No one likes being reprimanded for their poor posture, and we all know we really ought to sit up straight, but why is that? Why does it matter?
Well I could hand you a laundry list of excellent reasons to maintain proper posture, but here is just one little example from an article published in the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery.
Yamamoto et al (2015) analyzed 379 Japanese villagers with and without shoulder pain and classified each of them into Kendall’s 4 postures: ideal, kyphotic-lordotic, flat-back, and sway-back.
After doing ultrasound exams on the shoulders of each participant, the researchers found that almost 25% had rotator cuff tears in 1 shoulder and almost 12% had them in both! Some of these people had no idea they had a tear.
Even more interesting was what they learned about the prevalence of rotator cuff tears based on each participant’s posture:
Percent of people in each posture category who had a rotator cuff tear:
Ideal Posture: 2.9%
Kyphotic-Lordotic: 34.2%
Flat-Back: 45.7%
Sway-Back: 51.1%
Based on these results, abnormal posture appears to be a strong predictor of rotator cuff tears, and I for one would like to be in the “Ideal Posture” category! If your posture is less than ideal (see Kendall’s 4 postures to compare), we would love to help you achieve that status and prevent injuries like these.
Reference
Yamamoto A, Takagishi K, Kobayashi T, Shitara H, Ichinose T, Takasawa E, et al. The impact of faulty posture on rotator cuff tears with and without symptoms. J Shoulder Elbow Surg 2015; 24: 446-452.