Our activities of daily living are filled with habits, things we’ve done over and over so many times that we no longer even realize that we’re doing until someone points them out. Of course, some habits, like washing our hands after using the restroom, are good- and are (hopefully) things we don’t even need to remind ourselves to do. Unfortunately, there are also quite a number that you, like myself, may have developed over the years that might seem small and innocent, but when analyzed are habits to be fixed. Below are some of the most common BAD habits that I see contributing to pain and stress. Take a look, and if you’re guilty of them, start working toward correcting them today! 
1. The Twisted Sleeper: Right from the time we’re kids, we start to develop our sleeping habits, and most of them are not so great! A majority of people are side-sleepers, which, in itself, is not so bad. So here’s the kink (literally): Keeping one knee bent to the chest, and one down straight in a “stork position” will create uneven tension in the hips, pelvis and a twisting of the spine which over time can turn into a lopsided motion imbalance and pain during the waking hours. If you tend to sleep on your side, be sure that you are keeping both legs parallel, and NOT uneven. Using a small pillow or rolled towel between the knees will further aid in keeping the spine as supported as possible. If you sleep on your stomach, don’t do it anymore. Ever. It’s the very worst position for your neck to be in. Got it? Good.
2. Driving Ugly: Here are two common imbalances waiting to become injuries I see relatively often.
The Thug-life Driver: How many times have you found yourself leaning on your car armrest while driving with the other arm straight on top of the steering wheel? Sounds like it’s an easy enough position, right? Now consider what its doing to the rest of your body: To lean to the side the lower spine has to shift sideways on the pelvis, creating a compression on one side of the spine, and a stretching on the other. Further up the torso, one arm and shoulder is getting a constant workout, while also sitting higher than the other shoulder blade and complex. To see the road, the neck has to bend ever so slightly away from the side of your lean so that the head stays upright and can still look around.
The “I can’t sit still” Driver: We all know we have to use our right foot and leg to work the gas and break pedals, but if you’re vehicle is an automatic shift, what do you do with your left leg? For a lot of drivers, its pretty much all over the place, and commonly resting with a fully bent knee up on the side wall of the drivers door. Again, this may sound like is not a big deal, but if you’re someone that has to get in and out of a car or drives distances very often, it can be a contributer to hip, low back and knee pain. Why? Although sitting in general places the hip flexors in a shortened position, further bending up the left leg creates uneven rotation of the low back vertebrae and muscles, a shift in alignment of the pelvis and therefore compression in the SI joints, tension in the muscles of the outer hip, and other areas along the kinetic chain.
Even If you’re a distance driver, it won’t take long to connect all the areas you’ve been stiff or sore in to how you feel when driving. But, even if you only have a 5 minute commute, years of driving around in this totally twisted and bent up position can take its toll. Start to even things out, and actually follow the old standard 10:00, 2:00 steering wheel hand placement advice, and keep the your feet (and therefore hips) next to each other.
3. The Lip and Cheek Biter: This bad habit goes way beyond just looking bad. Anyone who has a habit of biting the side of their lip, cheek, pens or even chewing gum on one side of their mouth, is doing a number on their TM Joint. This little joint in the back of the jaw is so under-rated! However, the constant shift of the jaw towards one side, creates an uneven shift and compression on the disc contained within the joint. Just like the discs in your back, the repetitive stress placed upon these little tiny discs and the muscles that attach around them can contribute to huge amounts of pain in the jaw, neck, and massive headaches.
4. Irregular Eating: Ok, so I think most people know that eating irregularly is a bad habit, but it’s still worth being said if only because of how often I come across it being an issue with patients in two particular ways: Skipping Breakfast, and late night snacking. Skipping breakfast or substituting “real food” by only a cup of coffee sets up your stomach for high acidity and potential heartburn issues, but it also puts a damper on you metabolism for the day. Eating within 30 minutes of rising gives your body the message to start burning fat and energy stores FOR ENERGY. Sounds genius, doesn’t it? Unfortunately though, most people in todays society thing that skipping it will help them to lose weight, save time, and money. Wrong! You’re teaching your body to take any energy you feed it and store most of it as fat throughout the day, you’ll end up crashing with an energy low midway through your day therefore becoming less productive and probably slower in your activities, AND a lot of people end up spending the money on another cup of coffee or less healthy option later when the crash happens. (By the way, as one more reminder- sorry, but Coffee is NOT food, and doesn’t count as a serving of water.)
Late night snacking likewise creates a set up for all the food you indulge in to be stored away as fat while you sleep or sit watching TV, and also is a prime culprit for nighttime acid indigestion.
5. One-sided Carrying: Women are notorious for this one, but the bigger and bigger the purses and handbags become in today’s trends, the more of a problem it becomes. Men, however, are guilty of this one, too. Whether you’re carrying a briefcase, book-bag, diaper-bag or purse, be sure to switch up the side you carry it on before you start to develop neck and shoulder pain. The nerves that are commonly irritated in this area can create everything from arm pain and numbness, to shoulder blade pain and headaches. So, do yourself a favor, and after taking out all the unnecessary coins and random objects from your daily carry, start making the effort to change up the side you hold it on. (Oh- and btw, this includes what side you carry your kids on!)
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