Emotions impact our mind and body reactions. Happy emotions make us
smile. Sad emotions produce frowns. These reactions are
the outer reactions we usually notice. What
about other emotional, inner reactions? Researchers are examining
these. A recent study regarding emotions and back muscle
reactions caught the eye of Johnson Chiropractic who
cares for many Richmond back pain sufferers. It’s a
reminder to look at the whole person - mind and body! – and to
sit up straight.
EMOTIONS AFFECT POSTURE
When someone is depressed or just in a sad mood,
what does their body usually look like? Slumped forward,
eyes to the ground, tired? We’ve all seen this.
Upright posture does so much to improve positivity and decrease
fatigue and anxiety. (1) Body posture may well influence emotional
reactions! In an interesting twist
in this story of the relationship between muscular states and emotions,
researchers discovered that upright seated postures are advantageous.
Upright seated posture in constrast to a slumped seated
posture was found to raise self-esteem, arousal, and
mood as well as decrease fear. Linguists found that
slumped posture people used more negative emotion words and fewer words than upright posture
people. They therefore recommended in their study to sit
upright when in a stressful situation as it can keep self-esteem in check, decrease focus
on self, decrease negative mood and create
a positive mood. Speech rate improved, too. Sitting
upright may be a means to generate
resilience to stress. (2) Johnson Chiropractic notices firsthand how
emotions affect Richmond chiropractic patients, particularly
Richmond
back pain patients who are stressed and sad.
NEGATIVE EMOTIONS AFFECT BACK MUSCLES
For back pain sufferers – who are surely not
immune to a down mood! – body responses like slumping
are not unusual. In a study of back muscles using electromyography found that
negative emotions raised differential back muscle activity
while positive emotions did not. The muscles were undisturbed, not having to react at all. (3) When healing, the back pain
sufferer’s spine does not
need any extra stimuli. Johnson Chiropractic offers gentle Richmond
chiropractic spinal manipulation in the form of Cox®
Technic to relax its muscles and lessen its pain.
CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. James Cox on The Back
Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares the
benefits of the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management benefits aback
pain patient’s spine, muscle, and system.
Make your Richmond
chiropractic appointment now. If stress or emotions make you slump and aggravate your back pain,
Johnson Chiropractic is here to lessen the pain, remind you
to sit up straight (like your parents used to tell you!), and find
a way to make you smile!