If you watch someone that has a proper posture, you will see someone that looks good. They are straight and tall and create an overall better picture. However, good posture is not just something that makes you look better, it makes you feel better! Standing and sitting correctly is much less demanding on every part of your body.
An upright position, both standing and sitting, allows “proper stacking” of the joints. This means that all the major body joints will be maintained with a great deal less effort on the part of your muscles. It also allows for a correct distribution of all your weight over the whole of your body structure, instead of putting pressure on one area to hold a large portion of your weight. Good posture also lowers the strain level on ligaments.
What happens when your posture deteriorates? Nothing good! When you deviate from the natural alignment of your body from that upright position, you will cause stress on many different areas. This strain will inevitable cause aches, pains and possibly other health complications down the road.
Modern day life has brought on many of the posture problems being seen today. Many years ago, human beings lived on the land. They had a lot of physical activity built into their daily routines just to live. They were hunting, climbing, walking, swimming and fending for themselves everyday. Later on, we saw farming and herding keeping people busy. For most today, this level of activity is not the norm.
Today we are seeing a much different lifestyle. Children (and adults) sit slumped for long hours in the classroom at rather uncomfortable desks. Long hours are spent in front of the television and the computer. This sedentary schedule does nothing to improve posture, but instead is quite detrimental.
When you sit at a desk slumped or in front of the computer with your back hunched and your head forward, you are putting a great deal more stress and strain on your back, neck, shoulders and other portions of your anatomy. The muscles in your back are stretched while your neck muscles are extended forward for a long period of time. As this habit continues, the negative effects accumulate each and every time you sit in that way. In almost all cases, when this is the lifestyle followed, you will begin to see aches and pains develop.
Aches and pains will not be your only problem, though. You will also begin to see a deterioration of your “sense of balance”. When bad posture becomes your normal posture, you will walk and sit with a rounded back and your head thrown forward. The body recognizes this change in its natural posture and does its best to accommodate. This compounds the problem, since now your “normal” posture is incorrect and straining your body whenever you sit and stand.
As the problem posture continues into adulthood, more and more health problems begin to occur. Desk jobs and continued sedentary habits build up and become a bigger “pain” with increased age. If bad posture is the “normal” posture, you will find a whole new group of symptoms begin to show themselves:
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Muscle spasms
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Fatigue
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Pinched nerves
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Pinched blood vessels
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Ligament strains
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Asymmetrical posture
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Joint inflammation
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Arthritis
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And possibly many more severe ailments
Something as easy as proper posture, even when leading a more sedentary lifestyle, can still help alleviate these health problems. Proper posture may have to be relearned by many and this can be accomplished through creating a workout routine that gives all your major muscle groups adequate exercise. Check with your doctor and get it “straight”! (Your posture, that is.)
