Benefits of Good Posture

So, it turns out that our mums were right when they incessantly nagged us to “stand up straight” during our teens.

I suspect our mums were more concerned with the way we looked when we slouched, but we now know that there are many important advantages to having correct posture:

  • We appear more confident, and this could translate into feeling more confident.
  • Less tightness in our neck muscles and therefore, reduced neck pain and headaches. Often the pain that we experience around the neck and head is due to tight muscles pulling on their attachments to bone at the base of the skull and the cervical vertebrae.
  • Improved breathing: it is easier to take a deep breath when fully upright. Try it yourself. Compare taking a deep breath when you are standing tall and when you are slouched over. Deeper and fuller breaths translate to more oxygen to the lungs and then into our bloodstream. Just about all our body’s functions require oxygen, so the benefits are huge.
  • Stronger thoracic (shoulder blade) muscles can reduce shoulder and neck pain by providing stability in much the same way as strong core muscles support the lumbar spine (lower back).
  • Improved digestion similar reasoning to the improved breathing.

And our mums were right to constantly nag us because there is no easy fix, it takes constant effort. That is not to say it is too hard, you just need to set your mind to improving your posture.

It’s worth it!

3 steps to better posture
  1.  Loosen any tight muscles which may be preventing you from achieving correct posture. These are generally the anterior shoulder muscles, such as the Pectorals or ‘Pecs’ and the posterior suboccipital (upper neck) muscles.
  2. Strengthen the muscles which have become weak from being overstretched from slouching. These are the scapular (shoulder blade) retractors, the long muscles at either side of our neck and upper thoracic, and the deep anterior neck muscles.
  3. Maintain good posture by incorporating your posture exercises into your daily life and by changing a few bad habits. It is also so important to adjust your workstation to achieve and maintain your fabulous new posture.
What you need to know to improve your posture

To begin we need to define what “good” posture is:

When Physiotherapists talk about “good” (I like to call it “ideal”) posture, we relate it to a ‘neutral spine.’   The human spine has 3 curves, lumber, thoracic and cervical. When all 3 curves are in correct alignment, it is referred to as a ‘neutral spine’.

The human body is very symmetrical.  We basically have to balance the front/back and left/right sides of our bodies in relation to the spine.  This applies whether we are standing, sitting, walking, or even lying down.

 

The next concept to understand is the ‘line of gravity.’  When striving for ideal posture, it’s helpful to think of lining up your ear, the middle point of your shoulder, the middle point of your hip, the middle point of your knee and the front of your ankle bone.  When the body is in this position, gravity is just exerting downward pressure through the head and spine, so the muscles in front, behind and to the side of this line don’t have to work overly hard to support us.  However, when we deviate from this line for prolonged periods of time, our muscles do have to start working much harder.

A good example of this is when we are standing with slumped shoulders. Our head typically weighs around 5Kg.  When we are in ideal alignment, it sits quite comfortably on top of our spine with minimal pressure on the supporting neck and upper thoracic structures.  However, as we slump and our head moves forward from this line, the pressure on the supporting neck and upper thoracic structures, can increase significantly resulting in the muscles at the back of our necks working extra hard to just lift our head in order to see where we are going.

 

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