I have talked about how posture can affect the function of the shoulders. I have also made a video on how you can feel this yourself by simply rounding the shoulders and lifting your arms and then trying the same thing with 'good posture' and see how different it feels. If you haven't watched the 1min video, you can watch it below. For those of you that like stats, I was shown some research that shows just how dramatic the effect of posture can be on your risk of a rotator cuff injury. It is quite eye opening. Continue reading to see what they found out.
I hope you have tried the exercise above. To me the results are quite obvious, but for those who, like me, want some data, there was a study published in 2015 looking at this exact thing. It was called "The impact of faulty posture on rotator cuff tears with and without symptoms". It was published in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow surgery.
The findings of the study was amazing. They found that the prevalence of rotator cuff tears was:
They concluded that postural abnormality represented an independent predictor of both symptomatic and asymptomatic rotator cuff tears.
What to make of this
These results really back up what the video above shows and hopefully, what you felt.
When your are in good posture, your shoulders are going to function like they are supposed to. They will move freely and as the study shows, your risk of a rotator cuff injury is very low.
If however, you have postural abnormalities, your risk of having a rotator cuff tear rises to almost 66% with some postures.
To me this shows how important posture is not only for a good functioning spine and nervous system, but also healthy shoulders. If you have shoulder pain or discomfort, whilst you are dealing with that, it will also be important to work on correcting your posture. My previous videos on hanging, both passive and active, can help with both of these. Chiropractic care could also be a way of helping improve posture. If you would like to find out more about how chiropractic care could help, please let me know.
Note: Some of the people in this study had no symptoms, even though they had a rotator cuff tear. If you have postural abnormalities, it would be worthwhile working on your posture, even if you have no shoulder pain. As we are always told, prevention is better than cure.
References
Yamamoto et al, 2015, The Impact of faulty posture on rotator cuff tears with and without symptoms, The Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees.
The findings of the study was amazing. They found that the prevalence of rotator cuff tears was:
- 2.9% in those with ideal posture
- 65.8% in those with Kyphotic-lordotic posture (big thoracic and lumbar curves)
- 54.3% in those with flat back posture
- 48.9% in those with swayback type posture (pelvis shifts forward and shoulders shift back)
They concluded that postural abnormality represented an independent predictor of both symptomatic and asymptomatic rotator cuff tears.
What to make of this
These results really back up what the video above shows and hopefully, what you felt.
When your are in good posture, your shoulders are going to function like they are supposed to. They will move freely and as the study shows, your risk of a rotator cuff injury is very low.
If however, you have postural abnormalities, your risk of having a rotator cuff tear rises to almost 66% with some postures.
To me this shows how important posture is not only for a good functioning spine and nervous system, but also healthy shoulders. If you have shoulder pain or discomfort, whilst you are dealing with that, it will also be important to work on correcting your posture. My previous videos on hanging, both passive and active, can help with both of these. Chiropractic care could also be a way of helping improve posture. If you would like to find out more about how chiropractic care could help, please let me know.
Note: Some of the people in this study had no symptoms, even though they had a rotator cuff tear. If you have postural abnormalities, it would be worthwhile working on your posture, even if you have no shoulder pain. As we are always told, prevention is better than cure.
References
Yamamoto et al, 2015, The Impact of faulty posture on rotator cuff tears with and without symptoms, The Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery Board of Trustees.
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