When I ask clients to demonstrate good posture” many of them immediately re-arrange themselves in a ramrod “military” position, throwing their chests forward and their shoulders back, freezing like a statue and often displaying a terrified look on their faces. Maybe they remember being nagged as a child to “stand up straight, no slouching”.
I define posture a little differently.
Posture to me is optimal alignment of our body parts depending on what we’re doing, whether we’re upright or seated, stationary or moving at that moment in time. It’s a dynamic process, not a frozen position. Using ‘good” posture helps us function better, breathe better, look better, feel better.
If you’re standing still, your alignment of your body will be different than if you’re standing up and moving like walking or running (alignment of the body changes as the weight of your body shifts during movement).If you’re seated, your posture could be different than standing depending on what you’re doing as you’re sitting.
Gravity is a factor, affecting the body depending on whether you’re upright, moving or seated.
How to know whether your posture is “bad or good”?
Let’s define bad posture: hunching, slouching, caving the chest down and forward, head protruding forward off the spine (i.e. sitting at a computer screen all day long doing complicated precise type of work or endless Zoom meetings all back to back).
Bad posture negatively impacts breathing, mental clarity/concentration, mood, perception of personal physical, mental and emotional energy, spine, low back, hips & pelvis, to name a few.
Ouch! Reading this just hurts and makes me aware of sitting up with an open chest, shoulders down and back with good head/torso alignment. How about you?
Good posture is an open position, particularly through the chest area, shoulders are somewhat back and down, head is balanced properly over torso, held up by the neck which retains suppleness and flexibility. Side bar: neck stretches and/or massage are critical to retain good neck movement. Start with a physical therapy consult to rule out any cervical spine issues before starting with either stretches or massage.
Good posture supports deeper breathing, clearer mental processing like attention span and concentration, more positive emotional states, better digestion, less stress on joints and muscles.
Remember that good posture is both a mental construct (i.e. how you think about and define posture) and a physical arrangement of body parts all of which must adapt and change as you use your body in different situations.
Understanding these basic components of “good” posture will give you more awareness and allow you to make changes to improve your posture if you chose to do so. Enlist a fitness or medical professional to assess your posture and help you with stretches and strengthening exercises to specifically improve your posture. Your body will thank you.
