Good posture can help you enjoy life!

reprinted from Calorie King.com

Adopting correct posture, does more than just convey a confident and balanced individual.
Your posture influences many other body parts and how they function. Because we spend many hours sitting or standing, a small imbalance in your posture can cause considerable strain on your muscles. This can lead to neck, back, and shoulder pain, headaches, dizziness, eyestrain and a general feeling of fatigue.
Correct posture on the other hand can lead to an enhanced feeling of health and well-being, confidence, and can help to keep your whole body correctly functioning.

Head and Neck:

Your head should be balanced directly over the neck, so your earhole sits directly above the center of your shoulder joint.

Shoulders:

Your shoulders should sit flat against the back of the rib cage, pulled slightly back, and relaxed down well away from your ears.

Chest:

Your front, side and back of the chest should remain slightly lifted, so your waist is lengthen, narrowed and slightly firmed.

Abdomen:

Your abdominal muscles should pull slightly inwards and upwards as they contract slightly and give support to your back.

Pelvis lower back:

Your tailbone and sitting bones should tuck slightly down and under, and your lower back should find its natural curve (not too arched, nor too slumped).

Knees:

Your knees should be pointing straight forwards. They should not be excessively pressed back and locked, but should maintain support by a gentle grip on the muscles at the back and front of your legs.

Feet:

The inner arches of your feet should remain lifted. Weight balanced evenly across the center of the heel, outside arch of the foot, little toe and big toe and balls of the feet.

Plumb line:

A vertical line should pass through the ear hole, center of the shoulder, hip, knee and ankle joints.

To avoid incorrect posture, follow the guidelines below.

1) Awareness

The first step is to know the correct posture for your head and neck, and regularly reassess your head and neck posture to ensure that correct posture becomes a habit. The correct position for your head and neck is one in which the ear-hole is directly centered over the center of the shoulder joint. The chin is level, the eyes horizontal.

A good way to check your head and neck posture is to try the old fashioned exercise of balancing a book on your head. This exercise really works! Practice it every day for 1-2 minutes, and you will notice your posture improve. It is interesting to note that people that carry baskets on their head, such as in India and Africa, have impeccable posture as the body is forced to find its natural state of balance.

2) Exercises Practice the following exercise regularly:

Shoulder rolls

Elbow circles
Neck flexion stretch

Neck extension stretch
Hamstring stretch

Hip flexor stretch

Abdominal crunch

3) Gymnasium exercises

Make sure you balance your gymnasium workout, so alternate muscle groups strengthen evenly. For example, you might like to include some of these exercises in your workout:

Fronts and backs of thighs (eg. leg flexion and leg curl)

Fronts and backs hips (eg. hip flexion and hip extension)

Abdominals and lower back (eg. crunches and back extensions)

Chest and upper back (eg. chest press and seated row)

Internal and external shoulder movements (eg. internal and external shoulder rotations)

4) Stretch

Regular stretching helps to relieve excessive muscular tension that causes postural imbalances.

5) Check your workstation

Make sure you have your workstation set up correctly:

The seat height should be set so that the angle of the knees is 90 degrees, and the feet rest comfortably on the floor.

The keyboard should be at a height just below the level of the elbows, so the angle at the elbows is 90 degrees, and the wrists rest just below the level of your elbows.

The monitor should be placed at a height that enables you to look straight forward at the screen. Your face should be about 3 feet from the screen.

The mouse should be close, so you do not have to reach out to the sides.

Sit on a good chair with back support and arm rests.

6) Have regular breaks at work to stretch and walk

Short breaks of 1-2 minutes every 30-60 minutes help to relieve tension. On your lunch break have a walk and stretch, and find time to relax and take a break.

7) Alternative exercise

Exercises such as Yoga, Pilates, and Exercise ball, are great ways to promote correct posture.

Weight Loss

If you are overweight, the excess weight can put strain on lower back, knees, and feet, leading to poor posture. If you are interested in weightloss talk to us about options. We have several programs we recommend, and that can work for you. The key is to pick the right system for you.