Poor Posture Should Not Be Ignored
A joint study with UCLA AND UCSD conducted in 2004 found that individuals with anterior head carriage or vulture neck, had a higher incidence of getting heart disease. The experiment was done on elderly individuals, people more likely to have poor posture and more at risk for heart disease. It was found that those with poor neck posture were about 3x more likely to get a heart attack. It was also found that the more forward the individual’s head, the higher a chance that their heart would be affected.
How is the Heart Related to Poor Posture?
The method of heart disease this study specifically mentioned was atherosclerosis of the heart vessels. Atherosclerosis is a partial blockage of the blood vessels with a build up of cholesterol, which restricts blood flow and oxygen to in this case, the heart. The lack of oxygen causes heart tissue to die, which eventually leads to a heart attack. The study did not explain how this happens, but the heart and its blood vessels are powered by the nerves which exit the spinal levels T1 and T2. For a person with poor posture, the areas most affected are in that region. If you look around you, almost everyone has poor neck posture. Tie this to the fact that heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States. I am pretty sure that this is not purely coincidental…
This study is just another proof that poor posture greatly affects an individuals health and should not be taken for granted.
Related Articles:
What is Vulture Neck?
What is Good Posture?
How Poor Posture Affects your Health
This is great information, but not really worth much without a link to the article (or even what journal it was in, who the authors were, etc.).
Dr. Anaya,
The article called “Hyperkyphotic Posture and Mortality in Older Persons” was written in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society in October 2004. The head author is Deborah Kado, MD. I found it in Pubmed, it’s a great article while researching posture, it’s a great article!
I love the efforts you have put in this, thank you for all the great posts.
Thanks for helping out, wonderful info .