Right posture is the core pillar of your overall health. It is important to balance; by standing upright and balancing your weight on your feet.
Many become unconscious and slouch too much constantly leaning to one side. When your body starts unconsciously following it in routine life – your neck, shoulders and back start aching.
So, it is important to fix your posture before you feel backache or shoulder pain. Here, in this blog, we will cover what posture is, what can contribute to good posture and the various ways it can affect your health and why good posture is important.
What is Posture and Why it is Important?
What is Posture?
Posture refers to the position you hold your body when sitting, standing or lying down. Dynamic posture is holding your body weight in a position when you are moving. It does not include only walking but running, as well.
Try maintaining a good dynamic and static posture – that means your head should align with your shoulders, while your shoulders should be directly over your hips. However, with poor posture, the alignment would be different and it won’t keep your head, shoulders and hips in a way that makes sense for your body.
Generally, there are two types of postures;
- Dynamic Posture: it is how you hold yourself when you are moving. It is how you hold your body when you are walking, running or bending over to pick up something.
- Static Posture: it is how you hold your body when you are in a static position. This is about making a posture when you are sitting, standing or sleeping.
It is important to have good dynamic and static posture to maintain good health.
What is Good Posture?
A good posture means standing tall, chin parallel to the floor, shoulders and hips even and a neutral spine. Your whole-body weight should be evenly distributed on both feet. In addition, your knees should be even and pointing straight ahead.
So, when a person exhibits good posture, he/she is not bending forward or backwards, but standing tall with parallel chin to the floor and feet about shoulder-width apart.
However, it should not be rigid like military stance. But a good posture helps people improve their movement by reducing physical tension, using muscles efficiently and developing body awareness.
Good posture means keeping your body weight in balance in such a way that it does not create body strain at any side of your muscles. It means the alignment in your skeleton and muscles with conscious awareness and release.
Your massage therapist will help you fix the issues caused because of poor posture and will suggest you the best way out to maintain good posture.
·        Good Posture is Foundation for Good Health
The right posture affects your entire body. It is the foundation for good health. To make a good body posture, you need to sit or stand in a way that your head should be aligned over the torso, pelvis and legs. Good posture can be achieved by maintaining good spinal alignment when you are managing your daily work. Good posture matters to help keep your joints and bones in proper alignment.
At many a time, you feel that you have been slouching. It often happens when you sit for long hours at an office desk, in your classroom or simply just walking around. We can easily realize our bad posture just a little focus is required. With the simple realization, your body often falls back into a position we are most familiar with within no time. Also, a good sleeping posture helps protect your back and allow you to rest properly.
When you start ignoring your posture, it will leave an impact on your health. Poor posture can affect your health from head to toe and it can cause long-term health concerns. When you start practising poor posture for a longer duration, it can cause pains in your back, neck and shoulders.
Poor posture will affect your overall health and affect your body negatively. Better to suggest a massage therapist that will help you follow the right posture.
Why is Good Posture Important?
There are some issues discussed above, however, good posture is important for overall good health. Maintaining the right posture while sitting, standing, and laying puts less strain and tension on your muscles and ligament. Good posture keeps your blood flow in a steady-state and keeps your bones and joints aligned. The proper body posture also lowers body aches and pains.
In a bad posture, you are keeping your body in relaxed mode though it has to work harder to be in that position. This causes more body fatigue. This situation lowers the energy level, reduces the motivation level and makes you concentrate less on a topic.
However, a massage therapist will let you know how to practise good posture to make use of his/her muscles effectively and this will help prevent muscle fatigue. Keeping good posture is important at every stage of life, however, it becomes more important as we age.
If you face some physical complications, find out if these are the result of poor posture. Find out where you are making the mistake. Practising the right posture is never late when you realize it.
Let me introduce you to some ways to start practising the right posture; stretching and walking around after sitting for long hours, keeping your back straight while sitting and preventing your shoulders from rolling forward.
Start practising this while keeping your head, shoulders and hips as centred as possible!
What are the Reasons for Poor Posture?
Several reasons contribute to causing poor posture. This is not always what we are doing it consciously. It is, sometimes, because of poor body health. For instance, tight and inflexible muscles can decrease body motion. Also, the tight chest muscles can pull you forward causing unalignment while the poor core muscles cause a lack of sturdiness that is required to keep a balance between the upper and lower body part.
Other factors contribute to poor posture;
- Job requirements
- Stiff joints
- Feelings of emotional stress
- Decreased fitness levels
- Stiff joints
- Sitting far away from the steering wheel while driving
- Overuse of technology
The Impacts of Poor Posture on Your Health
The most common effects caused by poor posture are head and neck pain. “Forward head posture” is the misaligned body posture. It caused your head to be positioned in such a way that it pushes your head forward. In such a state, your ears would be in front of the midline of your body and your whole body would not be aligned. The poor posture will cause stiffness in your neck muscles and tendons (especially tension headaches), jaw tightness, musculoskeletal dysfunction and nearby nerve pain.
- Tech neck: Tech neck, commonly known as text neck, is usually developed from poor posture when you are watching something on a device. Most of the time, when you are working on your laptop or computer, you hold your head down and in a forward position that can put weight on your neck or spine. In the long run, this causes neck spasms and/or stiffness in the neck.
- Poor Posture causes fitness problems: Poor posture often causes back pain It also causes a tight and stiff feeling in the spine or surrounding muscles. “Swayback”, also known as hyperlordosis, is a position that creates an inward curve in the lower back. This position is a type of misalignment that causes your hips and pelvis to tilt forward causing a curve in the lower back.
This situation occurs when you sit in a position for long hours. Sitting for long hours is not good for your health as it causes the muscles to be weak. Also, sitting in an inclined position puts pressure on your back and it causes lumbar discs. Back pain also causes poor sleep as it does not allow you to rest properly and makes you feel restless.
- It also causes breathing problems: Poor posture also causes breathing problems as it causes the rib cage and diaphragm restriction that creates issues in the lungs’ function. The poor posture affects the ability of the lungs and causes shortness of breath.
Gastrointestinal (GI) can also arise when you bend forward. Your internal organs are much more compressed than if you were standing or sitting straight. This kind of constriction can lead to abdominal GI upset and other conditions like acid reflux and heartburn.
- It also causes poor blood circulation: Poor body posture causes poor blood circulation. It usually happens when you sit for long hours. Your body does not move so the blood circulation does not go the way it should be. Your body needs proper blood circulation that must be transported to every cell and tissue of your body. Oxygen is an important element for every part of your body so you must not sit in the way that causes the restriction in the blood supply.
The poor body posture can hinder this as the tight muscles cause constriction of body vessels. This causes poor circulatory issues and the conditions like high blood pressure, vein thrombosis and varicose veins, etc.
Get massage therapy by a professional therapist for a healthy stress-free life.
How You Can Improve Your Body Posture during Everyday Activities?
It is important to have the right body posture during daily activities like running, working in an office, washing dishes or watching television.
- Stay Active: Exercise is very important to help improve your body posture. However, certain types of exercises work well. These include Yoga, tai chi, and other fitness classes that focus on body awareness. Daily exercise is the best thing you gift your body to strengthen your core.
- Keep a balanced weight: being overweight/underweight is not good for your Being overweight can weaken your abdominal muscles. It creates lower back pain and causes problems for your spine and pelvis. These problems affect your body posture.
- Wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes: High-heels, for example, can throw off your balance. It makes you walk differently and puts more stress on your muscles which affects your posture.
Make sure work surfaces are at a comfortable height for you, whether you’re sitting in front of a computer, making dinner, or eating a meal.
Get a full body massage to get rid of the discomfort in your life.
How You Can Improve Your Posture When Sitting?
Many professionals spend a lot of their time sitting – either at work, at school, or at home. It is important to sit properly, and to take frequent breaks:
- Switch sitting positions often
- Take brief walks around your office or home
- Gently stretch your muscles every so often to help relieve muscle tension
- Don’t cross your legs; keep your feet on the floor, with your ankles in front of your knees
- Make sure that your feet touch the floor, or if that’s not possible, use a footrest
- Relax your shoulders; they should not be rounded or pulled backwards
- Keep your elbows close to your body. They should be bent between 90 and 120 degrees.
Make sure that your back is fully supported. Use a back pillow or other back support if your chair does not have a backrest that can support your lower back’s curve.
Make sure that your thighs and hips are supported. You should have a well-padded seat, and your thighs and hips should be parallel to the floor.
How Can You Improve Your Posture When Standing?
- Stand up straight and tall
- Keep your shoulders back
- Pull your stomach in
- Put your weight mostly on the balls of your feet
- Keep your head level
- Let your arms hang down naturally at your sides
- Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart
While you are on the road to better posture, Massage Experts at Meridian Spa can help with some of the physical aches and pain that can develop from poor posture. Our reflexology therapy can help increase blood circulation, a deep tissue massage can release knots or tension throughout our muscles, while a therapeutic massage can incorporate several styles of massage techniques to address areas of your body you need care