The Importance of Good Posture

How many times did your mother tell you to sit up straight or your gym teacher tell you to stand there with your chest out and shoulders back? Why the heck did grownups care so much about our posture, and did any of us bother to listen?

And perhaps the most important question is: does good posture really matter?

The answer to that last question is quite simple – better posture is better for your overall physical well-being. Here’s why:

• You’ll have less musculoskeletal pain because good posture helps you avoid excessive tightness in the muscles of your neck and back.
• When you have good posture you breathe better.
• You’ll lower your risk of excessive degeneration of bones because your spine, shoulders and hips will be aligned and able to handle the load of your body.
• Your lymph system can drain easier and blood circulate more efficiently.

But, despite what your mother and gym teacher told you, good posture isn’t necessarily what you think it is. In fact, chest out and shoulders back isn’t even “good” or correct. So what is?

Rules of ‘Good’ Posture

While there is no such thing as perfect posture, there are some basic rules to ‘good’ posture.

• Your head should be stacked over your torso so that your earlobes line up with the middle of your shoulders
• Your shoulders should be relaxed – not scrunched up into your ears
• Your arms should hang naturally at your sides with your palms facing in toward your body
• Your shoulders should be aligned with your hips

To Put it Simply Good Posture Equals Good Health

We are a society obsessed with our health. We pay top dollar to fill the prescriptions our doctors write out, buy organic produce and juice it, and make sure to drink plenty of water and get plenty of rest, and yet not many of us give one second of thought to our posture.

But our posture should get as much consideration as our food and exercise choices and what kind of medicine we put into our bodies. Without good posture none of us are truly physically fit. But WITH good posture, our bodies can perform the way nature intended and our organs and systems can run efficiently.

But without good posture, our bodies become run down. Even young people with bad posture will experience lethargy and digestion and circulation problems.

How Do We Adopt Poor Posture?

How do we learn to hold our bodies the way we do? While bad posture can be the result of an accident or fall, it can also develop from other environmental factors and plain ol’ bad habits.

Think about how much time we spend as a society sitting at the computer or sitting and watching television or movies. More people can afford cars (that generally have poorly designed seats) and technology and, as great as these advancements are, they have made us a sedentary population.

Poor posture can also result from:

• A bad mattress
• Excessive weight
• Wearing shoes without the right support
• Weak muscles or muscle imbalance
• Occupational stress
• Negative self-image
• Poorly designed chairs and workstations

3 Common Symptoms of Poor Posture

Wondering if you have bad posture? Here are three common symptoms:

Fatigue

Think about it, when you have bad posture, your muscles actually have to work harder to hold your body upright all day long. This is a tremendous waste of energy and why many people feel so fatigued by the end of the day.

Tight, Sore Muscles

The older you get, the more damage bad posture will do to your body. After a while your muscles and ligaments may become stiff and tight and very painful. Typically 80% of neck and back problems are the result of aching muscles caused by years of bad posture.

Joint Stiffness and Pain

Wear and tear arthritis is very real and very common, and usually termed “degenerative” osteoarthritis. Poor posture increases your risk of developing joint pain and stiffness later in life.

[Editor’s note: Although improving your posture can relieve the pain and stiffness, it will take quite a bit of time to reverse the damage. Find out how you can be pain free in as little as 7 days]

4 Simple Things You Can Do to Improve Your Posture

The good news is, apart from a physical deformity or accident that has left you with significantly-displaced posture, you have full control over how your skeleton aligns. Here are 4 things, no matter your age, that you can do – or not do – to immediately improve your posture for better overall health:

Sit Up Straight!

I am so high-fiving your mother right now. The NUMBER ONE THING you can do to improve your posture is to follow your mother’s advice/command and sit up straight. Imagine you have a string, like a puppet, coming out of the top of the middle of your head and someone is gently pulling you up.

When you sit your spine should not be curved and your head should be perfectly balanced – meaning your chin should not be up or down but a couple of inches from touching your chest. Don’t slouch or sit twisted in your chair but look straight ahead with your feet touching the floor and your knees bent at a 90 degree angle.

Don’t Sit on Your Feet

This rule is going out to all the young girls and women out there because they are typically the guilty parties. Siting on one of your feet causes you to throw your hip and knee out of the correct rotation. I would also like to mention that crossing your legs, whether at the knee or the ankle can also throw your joints out of alignment and cause circulation problems.

Chuck the Heels and Thick Wallets

Right now some women are rejoicing while others are just plain angry at the mere suggestion. Wearing heels on special occasions is one thing, but wearing them all day every day – you are begging for lumbar problems and lower back pain.

And men, you are not getting off scot-free. Sitting on a thick, bulky wallet all day can create a twist in your pelvis.

Try Yoga

Yoga is one of the best exercises out there for improving your posture and alignment, and strengthening your core muscles so they can help you support your spine. Many people shy away from doing yoga because they think they will be embarrassed and not do it “right.” But yoga is a practice, literally. It is not about doing the poses right but about simply doing them to the best of your ability. It will help you release muscle tension that has been building up for years and help you with your balance.

There’s a very good chance you currently have really bad posture. But the good news is, you do something about it. By paying attention to how you hold your body and following these 4 simple rules, you can dramatically improve not only your posture, but your overall health as well.