This is what your fashion choices are doing to your posture

Poor posture is becoming more common than ever. Sure, spending hours hunched behind a desk is doing your spine no favours, but it’s not just your movement habits – or lack thereof – that are to blame. Your clothes and accessories can have a major impact on your posture. Chiropractors Dr Bruce Grant and Dr Michael Wiggett expose some of the biggest culprits.

Your skyscraper heels

You already know that your feet hate them, but that’s only the start of the havoc your fave stilettos are wreaking on your body. High heels put excessive pressure on the ball of your foot, causing your body to lean forward. This results in a world of problems…

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It puts excessive pressure on your knees, your lower back arches and deepens, rotating your hips forward and spine out of alignment, your chest and head are pushed forward and your calf muscle is put under tension.

Long-term heel strutting can result in bunions, hammer toes and a painful condition called Achilles tendonopathy. Not so sexy now.

Your hand bag

Carry-all shoppers, versatile slings… they’re so convenient! But heavy handbags carried on one shoulder can cause scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine that you can actually see when looking at it front on. That can ultimately lead to a number of imbalances, aches and pain, niggles and injury. Maybe just a clutch, then?

Your bra

What!? But bras are good for you, aren’t they? Sure, but when they don’t fit properly, even your bras can cause problems. Your breast size fluctuates at various times of your menstrual cycle, increases with weight gain and shrinks when you lose weight.

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Large breasts can cause rounded shoulders, collapse of your mid back and cause your neck to push forward. Pick a bra with a wider strap and make sure it fits across your bones, not your muscle. A bra strap digging into your muscle can lead to muscle spasm, headaches and rounded shoulders. Most importantly, get yourself measured professionally.

This article was originally published on Women's Health South Africa.