Good Posture Isn't Just for School

[Shadowhunter]

At some point in our school days, most of us have come across someone being told to sit or stand up straight (let's face it, sometimes it was us!). As developing children and young adults, good posture was mainly stressed to discourage poor spinal development and related health issues. Though this isn't really emphasized past school days as we're presumed to stop growing, posture continues to be important for everyone of all ages.

• Poor posture while writing, typing, or using a mouse can lead to issues like carpal tunnel syndrome, which is quite painful and often requires surgery to correct.
• Studies have shown that slouching increases feelings of depression, low confidence, high stress, and low energy.
• Slouching forces your head and shoulders to come forward (eg rounded shoulder appearance) and may curve your upper back unnaturally as well (think about the Hunchback of Notre Dame). This can lead to issues like pain in your jaw, head, shoulder, back, neck, and ribs as well as even gastrointestinal problems.
• Walking or slouching with a leaning appearance may force your hips to tilt forward which can flatten your gluts and make your abdominal area appear pushed out even if there is no fat there.

Your posture can be helped with the following support:

• Stretches and exercises
• Regularly used everyday items with ergonomic support (eg chairs, neck support, shoes, etc.)
• Making an effort to practice good posture regularly

Are you confident enough to test your posture? Try this test:

[video=youtube;tM-7MFJXRUk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM-7MFJXRUk[/video]
***Remember to stand in a straight line, with your feet directly below your hips.


Do you have good posture already or do you need to work on it?

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[nirtime]

My back hurts when its in an upright position most of the time. especially after using thr upper back muscles.

What do you recommend? Which supporting muscles should be used to be comfortable?

I think my back has an extreme curve. Not very sure.

 

[Shadowhunter]

Try the test above, standing against a wall and see which areas are heavily stressed. You can do stretches, especially certain yoga poses and exercises to strengthen your upper back muscles and core muscles (pilates moves and planks are famous for core training) to help improve your posture. Strengthening your core helps your mid-section support your upper body weight a lot easier and strengthening your upper back helps train those muscles to tighten up and keep things straight up top. This will help you get to an ideal point where your body maintains good posture naturally, even without your being aware of it. Bear in mind that these stretches and exercises are not a one time fix though, you have to make a continuous effort. In chronic cases, getting the advice of a professional is best.

Personally, this will sound really weird but I trained myself to have good posture when I was younger by balancing books on my head and walking on edges of things lol Over the past few years I've realized I've become a terrible sloucher and my shoulder blades are now curved forward so I'm currently working on this again as well and when in doubt, I put a few books on my head to make sure I'm sitting or standing straight.


Here are some great things to practice to help with posture:
(I've tried all of these and they work quite well)

[video=youtube;at4Af5vHB30]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at4Af5vHB30[/video]

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I think these are great to start off with in addition to the tips above. A chair with ergonomic support is also a great idea if you spend a lot of time sitting. Hope that helps!

 

[nirtime]

Oh wow, that seems great. will try it . thank you so much.

 

[Shadowhunter]

Np, let me know how it goes!