There are many advantages and disadvantages to being tall, but tall people do have to mind their health in some ways that their smaller counterparts do not have to worry about. Luckily these issues are well known and documented. Doctors, physicians and medical specialists from a variety of fields have studied the physical problems encountered by extremely tall people and have a number of techniques to combat both the causes and effects of these. Before we tackle the tips it is worth noting, as with most things medical, it is far better to prevent an issue, than to cure it. With this in mind, tall teenagers need to be watched and advised as they grow, not to develop bad habits that could develop into chronic health issues in later life. All the following tips deal with the probably the single biggest factor to poor health for the tall youth – bad posture. This leads to both upper and lower back pain, stooping, spinal disk issues and countless other conditions.
Firstly, with posture, it is critical that the individual both walks tall and sits tall. This has to be learned in the teenage years and maintained throughout their life. One never thinks about how they walk, but it is essential that the taller person maintains the head up, shoulders back and chest out style walk. A slouching style of walking will inevitably lead to spinal and or back pain.
Secondly, in the combat against bad posture, the tall teenager should develop a strong core. The core muscles are those around the stomach, abdomen and lower back. The key thing about this set of muscles is that they support the upper body, which can be a considerably bigger weight to support than somebody 18 inches smaller than you. Each time you swivel or rotate your upper body, the core muscles provide the foundation of that movement. In fact, almost every movement of your body, involves the core muscles. There are many well documented and safe exercises for strengthening the core muscles.
Finally, stretching is a great discipline for the taller teenager to learn. Use both lower and upper back stretching techniques to relax the back and strengthen. Even upper leg, neck and shoulder stretches assist the maintenance of good posture, balance and strength conditioning. The overall benefits of a regular exercising and stretching regime is well documented in many journals for the avoidance and reduction of back pain.
