So your done with school and getting situated in your career, maybe you have been in the work force a year, maybe it has been 5 years. Whatever the case, you now have responsibilities and people to answer too that you didn’t previously. This obviously occupies a lot of your time, leaving less time for things like exercise, fun, and relaxation.

All these factors impact you both mentally and physically.

You Aren’t as Active as You Once Were
Sure you may try to be active and exercise, but the fact is due to your desk job you are sitting for give or take 8 hours a day at a computer. Even though you are exercising you are still stuck in this sedentary static posture for the majority of your waking hours. Over time, this will lead to muscle imbalances that affect your entire posterior chain, (major contributors to proper posture).

Stress
You may of had stress in school, but now you have real world problems and bills to pay, possibly a new career, and are becoming more independent. This can be very stressful. Stress affects our bodies in more ways than one; affecting your thoughts and also behaviors. A little stress can be good, but chronic stress can lead to fatigue, insomnia, headaches, and increases in muscle tension which will affect joint mobility. Chronic stress has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cancer.

Technology
Yes, your ipad could be the root of your back pain. The problem lies in the posture created by the use of said technology. For more information on how this effects your posture refer to my last post, The 21st Century is a Pain in the Neck.

These all have the same potential outcome; deconditioning of the body leading to compensations in other joints and muscles.

So how do you combat this ? Get moving and keep moving

-Take mini breaks throughout the day; get up and walk a bit even if just for 30 seconds every hour. This will help to break that postural strain.
– Engage In activities to help manage stress. Take one hour out of your day to do something that you find relaxing and enjoy such as reading, yoga, or meditation.
– Chiropractic physicians detect joints that are not moving and administer adjustments to correct these motions. Adjustments work by gapping the joints stimulating mechanorceptors and deep intrinsic spinal muscles which tend to become deconditioned first ( think of this as a wake-up call for the muscles to begin to fire again to do their job).

Movement is life!