Quick, show me good posture!
Did you immediately hear your parent’s voice in your head yelling “STOP SLOUCHING!!!” or
“SIT UP STRAIGHT!!!”
Your parents were right, slouching is not good for your body.
As a child, though, you probably only heard their critical comments/yelling.
Sometimes good advice is delivered in a way we can’t hear, let alone take action on.
Let’s move past your parents and focus on you as an adult living in a culture not kind to your body.
Not kind:
- hours of sitting
- texting/phone scrolling
- constant Zoom meetings
- TV watching/laptop streaming
- little or no exercising
- no attention to body position (posture)
- stress
Bad posture can cause a host of physical, mental and emotional issues such as headaches, neckaches, shallow breathing, lack of mental clarity/poor concentration, low back and hip pain, etc.
Bad posture can make you look shorter, heavier and less energetic.
Over time bad posture can lead to fragile bones, increased risk of falling and fractures.
Sometimes people can sense an issue in their bodies and simply don’t know how to fix it or who to ask for help.
Sometimes people overcorrect an issue (i.e. overdoing pulling shoulders back and down for instance) and cause other types of problems.
Sometimes people, once they can sense they’re slouching or hiking their shoulders up to their ears, are able to change to a better position.
However, good posture is not a natural state for the majority of us and usually we don’t think about good posture until our body starts to hurt.
HOW TO CHANGE YOUR HABITS
- become more aware of your particular posture habits
- learn what needs to be different for you (drop your shoulders? open your chest?)
- consistently practice new changes (set posture breaks on your phone or other electronic devices to encourage you to move)
- recognize you will default to previous bad habits if stressed or tired
- change your environment to support your better habits (ergonomic changes like the height of computer as well as holding your phone up higher to your face so your head isn’t pulling forward and down to view the screen)
- keep practicing until new habits are automatic
Yes, improving your posture can be a long process and it does takes valuable mental and physical energy. I’ve worked for decades to help my personal training clients and my yoga class members to improve their posture.
The results are well worth your efforts.
TIPS
- Have someone take a pic of you from the side while you’ll at your desk or scrolling through your phone. Is your head pulling forward and down? Are your shoulders up to your ears? First step is to uncover your personal bad posture tendencies.
- Add a number of easy mobility exercises for head/neck/shoulders. Shoulder rolls, shoulder shrugs, gentle neck turns, chest openers are simple to add to your day. If you have physical issues or other medical issues, ask for advice from your doctor or physical therapist.
- Massage from a skilled massage therapist can be a wonderful way of relieving muscular tension and stress.
- Work with a personal trainer or physical therapist to identify muscular imbalances and then have them devise a stretching/strengthening program to address your particular issues. We all have weak muscles, tight muscles, overstretched muscles, etc. Using a professional can help you understand how you hold yourself and what corrections to make.
- Yoga teachers and Pilates teachers can also help improve posture. Consider taking a private lesson with either an experienced yoga teacher or Pilates teacher to get individual attention for your body.
MAKE CHANGE EASIER
Many of us have grand intentions, want to start with big gestures and quickly fix a complex problem with a massive energy push.
Generally this is a recipe for burn out.
Pick one action step. Do this one step consistently for several days/weeks before you add another step. The first step you take doesn’t have to be the “perfect” one. Don’t stress over what you do, just do something.
Done is better than perfect, especially when adding a new habit.
Set yourself up for success by consistently doing that one step. Consistent practice builds momentum and as your momentum grows, so will your capacity for bigger action steps.
Finally be kind to yourself. Change is hard for most of us, habits are even more difficult to change because they’re automatic and unconscious.
Acknowledge any effort you make to think about and improve your posture. Over time, observing your consistent efforts will translate into progress on changing your habits and help you move forward to even more change if desired.
One last thought:
If you’re an older adult, posture is a key component to better balance. Falling and sustaining significant (and sometimes fatal) injuries is a common concern. Most older adults don’t associate good posture with improving balance. I’ll discuss this link more in another article.
In the meantime, what can you do right now to improve your posture?