which the brain is very active and all our vital organs (heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, digestive tract, etc.) are functioning.
If we neglect our sleep, we expose ourselves to pathophysiological disturbances in the same way as a poor diet or a lack of physical activity.
When we sleep, we consume less energy, but the body continues to function, a bit like a computer in a waking state.
The best sleeping position is one in which we feel comfortable. It allows us to fall asleep easily and to enjoy a restful sleep. Avoiding tension in the neck and back. It is important to remember that during our sleep we can change our position several times.
Even if we have preferred positions when we lie down, we should not forget that poor posture can lead to musculoskeletal pain when we wake up.
Sitting position
« Nous » et « Le siège »
La position assise correcte : est celle où
- Le dos est tonique (pas affaissé, pas relâché) et bien érigé sur le siège, et en même temps
- Les structures assimilées à la colonne vertébrale (disques intervertébraux, ligaments, tendons, articulations vertébrales) sont soulagées.
Par ailleurs
- C'est à « Nous » de nous tenir : De prendre la bonne posture, car n'importe quel siège ne peut le faire à notre place.
- En position « active », la musculature du corps assure elle-même le maintien de la colonne vertébrale.
- En position « passive », un support (dossier) soutient la colonne vertébrale, la musculature du corps n'est pas mise en jeu.
- En position « semi-passive », le support est considéré comme une aide et le dos n'est pas passif à 100%.
- Le siège est également important : Un bon siège est celui dans lequel on n'est pas tenté de s'avachir, d'être passif, mais au contraire de rester actif pour faciliter le respect des courbures vertébrales.
Et si l'on est passif, il faut un bon appui lombaire pour soutenir la colonne vertébrale.
Toute posture même correcte peut entrainer des douleurs lorsque la durée de maintien de cette position dépasse certaines limites de contrainte, en effet, toute contrainte statique et monotone occasionne des tensions musculaires, donc des douleurs.
Stand-up position
- Il faut maintenir l'axialité lombaire. Pour cela, le dos dois rester droit dans le prolongement du corps : ceci est possible en pliant les genoux et/ou en étant en dissociation de hanche (une jambe en avant, une autre en arrière)
- Il faut contracter le bas du ventre afin de gainer la région lombo-abdominale. Souffler en rentrant le ventre, ne pas bloquer la respiration.
Walking
Kneeling posture
Much better tolerated than the squatting position. For our comfort, it still requires a little protection for the knees when the floor is hard (tiles, cement, wood, ...)
Crouching position
The crouching position is naturally adopted by young children during various games.
It has always been a spontaneous posture for our prehistoric ancestors and is still practised today in some parts of the world, particularly in Asia.
For very stiff people, it is a posture known as "kyphosis" because it strongly curls the lumbar vertebrae. It can be held by flexible people who are not overweight; otherwise, there is a tendency to push backwards.
With the children
Always keep your back straight
By vehicle
Relaxation posture
- Lorsque nous sollicitons nos muscles pour bouger, nous réagissons à la contracture musculaire en modifiant les courbures du dos (notamment en se voûtant) pour soulager la colonne vertébrale.
- Pour soulager le dos, reprendre des forces, se déconnecter dans diverses situations de notre quotidien … Nous cherchons des possibilités de nous détendre.
- Pour faciliter une bonne irrigation de tous nos muscles et des tissus environnants ainsi que la colonne vertébrale, nous devons régulièrement alterner les moments de contraintes (contraction musculaire) et de détente
Dr Marguerite PANY
Pharmacist and Nutritionist
I have chosen to create this platform to contribute to the improvement of your lifestyle, your health, through the personal choice of a healthy, varied and balanced diet, and the regular practice of physical exercise