Ladies – Could your bra be giving you back pain?
At Chiropractic Dubai, one of our chiropractors, Pamela Leader, says “Every day I treat female patients who come to see me with back problems and I see that a large amount of them are wearing badly fitted bra’s, which may be one of the causes to their back pain. Most of the time they don’t even realise this, and further more that this can also be hindering the healing process with any treatments they are getting for their pain. I would say that at least half of my patients have no idea of what their badly fitted bra is doing to their spine”.
Have a proper fitting for your bra size, most underwear stores provide this service, the assistant should measure you under and over your bust, and provide you with the correct size of bra to support your breasts. Remember that they have no medical education about the spine and what it needs and often seem to forget that a thin, tight back strap will limit your spinal flexibility and irritate your muscles in the area of the thoracic spine.
Pamela explains “In my 15 year career as a chiropractor, I have seen so many bras which are too tight and which have, over the years caused chronic fixations in the thoracic spine, sometimes affecting the ribs and giving pain right into the front of the chest and upper abdomen. If the patient is under thirty years, they respond very quickly to spinal adjustments and a new fitted bra. After that age and especially for ladies with larger breasts, patients struggle longer to get rid of the fixed section and remain pain free”.
Providing Chiropractic treatments, physiotherapy and a specific range of stretching exercises can help drastically reduce back pain. Women must take better care, simply guessing your bra size and buying badly fitted ones could be causing more damage than you think. You wouldn’t buy a pair of shoes two sizes too small or too large, would you? So why do that with your bust area. Follow the rule that if the bra feels very tight around your chest then it is too tight to allow full movement of your spine, this will help reduce the chances of chronic mid back pain. The shoulder and back straps should be as wide as possible if your bust are above average in size and the straps shouldn’t dig into your shoulders. This will spread the load over a larger area and cause less friction and compression on the ribs, spine and shoulders. If you have a wide back some shops do have back strap extensions. So the next time you buy a bra, please consider that it is important that you choose one that fit you properly for the good of your spine.
If you have pain in this area of the mid back, or pain which extends up into the shoulders and neck, we can help you with our treatments call us on 043481166 to book an appointment.
