Dr. William Apps from Wauwatosa-based Apps Chiropractic & Wellness Center recently discovered a trend affecting adolescent patients that led him to partner with Milwaukee’s Divine Savior Holy Angels (DSHA) High School on a six-week posture improvement program.
“I noticed a steady increase in adolescent patients with health and pain issues relating to poor posture,” Apps said. “While posture may seem like a minor aspect of one’s health, research has shown there are long-term adverse effects of poor posture. In the texting, typing, TV and computer screen-based world that kids live in, being proactive and mindful of posture may be the health difference that can diminish the impact of headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain and lower back pain.”
In response to this trend, Apps designed a pilot program that he conducted at DSHA from March 2nd to April 10th in which 72 students participated. The program consisted of daily, easy-to-perform exercises in the form of a three-minute video taught by Apps. Additionally, all the students were given journals to record their progress in the program and exercises to do outside the classroom.
“The program has taught DSHA students to be proactive about their posture health and provide them with the tools to not only improve posture but to provide them with exercises that can help eliminate any ailments that they may be experiencing,” said Angela Hutchinson, a physical education teacher at DSHA and the program’s administrator.
