Negative Effects Of Sitting On Your Wallet

80% of people will suffer from an episode of back pain at some stage in their lives and a lot of these are easily preventable. Back problems are often due to injury, repetitive spinal stress or poor core stability, but did you know that an action as simple as sitting on your wallet (after being carried around in your back pocket) could be the cause of your pain?

Many people (especially men) place their wallet in their back pocket and leave it there for when they sit down, unaware of how this may be affecting their spinal health. Wallets are normally filled with items such as cards, cash and receipts…each of these items adding to the width of the wallet.

Imagine having a wedge placed under one side of your pelvis while you are sitting, whether it be while at work, sitting in the car or even while out for lunch. One side of your pelvis is now higher than the other instead of being nice and balanced.

The wallet under your pelvis will not only affect your spine but also the surrounding tissues and structures. As the pelvis and hips are the foundation of the spine, changes to their positioning will cause compensation changes to everything that sits on that foundation.

For example, if you places your wallet in your right pocket this will cause the right side of the pelvis to be raised up & a slight left-sided spinal list. The body will compensate for this by pulling the spine back towards the side of the wallet (right side), in attempts to even out the imbalance. In a chain of reactions the head may also be pulled to one side as it tries to keep the eyes level. The pelvis is composed of two halves and these halves can also rotate slightly due to a constant stress being applied to one side, which in reaction can lead to sacroiliac joint dysfunction.

Over the long term this chain of compensations created will result in spinal and postural stress and then pain. The sciatic nerve can also become compressed due to the tissues on the buttocks area. This can cause symptoms such as leg pain, tingling &/or numbness.

At Body Care Health & Chiropractic Dr Felicity Ede looks at the big picture to find and correct the root cause and the compensations that have been created.

So next time you go to sit down, check that you don’t have anything in your back pocket.

Contact us on 0409 712 075 or felicity.chiro@gmail.com  for a FREE SPINAL SCREENING, and get on top of your posture asap!