Posture Shirt
Experts say that 80-percent of Americans will suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. Back pain costs more than seven billion dollars a year in lost productivity. People will do just about anything to relieve it. Here's a solution that doesn't involve drugs or surgery.
Andy Shane can clean his garage for the first time in 12 years thanks to his posture shirt. It's designed to hold his muscles in place.
"With the posture shirt, now, I'm able to do these chores for as long as it takes pain free," Andy Shane told Ivanhoe.
Andy was born with cerebral palsy. He's always been an athlete, but over time, he developed terrible lower back pain.
"Pain," said Shane, "sharp pain."
Orthopedic surgeon Michael Hisey has also tried the posture shirt. He thinks it has a future preventing injury.
"Not even knowing what it was called, I put it on, said, you know what this does, it makes me sit up straight, makes me feel more comfortable when I'm having good posture," Michael Hisey, M.D., Orthopedic Surgeon specializing in spine surgery at the Texas Back Institute told Ivanhoe.
Here's how it works: the fabric in the shirt acts like tape to hold the muscles in place, while they move naturally.
"This doesn't force them as much as it stimulates them into the proper position," Jason Brewton, director of physical therapy at Texas Back Institute told Ivanhoe.
For Andy, the posture shirt means more honey do's around the house.
"So now I don't have any excuse," said Shane.
He also gets to enjoy long walks with his dog, Leo and then relax, pain-free.
Andy Shane bought his posture shirt online for about one hundred dollars. There are a few different companies offering the shirt, which are being used by weekend warriors, and even some pro athletes, with positive results.
BACKGROUND: Back pain is very common and most people will experience back pain at least once in their lifetime. It is known as one of the most common reasons people miss work. While back pain could develop without a specific cause, there are several common conditions associated with back pain. Muscle or ligament strains are caused by repeated heavy lifting or sudden awkward movements which will lead to painful muscle spasms. Bulging (or ruptured) disks, which normally act as cushions between the vertebrae, occur when the soft material inside of a disk bulge out of place or rupture, causing pressure on a nerve. These can be found on an X-ray; however it doesn't automatically mean that back pain will be present. Arthritis can affect the lower back in some cases where arthritis is in the spine; it can lead to a narrowing of the space around the spinal cord, called spinal stenosis. Scoliosis is a form of skeletal irregularity, where the spine curves in an abnormal way. If the scoliosis is quite severe, it could lead to back pain. Osteoporosis causes bones to become porous and brittle, leading to compression fractures in the spine's vertebrae.
(Source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/back-pain)
NEW TECHNOLOGY: The posture shirt is a garment designed to gently pull the shoulders back, enhancing the alignment of the spine, shoulders and arms, improving posture. Michael Hisey, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Texas Back Institute in Dallas, Texas told Ivanhoe that the shirt is, "like a physical therapist is here (at Texas Back Institute), coaching you and telling you about your posture and reminding you what to do." Dr. Hisey also explains that, "the shirt is several different types of fabric laid out in different patterns; some of them are stretchable in one direction, some are stretchable in all directions and some of them are not stretchable in particular in any direction." Over time the wearer can improve and maintain good posture by wearing the garments intermittently with the goal of a carry-over effect of good posture when not being worn.
(Sources: http://www.alignmed.com/condition, Interview with Michael Hisey, M.D.)
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Michael Hisey, M.D., Orthopedic Surgeon specializing in spine surgery at the Texas Back Institute, talks about a revolutionary product that helps improve bad posture that can lead to back pain.
Interview conducted by Ivanhoe Broadcast News in October 2014.
You specialize in?
Dr. Hisey: Nothing but spine care. Texas Back does everything from the base of the skull down to the tail bone.
You're always interested in new things, right?
Dr. Hisey: Absolutely, we're always investigating new technologies here at Texas Back.
One of these things we're going to focus on today is this idea of a posture shirt?
Dr. Hisey: That's right. The posture shirt was something that they brought it to me as will you try this shirt. And I said, sure what's it supposed to do and I really didn't investigate it further. It was supposed to be something to help me exercise. I put the shirt on and, not even knowing what it was called, I said what this thing really does is it makes me sit up straight, it makes me feel more comfortable when I'm having good posture. Then I found out it was called the posture shirt later.
Had you ever heard of it?
Dr. Hisey: Never.
This must be pretty new?
Dr. Hisey: It's something that we haven't come across until just recently, the last month or so.
What are you doing with it? You and some of your staff are trying it. Have you gotten to the point where you're suggesting to other people to try it?
Dr. Hisey: It's getting to that point with the patient's that I think are ready to start working out, but I'm considering that has an option for them. I've not yet done it but I'm considering it.
What would be the advantage?
Dr. Hisey: I think it's like a physical therapist is here, coaching you and telling you about your posture and reminding you what to do; I think the shirt is much the same, it's reminding you how to sit straight, and how to sit properly. It makes me think that I'm kind of slumping right now actually. I'm not wearing a shirt right now.
What are some benefits to be derived from using something like the posture shirt?
Dr. Hisey: Well from my experience with it, I thought that it really did help me hold better posture during my exercises. I stand up a little taller when I'm running, keep my back a little flatter on the table when I'm doing bench press things like that. Also I felt like it was constantly stimulating my core muscles to be activated. I thought that, that might be beneficial for core muscle strengthening.
These things you're describing, would they be considered good for us?
Dr. Hisey: Yeah. In general, core strengthening is very good keeping good posture during your exercises of course is very good.
In your business, as a specialist in this field given all the problems people are having, does this have a future?
Dr. Hisey: I do think it has a future. I think that what we're lacking in our profession are preventative measures. We don't have much we can do to our patients to keep them from having problems down the road. And I'm hopeful that this or something like it is going to push in that direction, it's going to help people prevent injuries and perhaps rehab quicker from injuries.
Give me an idea how the shirt works.
Dr. Hisey: Well when I looked at it it's actually fairly complicated. Its several different types of fabric laid out in different patterns even though they're all one color so it may not show on the film. Some of these are stretchable in one direction, some of them stretchable in all directions and some of them are not stretchable in particular in any direction, so it's very directional. It seems to be leaning me in a particular direction, holding me up or encouraging me to go straighter. When I pull out of a perfect posture what it does is I can feel force on me from the shirt pulling me back towards the center.
Do you feel that there is some scientific design to the shirt that corresponds with the way the body works?
Dr. Hisey: It certainly seems that somebody's put a lot of thought into it. I didn't dissect the shirt to figure out exactly which direction, which fibers were but I certainly could tell just by putting it on and feeling it that it was pulling me in a particular directions and it felt like the right direction.
Who might benefit from using something like this?
Dr. Hisey: I think a casual athlete might, or a casual athlete worried about back problems might. I actually play soccer and I didn't actually try it in a soccer game but I might on a cool day wear it in a soccer game, on a hot day I didn't want to wear two shirts and that's what we've had in Texas. But on a cool day I think I might wear it even during the soccer game, during a real vigorous activity.
You said the casual athlete; we're not talking about high school kids so much, are we talking about adults?
Dr. Hisey: What I was thinking of are adults who are already had back problems. That's sort of where the people that actually come to me mostly are. But certainly a young athlete might get equal benefit from it in terms of prevention of injury down the road. It certainly makes sense that it might work that way.
You look at the Seattle Seahawks uniform it almost looks like everything is molded and folded and formfitting; it's like the outer skin of the uniform just kind of holds you in place.
Dr. Hisey: Everything is trending in that direction but most of those that I've seen, like the under armor and that sort of thing are all just basically snug fitting fabric but it doesn't seem to have any directional impetus to it. This really seems to be pushing in a particular direction. I think it would substitute for something like that under a uniform though.
Didn't they have things like this in the old days called girdles?
Dr. Hisey: They certainly did, and we certainly use lumbar supports and braces and things like that now for postsurgical patient. Those are still out there but this is a little bit beyond that and this is formfitting to your whole body.
Would you call this maintenance, is it a preventative, is it a therapy?
Dr. Hisey: Hard to know for sure because I think it could have roles in all of those. I think it really will help in prevention in terms of keeping people in good posture, keeping them upright and reminding them how to exercise correctly, reminding them how to maintain good positions while they're exercising.
It seems like the design is to hold you correctly while you're working out, is that the idea?
Dr. Hisey: Yes, to encourage an upright posture and good curvature of your low back that's what I'm feeling from it. It causes me to sit more upright and it it doesn't force me to do it; it makes it feel better to do it if that makes any sense.
And does it make you look better?
Dr. Hisey: That's for other people to judge.
Do you feel like it holds you in?
Dr. Hisey: Kind of like a spanx or something like that. Probably a little bit because it is to apply the forces that it does it have to be a little bit compressive, so it does pull you in a little bit. So there is that.
Physiology what is it doing to the body?
Dr. Hisey: I think it's maybe a couple of things. One is actually applying a little bit of force to the skin to remind you what to do and maybe actually pulling you in a little bit in a direction towards a more upright posture. It might be reminding me to do it; it might be pulling me a little bit or a combination of both.
Do you think it might have some potential?
Dr. Hisey: Well I'm going to keep using it. I do I think it has some potential.
This is kind of a low-tech way to maybe get some results?
Dr. Hisey: Yeah, I think for a patient who's interested in exercising and they're not doing well with maintaining good posture this could be a very good as a tool to augment that.
What about scoliosis, for people who actually have some kind of posture issues?
Dr. Hisey: Scoliosis is a different thing. Scoliosis is a structural thing and in an adult that can't be fixed with a brace, so we watch those and operate on them when they need to be operated on. In a kid we do use braces and I think this kind of technology might be applicable to a brace. We right now use rigid braces but it be certainly a lot more tolerable to kids if we could come up with a design like this that's pulling this curve in a direction, I haven't really given that a whole lot of thought though.
Some adults who say they have scoliosis and don't know it, and maybe never had surgery, is that common?
Dr. Hisey: Adults have scoliosis relatively commonly. There are two types they could have commonly, one is wear and tear scoliosis it comes from degeneration so they often are associated with back pain. Sometimes it's just left over scoliosis from when they were a kid and it never got bad enough that it required any sort of surgery or any intervention.
Is this really relevant to that?
Dr. Hisey: I don't think so. Not this design.
Who potentially could benefit from this?
Dr. Hisey: I think anybody in a rehab stage of working on their back, or an athlete, a casual athlete that's looking to prevent back problems might have some benefit from this.
For someone who just had some type of back surgery, could this be worked in to help them in a transitional way?
Dr. Hisey: I could see that in the late transition. Early on were going to start with lower interventions but as they're starting to get back into exercising and want to get back into their daily activities I could certainly see something like this helping them.
What about general chores?
Dr. Hisey: I've used it for sports but certainly people who aren't the athletes and want to use it for something that's a little bit less strenuous that might well help them as well. The chores around the garage, cleaning the dishes, that sort of thing. Anything where you're unsupported and need a little bit of extra support this may well help.
This information is intended for additional research purposes only. It is not to be used as a prescription or advice from Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. or any medical professional interviewed. Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc. assumes no responsibility for the depth or accuracy of physician statements. Procedures or medicines apply to different people and medical factors; always consult your physician on medical matters.
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