Poor posture is something many parents become concerned about with their children, especially during adolescence. But when does poor posture become a problem? We all have deviations in our posture and it’s very rare to find someone with truly perfect posture.
As a physical therapist, I try and look past the outward appearance of posture and look at the functional aspect of certain postures. A child sitting at a school desk all day with their head down and shoulders slumped forward is not all that uncommon these days, as a matter of fact, it’s necessary in order to do the tasks asked of the child. Most kids can pop out of this posture and really show no negative impact.
Some kids will hold these postures all day and complain of things like back/neck pain, numbness and tingling in the hands, shoulder pain or even fatigue. Some of these complaints can be resolved with simple postural exercises and positioning changes provided by a physical therapist. Sometimes postural changes are simply the result of how someone’s body has developed.
These types of changes won’t be remedied through an exercise from a visual standpoint but exercise can be beneficial to prevent worsening changes as well as alleviate pain or other negative effects of the posture. If you are concerned about your child’s posture you can reach out to TEAM 4 Kids for a physical therapy evaluation and the trained physical therapist can provide a program to help you along.
