Study Links Sensitivity to Pain to Poor Postures

Researchers have recently demonstrated that poor postures lead to an increased sensitivity to pain. On the other hand, adopting dominant, rather than submissive, posture can increase the amount of distress the body takes before painful sensations set in.

This is the first time that the age-old encouragement mothers give to their children is demonstrated to have a scientific foundation. The work was carried out University of Toronto postdoctoral fellows Scott Wiltermuth, PhD and Vanessa K. Bohns.

Together, they showed that adopting submissive postures throughout their daily lives makes people susceptible to developing more sensitivity to pain. Conversely, adopting a more dominant, upright posture gives individuals a feeling of power and control.

Apparently, this feeling helps their bodies tolerate a lot more distress than they would otherwise be capable of handling. Even neutral stances were demonstrated to lead to increased pain sensitivity.

In the same experiments, the researchers provided additional data to support the conclusions of an older study, which showed that the posture of a dialog partner influences people's own poses and behaviors.

Wiltermuth and Bohns showed that people who took submissive stances while conversing with partners displaying dominant postures were more likely to have a lower pain threshold. This type of behavior has been studied only in passing, but promises to yield a treasure trove of data on human psychology.

The study concludes that individuals who are in pain – such as for example after suffering an injury – should attempt (whenever possible) to stand up straight, or stretch their bodies, pushing their chest forward, and open their body mass.

Curling up into a ball makes people feel more vulnerable, and out of control, as if their actions bear to influence whatsoever on the outcome of the situation they are in. This type of thinking amplifies pain expectations, which in turn makes the entire experience more painful.

Details of the new work were published in the latest issue of the esteemed medical Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. The paper indicates that more confident postures can also lead to an increase in testosterone production, PsychCentral reports.

Past studies have associated elevated concentrations of this hormone to increased tolerance to pain. At the same time, levels of the stress hormone cortisol decrease. High cortisol concentrations have previously been associated with a more stressful experience.

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