'Cool' slump may lead to unsightly hump

Sustained slouching can make you more vulnerable to serious injuries.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Check out the models on today's runways or the latest photo spreads in Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Elle. Look closer at the red carpet postures of celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Kirsten Dunst, and Paris Hilton.
Shoulders are rounded, hips and head are thrust forward, the spine is curved. It's become fashionable to stand like you just don't care.
"It's that vacuous look, that 'I don't have to pay attention or look interested in life' look," says Patti Wood, a body language expert who performs posture analysis for magazines such as Us Weekly and Cosmopolitan. "It's not cool to care."
It may be all about the slump, but beware the hump. Today's S-shaped trendsetters could be tomorrow's fashion victims. Poor posture puts a strain on the spine and its supporting muscles and ligaments. Muscles adapt to a sloucher's round-shouldered position, resulting in chest muscles that are short and tight, and back muscles that are stretched and weak.
The sustained stress of slouching can make you more vulnerable to serious injuries. Poor posture has been linked to knee and hip pain, pinched nerves, herniated disks, rotator cuff tears and even digestive problems, fatigue and reoccurring headaches. Research shows that slouching uses five times more energy than standing up straight, causing muscle tension and cutting blood flow to the brain.
"If they're doing it for fashion, they're going to have some aches and pains later," says Dr. Andrew Sherman, an assistant professor of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Miami's School of Medicine who works with patients with spine and back injuries.
Contributing factors
For many adults, it's the career, not the cool factor, contributing to the slouch. We slave over a computer with a telephone tucked unergonomically between chin and ear or hunch caveman-style over our BlackBerries and iPods, thumbs flying.
Back pain is the nation's No. 1 cause of disability. It will affect four out of five adults at some point in their life.
"Everybody now has laptops and everybody has to look down to see them; nobody sits straight in chairs anymore," says Nancy Gilman, a Delray Beach physical therapist and southeast region director for the Florida Physical Therapy Association. "I see patients in their 20s with back problems, even teenagers. It mainly has to do with poor posture, poor body mechanics, poor lifting. People are in a seated position for too long."
As children, we instinctively have good posture. It's natural. As we grow older and start to sit more often, however, we pick up bad habits and mimic older, less erect adults.
Extra benefits
A pain-free back isn't the only potential benefit of good posture. Standing and sitting upright can also give you better sleep, stress relief, a flat stomach, better sex and a sharp jaw line. Some physical therapists and chiropractors say it also will help you breathe better.
If that isn't enough to send you scurrying to the nearest Pilates class, then how 'bout this: You'll look smaller. Poor posture makes your tummy stick out; align your body right and you could take five to 10 pounds off your appearance.
But you have to work at it.
"It's easier to slouch, it's harder to maintain good posture," Sherman says. "You can try to hold your shoulders back, but it's hard to think about posture 24 hours a day. It's better to carve out a half-hour of exercise three times a week that targets the back."
Focal point
Forget about balancing books on your head. Sherman's patients use weights, cables or bands to provide resistance and balance. They focus on their upper back muscles with exercises that simulate flying and rowing.
"Most people go to the gym and spend 15 minutes doing bench presses or curls or riding a bike," Sherman says. "In fact, all they're doing is making the problem worse. They're not doing anything for their upper back. Most of the time I spend with patients is reeducating them. You have to do a balanced exercise program and not neglect the upper back."
At the very least, Gilman, the physical therapist, urges patients to practice chin tucks and shoulder rolls at their desks.
A few shoulder shrugs throughout the day and you just may make it to work more often. Back pain is second only to the common cold as the cause of worker absenteeism, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.