It always bugs me when someone says “my posture is bad” in the same way they say “my eyes are blue” or “my hair is brown”. Poor posture is not a genetic trait but rather the end result of constant bad habit and personal negligence (do I sound frustrated?) or, at the very least, poor understanding of the cause and consequence.
The Danish architect, Jan Gehl, once said “we shape our cities- and then they shape us”. Design cities around cars and we will drive a lot. Design cities around people and we will commune, be active, interact.
We shape our bodies with our habits. Relentless stooping over phones and computers is slowly turning us into hunchbacks. The @B416 https://b416.co.nz/ revolution addressing the mental and social issues from phone use in young people is so vital and timely (I highly recommend Matilda Green’s interview with Samantha Marsh (“How social media shapes development”) but I want to add the physical damage that is happening.
In the 1950s when smoking was at its peak doctors saw a few worrying signs- irritating coughs, maybe some shortness of breath. Fast forward 20 years and the true impact with lung cancer and emphysema became obvious. It’s the same right now with our youth: we are seeing at the coalface of medicine teenagers suffering neck and upper back issues normally associated with 60 year olds. This is going to be a full-blown epidemic in the next decade causing not only physical and emotional trauma but also a huge financial burden on the health system.
SPINAL PAIN AND DEFORMITY IS THIS GENERATION’S SMOKING
Take a look around you at your colleagues or friends, and tragically your kids, to see necks bent at 90’ and heads poking forward, and the worrying thing is that this is now “normal”. But it’s more than just aesthetic: headaches, jaw problems, neck pain, shoulder impingement, respiratory dysfunction (to name a few) can all in some part be linked to increased thoracic kyphosis from stooping. And it is also bloody ugly…nobody loves a Dowagers hump.
I am totally inspired by the B416 movement- I see it as a profound act of love for our rangatahi protecting their developing minds and emotions. I just want to add their spines.
Tell someone you love today to straighten up.