If you are experiencing a lot of pressure and discomfort in certain areas of your back, you may wonder what could be causing your symptoms, especially if you have no history of hurting your back. If so, take a look at some of your daily habits that may be throwing your back out of alignment and causing stress on the muscles and joints.

Carrying Your Purse Wrong

If you carry a purse to work or while running errands, you may load it up with your wallet, keys, makeup, snacks, and even bottles of water. While loading up your purse does make it more convenient to carry all of your stuff, doing so can wreak havoc on your back.

When you carry your purse, you may typically carry it over one shoulder, which puts the bulk of the weight on that one side. While you are walking, you must then shift your weight to handle the extra load on that particular side. 

When you do this day after day, the muscles adjacent to your spine have to tighten in response to the shift the weight. As they do this, your discs are pulled, causing a misalignment in your back. If you cannot lighten the load of your purse, at least switch shoulders frequently to redistribute the weight periodically.

Staring at Your Phone's Screen

If you depend on your phone for more than making calls, such as checking on appointments, reading the news, or keeping up with your social media accounts, you may find that you spend a large chunk of your day staring at the screen. While you are looking down at your phone, however, you are also throwing your neck and upper back muscles out of alignment.

Because your head is tilted downward, the muscles around your neck and upper spine are pulled. Also, since you may tilt your head unknowingly, you may also be shifting the weight of your head to one side. After hours of use, the muscles tighten up, causing your spine to shift slightly and creating a misalignment.

While it is not realistic to suggest you give up using your phone, try to hold it out in front of your face whenever possible to straighten out your spine. Also, periodically, stretch your neck muscles to loosen them up so that they do not go into spasms.

Changing the above habits to ones that help keep your back in alignment can help relieve some of the pressure and discomfort you are currently experiencing. However, if your back is misaligned after years of doing these habits, you may want to seek help from chiropractic services to see about having adjustments made to help realign and straighten your spine and posture. For more information, contact a company like Advanced Wholistic Healthcare today.