​4 - Babies/children on hips – While babies and children are a joy (most of the time), they are both awkward and heavy to carry around.  Often they don’t like being put down when you would like and you are left with the conundrum of carrying around your baby while simultaneously having to do other chores.  Most mothers get in the habit of placing their child or toddler on their hip, usually on their non-dominant side, in order to free up their dominant hand for use to do all of the many other tasks expected of her at the time.  If you have read my other posts you are probably starting to see a pattern here and can guess what I am going to say.  Placing your child constantly on your hip – the same hip – will inadvertently cause you over time to stick your hip out on that same side.  It will become built into your normal posture and over time this can cause hip pain, knee pain, lower back pain and even pain in the ribs where your body will straighten up.  It is surprising how many older women come in who have not actually carried their children around for many years and you can still tell which hip they carried their kids on because the pattern is still there – if you don’t believe me mums – then look in a full length mirror and you will see.  An easy way to avoid this is… guess… try and swap sides with your baby when you don’t need your dominant hand free.  If you swap sides you don’t create a pattern and you will save yourself a lot of trouble.  Tip no.4  When carrying your baby on your hip, try and swap sides regularly so end up with one hip sticking out on one side and a lean in your lower back.

3 - Crossing legs – Men and women both like crossing their legs. Crossing your legs at the ankles causes no real anomaly in the spine that I am aware of, but crossing your legs at the knees causes large pelvic distortions and compensation throughout the lower back and entire spine as a result.  As with handbags, while it is not great to cross your legs at all, many people find it comfortable and if you are one of these, then an easy thing to do is swap sides from time to time.  This avoids the tendency of the body to ‘grow into the habit’, ie, accepting this distortion as normal.  Try it as an experiment now; cross your legs the opposite way to how you normally would.  If it feels weird then chances are you have already developed the opposite distortion.