Watch your Posture!

"Good posture means aligning ears over the shoulders, shoulders over hips, and hips over the knees and ankles."

Many of us are not aware of our posture which has an essential role in alleviating certain problems .

Posture is the relative arrangement of body parts to Have a balance between the muscular and skeletal structures  which will protect the body from certain injuries. Any defect in this arrangement will cause imbalance between these structures. 

You might ask yourself: Is it  easy to develop a poor posture?

In fact Yes, the majority of population don't follow the good body ergonomics.

Let's take an example, Computer users spend long periods of time working without being attention to how bad their posture is. 

A Recent research indicates that: 80% of computer users who spend more than 4hrs working without moving will develop chronic back pain in the future.

And they are not the only ones! most of us have a chance of having a poor posture too.

So how can I sit properly?

It's quite difficult to have an ideal posture while sitting, but you should try as much as you can. Following these tips will make it easier for you:

1-Screen reminders: "FIX YOUR POSTURE" write this statement on a small paper and stick it on the top of your screen.

2-Stretches: Stretching your body every 15 mins is essential  to avoid shortening of the muscles. Print out the exercises and stick it on your wall.

3-Stand up: Get up and walk every while. Experts say that standing for 15 mins each hour yields great life extending benefits 

"Sitting all day is literally killing us." Dr.James Levine

4-Support your back: Put a cushion behind your back so you won't go way down and develop a back pain.

Video: If you spend so much time sitting then sit RIGHT


Stand tall and be Proud!

Keep in mind that the way you stand has a direct effect on your posture. As you see in the picture, the line that passes through all your joint axes should be close to the center as much as you can. Any deviation will place more gravitational stress on your muscles and you will end up having one or all of these posture faults.

 What's the proper standing posture?

 The tips are enormous! but you should focus on:
1-Bearing your entire body weight on the balls of your feet and not the heels.
2-Shoulders should be back and chest should be held out so your lungs will work efficiently.

A short note: Some lung problems start because of the  kyphotic position of your thoracic spine as respiratory muscles will be tightened so Be careful.

3-No leaning forward nor backwards either.
4-Don't Slouch: slouchy posture is very dangerous. It affects your neck, back and chest muscles! it starts by rounded shoulders and it increases with age if you didn't correct it.

 Keep this tip in  mind:

 Whenever you enter a room: Held your chest out, shoulders back and tuck your stomach in.

How can I correct my posture?

The good body ergonomics is not the only treatment, exercises are essential too. 

There are plenty of exercises that correct the posture, I chose the most efficient ones and you can go through the link for more exercises:

1-Walk right: Put a wooden stick down the back of your shirt and stand. Then walk for 30 minutes and keep holding the stick. Divide the duration for 10 mins- rest-10mins-rest-10mins.
The aim of this exercise that it will remind you to keep your spine straighten up, shoulders back and chest expanded.

2- Wall Exercise: Stand against the wall, take off any accessories in your head or hand. Push with your head, shoulders, elbows, buttocks and heels against the wall for 20 secs.

* Your shoulders may not be so close to the wall due to the shortening of the muscles. Do it everyday as much as you want and you will observe the differences in your posture.

More Exercises
More Tips

Talking about posture will never end and what you have read is only 30% of what you should know. I'll discuss other issues in my coming posts Inshallah. I chose sitting and standing postures to be the first issue to talk about since  it's very common among people and if we didn't start correcting our postures now, we will regret it in the future.

For any questions don't hesitate to e-mail me :ayaaalghouti@gmail.com