What habit you ask? The first thing that comes to mind is probably poor nutrition, lack of exercise, environment, poor sleep habits or excess stress…the list goes on. These are all very important and we will get into some of those issues in later posts! 

But that’s not it.

Believe it or not one of the worst habits your kids have likely already developed is terrible posture. More specifically nasty cases of a rounded low back from sitting, hunched shoulders from lazy posture and lack of strength. This includes the dreaded forward head posture; likely from too many hours looking at their phone or iPad. It’s true. We are raising a generation of kids who are completely de-evolving physically!

Tragically, the vast majority of kids today aren’t active enough to overcome all the sitting and electronic use. Adolescent kids are already developing pain syndromes, scar tissue, motor dysfunction, lack of coordination and all sorts of future health consequences.

Hard to disagree with that, isn’t it?

So why hasn’t this issue been dealt with?

I personally believe that it’s because kids are so resilient and therefore latent stressors like poor posture and lack of exercise take years to really show their negative effects. So we minimize its importance. Just like we used to think that it was okay to give your kids sugary soda regularly, or McDonalds, or fight every infection with antibiotics.

We know better now and it’s time that we wake up and give our kids the healthy future they deserve by teaching them to respect their body positions and activities.

But how do we do it?

1. What you do speaks louder to your kids than anything you could ever tell them.  If you want your kids to be physically healthy and develop great posture, then you need to be the example. Be a great example of minimizing time on your butts. Get outside and play, do physical activities as a family, and if you are sitting or using electronics make sure you are practicing good habits that don’t break your body down.
2. Set a time limit on the amount of screen time your kids have every day.  This goes for TV, iPad, iPhone, tablets, laptops etc.  Not only will extended use of these devices kill your posture, but they also have a negative impact on your brain. Blue light that is emitted from all electronic screens disrupt sleep cycles, creative brain activity, and neurological development. Less is better, but 1-2 hours per day is plenty.
3. Have you and your family checked by a Chiropractic posture expert. This will give you piece of mind that your kids are growing up healthy and developing optimally.  A Chiropractic posture expert will help identify any possible posture problems and help correct them before they become future health issues.  They will also teach you great daily habits that will ensure a healthy spine for a lifetime. Every family needs a great chiropractor on their health team!

Stay tuned next week for best practices for building bullet-proof posture. 

Our 2 year old patient, Elise, getting checked!