Many of the men I know carry their wallets in their back pockets. Your back pocket may be easy to access, but carrying your wallet in your back pocket, on the left or right, can be causing issues with your spine.
If you’re sitting on a wallet during a trip in your car or at your desk, your backside is sitting on an uneven surface for hours. This can cause irritation to your sacroiliac joints.
Your sacroiliac joints are the two joints at the back of your pelvis that allow you to sit, stand, and walk. If these joints are irritated, it can cause faulty movement of the joints or lead to a misalignment of the joint.
Several muscles in your low back are affected when you sit on your wad of cash and cards all day. The muscles that allow you to maintain your posture and your low back to move can become tightened or too relaxed. As a result, you can become more likely to have chronic low back pain or injure yourself while performing everyday activities.
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The curvature of the spine can start to be impacted by muscular imbalance. This can lead to functional scoliosis. Functional scoliosis is a curvature of the spine to the left or the right that can be caused by issues with the muscle and joint imbalance. Since your hips are connected to your pelvis, years of sitting on a wallet can cause you to have pain in the hip joints as well.
What To Do Instead?
Instead of keeping your wallet in your back pocket during travel or commutes to work, put your wallet into a safe place in your car, like the glove box or center console until you reach your destination. While at work, you can lock your wallet into a desk drawer. Another option is to carry your wallet in your front pocket while working, commuting, or always carry it in your front pocket.
If for the last 10 years, you’ve worked at a desk for 8 hours per day, 5 days a week, you’ve sat on your wallet for over 20,000 hours! Yikes! Repetitively sitting on an uneven surface can cause lumbar, pelvic and hip joint disorders such as osteoarthritis and misalignment.
Who Can Help If You Already Have Pain?
After you have removed your wallet from your back pocket, you may still have some pain present. Chiropractic treatment can address issues that arise from carrying your wallet in your back pocket. A chiropractor can provide a chiropractic adjustment to address the misalignment of the pelvis, spine, and hips.
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The adjustment will help to restore the normal movement in the joints that have been impacted by back pocket wallet carrying. Your chiropractor will also give recommendations on sitting posture, work ergonomics and exercise.
A massage therapist can help with restoring the balance of muscles that have become tightened and painful. A physical therapist can help with providing an exercise regimen to help your body restore normal movement.
Dr. Candace McMillon-Dantley is the health-empowering creator of The Doc Knows and she’s on a mission to motivate you to a life of health. She has a Doctorate in Chiropractic Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences. When she’s not health writing, she is health motivating and educating during her interactive presentations on healthy nutrition, self-care and conditions of the body. Her experiences as a business owner, chiropractor, wife and mom of two resonate and relate with her audiences. Connect with Dr. Candace on Instagram @drcandace.
