A Short Guide to Posture

21st June 2014

Posture is the position you find your body in to undertake the tasks of your day to day life.

What makes it “good” or “bad” relates to not only the position but how long you adopt that position for. We are able to adopt all manner of postures but some will cause damage to our muscles, ligaments, joints etc far quicker than others.

A good optimal posture involves holding the spine in neutral or ‘mid’ alignment. This is not hard to do and we can generally find a good posture. The difficulty is sustaining the posture, which requires sufficient stamina of our core or postural muscles.

The quick way to good posture involves a little imagination. As you sit or stand, think that you have a balloon filled with helium attached to the top of your head. The balloon floats straight up, not forwards or backwards – go with the direction of the balloon, let your shoulders relax and elongate your spine, but don’t push out your chest or force your lower back. You will feel taller and comfortable when you learn the position. You need to build your core stamina gradually by staying in a ‘good’ posture periodically through the day.

Keep at it and, after a short while, you will find that this good/optimal posture is more comfortable than slouching.

If you need to speak to someone about your posture or if you are looking for advice on how to improve it – request a call back from one of our Physios or book an appointment now.