Effect of Posture
Posture of the workman is not without its effect upon the health and its bearing upon industrial hygiene is very important. There are many conditions that have their beginning in the occupation, such as faulty development of different parts of the body, curvatures of the spine, and especially those which are adaptative. Many subluxations are produced by posture assumed during long hours of work. In analyzing such cases chiropractically, the history of the occupation and the posture assumed should be carefully considered so that in adjusting the subluxated vertebrae there may be no opposition to the adaptative processes of Innate Intelligence in her endeavor to compensate for the faulty posture.
Sedentary occupations such as typing, bookkeeping, shoe-making, engraving and tailoring result in lack of muscular activity and produce characteristic occupational disorders and deformities. It is not natural for an individual to remain in any one posture for the greater part of the day. Innate needs to have the body more or less active so that the proper adaptative processes can be carried on within the body.
Sitting constantly at a desk will create a tendency to stooped shoulders and thus cramp the respiratory organs. The result will be a lack of proper oxygenation of the blood which will have its effect upon the metabolic processes of the body. There will be a sluggishness of the liver and other vital organs, and a tendency to anemia, constipation, general lack of muscular tone and low vitality.
Active occupations exercise the natural processes of the body and create a necessity for the action of Innate in all parts of the body. Activity keeps the muscles in tone and makes the processes of elimination more active. Activity is one of Nature’s laws and is essential in the vital expressions of life in the body. This is shown by the provisions Nature has made for such activity. Especially are the active occupations to be preferred over the sedentary for young people and for those up to the age of forty-five or fifty. After this age the sedentary occupations are not so detrimental.