Mary Franz - Mar 22nd, 2011
Why do some teens slouch and others do not? Do more boys slouch than girls? Is it about self-esteem or core strength? Because poor posture can lead to back and neck conditions as well as other issues such as improper breathing, it is important to understand why some teens slouch while others have good sitting postures.
A research team studied 1,596 adolescents in a cross-sectional study. They used self-reported questionnaires to determine lifestyle, psychosocial profiles and incidence of back pain in the study participants. They also measured and reported the adolescents' sagittal sitting posture, body mass index (BMI) and back muscle endurance (BME). Standing posture was also taken into account.
Boys were more likely than girls to slouch and they usually had poorer standing posture as well. In addition, those who slouched the most also had lower perceived self-efficacy, lower BME, higher BMI and watched television more than the others. In terms of back pain made worse by sitting, the strongest relationship existed between those with poor “Child Behavior Checklist" scores. However, degree of slump, female sex and BME were weakly correlated to back pain made worse by sitting.
A chiropractor can evaluate your teen's posture as well as any physical and emotional health issues that may be contributing to their posture problems. Improving posture in adolescents can help diminish the risk of future back and neck problems.
O'Sullivan PB, Smith AJ, Beales DJ, Straker LM. Association of Biopsychosocial Factors With Degree of Slump in Sitting Posture and Self-Report of Back Pain in Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study. Physical Therapy. 2011 Feb 24.
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