As you can imagine, maintaining good posture while working, standing and sitting can be difficult. There are many things we’re doing every day that can wreak havoc on our posture.
Here are some tips you can do to prevent these problems from building up.
What is posture? According to Dr. Jonathan Ruben Goins, posture is “the alignment of the body from head to toe.” It is the way your body and limbs are positioned while standing or sitting.
Your body’s posture affects not only how you feel, but also how you think, act, and perform. When you have poor posture, you can experience back pain, headaches, sore shoulders, and more.
Posture is a key component of overall health and prevents you from posture correction and posture correction treatment . Dr. Jonathan Ruben Goins from Atlas chiropractic health center is mentioning that poor posture can cause a host of other problems, such as headaches, backaches, pain in your neck and shoulders, and poor circulation.
When you look at the world around you, you see people who have healthy posture every day: children, teens, adults, old people. It seems that good posture is something we’re born with, and we’ll maintain it throughout our entire life.
But, even though you probably think your posture is perfect, there are still some ways to keep your spine and body strong. So, what are those ways?
There are many benefits to good posture. It can help prevent back pain, and it also contributes to better circulation, more productivity, and improved self-confidence.
Find an ergonomic and comfortable chair
An ergonomic and comfortable chair can make all the difference when you’re spending hours in front of your computer. According to research, if you are sitting in an uncomfortable chair for more than five hours at a time, your posture begins to deteriorate and this can lead to chronic back pain. Find a comfortable chair—a padded, well-cushioned office chair is perfect.
Make sure that the chair that you are sitting in is sturdy and well-made. If the chair looks too flimsy, it will likely collapse under the pressure of your body weight.
If you have problems with your lower back, you should try to find a chair that has a lumbar support built into the seat. It is a great idea to buy your chair at a specialty store.
These stores usually offer a variety of different models of chairs. If you buy your chair from the company that made it, you can ask them to send you a warranty. Also, if the chair you are buying doesn’t fit you properly, ask for a refund.
You don’t want to buy a chair that doesn’t fit. A comfortable chair will enhance your productivity and make you feel better.
Stretch Your Back
When you’re sitting at a desk all day, your back muscles tend to get tight and stiff. The natural posture that we tend to assume when we’re standing up, moving around, and sitting down is a slouched position, where our backs are hunched over. Sitting up straight helps maintain good posture and keeps the back healthy.
Rest Your Elbows
Good posture is something that’s often overlooked, but can help make you look a lot more confident. As a reminder, when sitting in front of your computer, it’s important to keep your elbows off the table or desk, with your arms bent and down. This helps you keep your wrists straight and avoid looking hunched over. The key to maintaining a good posture is to have your shoulders back and slightly tilted to the side.
Don’t hunch over your keyboard
We all know how bad it is to slouch at the computer. Slouching can lead to a poor posture, backaches, and neck pain. It can also make us look unprofessional and unapproachable. However, maintaining a good posture while typing is a lot easier than it sounds. Here are a few tips to keep you from looking like a slouch when you type:
- • Keep your neck straight
- • Tilt your monitor downward at an angle that is comfortable for you
- • Adjust your chair to fit you
- • Don’t cross your arms on the desk or try to use your hands to support your arms
- • And the best of all: Stand up
Keep a straight spine when you walk and sit
Good posture is about keeping a good foundation. This includes keeping your head, shoulders, and hips aligned. If you stand, you need to keep your knees slightly bent. If you sit, you need to keep your back straight and your knees bent. By doing these simple things, you are telling your body where it should be in order to have good posture. You can even change your physical habits, but it will be easier to see the results if you maintain a consistent posture throughout the day.
Bend Your Knees When You Sit Down
If you want to maintain good posture, your body must be in a neutral position, meaning the spine is straight and your shoulders are back. When you sit down, make sure to bend your knees. This keeps your spine in alignment and allows the weight of your torso to rest on your hips instead of your back.
If You Have Neck Issues, Put a Sticky Note on Your Desk to Avoid Slouching
Whether you’ve developed chronic neck pain from a long day of work or you’re just trying to avoid a painful headache in the morning, maintaining good posture can have a positive effect on your physical health.
The first thing that comes to mind when we think of posture is sitting straight up in a chair, but in reality, keeping your head in line with your spine and your back flat against the chair is also important. Standing tall and holding your head up straight should help eliminate any neck issues.
To avoid neck pain, keep your head upright. Slouching can strain the muscles of the neck, and over time, this can lead to problems. Sticky notes are great for keeping you from slouching. A simple one-word reminder at the top of the note is all you need to keep your head up.
Try to Maintain the Right Position While Sitting
This is a very simple tip to maintaining good posture while sitting. When you sit down, try to maintain the right position in your chair. Sitting with your knees slightly bent, feet flat on the floor, and back straight will keep your body in the best position possible.
When you slouch, your back and spine are no longer in the optimal position. This results in a stiff back and poor posture. The key is to keep a neutral spine.
Try to Maintain a Straight Posture When Standing
You may think that good posture just comes naturally. While standing for long periods of time, there are some easy-to-make adjustments that can be made to help keep you in proper posture.
To begin with, when standing, make sure you’re standing up straight and not slouching forward or back. This is done by maintaining a neutral spine (not leaning forward, back, left or right).
Also, look to your shoulders: if you’re hunched over, you’ll automatically round your shoulders and look smaller. Keep a neutral position.
Use Your Hands for Support
If you’re trying to look your best when you post online, make sure your posture is good. A good posture makes you look taller, slimmer, and healthier and reduces stress on your joints.
To maintain good posture while posting, use both your hands to support yourself as you lean against a surface—like a wall or a table.
Avoid Hunching Over a Computer For Too Long
A posture-friendly way to look at working in a computer chair involves looking straight ahead, not down at the screen, and keeping the back of your neck and shoulders neutral, rather than tense or slouched. This helps to create good posture, which means you’ll spend less time on the computer hunched over and can work with your eyes on your monitor instead of looking up or down at it.
If you find that you’re often leaning forward when typing or working at the computer, consider adding more standing breaks, standing when possible, or getting a new desk and chair that makes you feel better.
Avoid Slouching
A lot of people have trouble maintaining good posture throughout the day. Slouching has been associated with back pain, headaches, and neck pain. So it’s important to know what positions to avoid and which to maintain good posture in.
To maintain a good posture, here are some tips:
- • Avoid slouching and hunching over your computer screen.
- • If you have to sit in a chair, choose one with good support.
- • If you’re standing and typing, try to position yourself so your wrists aren’t bent or crossed behind your back.
- • If possible, find a standing desk to minimize the need for sitting and standing.
- • Keep a cushion between your shoulder blades and the desk, so you’re not pinching them while you type.
- • If you have to sit, consider using a laptop stand with a monitor tray.
- • If you spend a lot of time at your desk, consider using a neck pillow to support your head and neck.
- • Get up and move around every 30 minutes, even if it’s just to stretch or take a walk.
Get Up From Your Chair Every 15 Minutes or So to Stretch Your Legs
This trick may be a bit hard to believe, but stretching your legs while standing at your desk will increase the oxygen flow to your brain, and thus help you think better.
Standing up for just a few minutes will help to get the blood circulating around your body. You may even be able to reduce the number of times you get migraines, because they can often be caused by the lack of oxygen in your brain.
I’m a big believer in stretching. I find it’s the most effective thing I can do to get ready for a long day of work, and it helps me avoid all sorts of minor injuries and pains.
My top five tips are: stretch for at least 10-15 minutes; try to stretch before you get out of bed in the morning; don’t stretch your back, instead, focus on your hamstrings; stretch your hips and legs, not just your calves or ankles; and lastly, when you’re sitting at your desk, move every 15 minutes or so to stretch your legs and take some deep breaths.
Try to Maintain Good Posture While Walking
One thing you can do to avoid the common postural problems that cause discomfort and pain is to keep your head and neck in a good position while walking.
By doing so, you’ll be better able to maintain balance throughout your body and prevent fatigue. While maintaining good posture isn’t difficult, it does require some practice.
A good posture starts with a tall, upright stance. The shoulders should be back, the chest forward, and the neck extended. You can maintain good posture while walking by looking ahead and focusing on your destination.
Take Short Breaks from Sitting to Stretch Your Back
The back is the second most commonly injured body part after the knee. That’s why it’s important to stretch the muscles and ligaments that support the back in order to keep it healthy.
The first step is to stand up, take a breath, and then lean over to touch your toes. This is called the modified push-up, and it’s a great way to strengthen the muscles in the back. When you sit, you’re putting a lot of strain on your lower back. You need to take breaks and stretch to keep your back in good condition. Also if one sits for over 1 hour they should take a break, walk around to get the joints lubricated, and give the ligaments and muscle time to return to the normal position, this is called hysteresis and creep.
In conclusion
The human spine was designed to move. If you sit for extended periods of time, your body goes into an adaptive state called “postural atonia” where the muscles that support the spine and ribcage begin to tighten and lose their tone. This is why you start slouching after sitting for several hours at a time. When you sit up straight, you’re in a position to keep those muscles from becoming too tight. So, if you want to stay comfortable and enjoy good posture, the best thing to do is to maintain a good posture while you working, standing and sitting.
In case you are injured or you feel physical complications, please do give us a call at +63 (0) 960-811-5931 and visit our chiropractic clinic for a chiropractic treatment or find more information on our website https://atlaschiro.ph/