What is a good posture?

Posture comes from a combination of good muscle control, strength, and self-confidence.
Posture can be defined as the way in which you carry yourself or the position of your limbs in regard to the remainder of your body.

To maintain good posture, you want to be aware of how you sit, stand, and walk to ensure your back is healthy and free of pain. Poor posture can be caused by a number of factors. Obesity, pregnancy, weak muscles, high-heeled shoes, poor working environment, and laziness are a few contributing factors to poor posture.                                  

Maintaining a good posture takes a conscious effort, much like any other habit. If you do something often enough, even standing or sitting straight with your stomach sucked in, it will become second nature and you won’t have to think about it. Besides getting rid of back pain, having proper posture can also affect the other joints in our bodies. If you slouch while seated, your back, knees, and neck may hurt. If you let your posture go while driving, it could actually be a contributing factor to an accident because you won’t be able to see properly out the rearview or side mirrors.

Your back is the workhorse of the body. Not only is it involved in nearly every movement we make, it is central to balance and keeping our head on straight, so to speak. Backaches and injuries are some of the most common complaints when people visit doctors or when they call in sick. If back pain is causing you problems, you’ll want to discuss it with your doctor. They may recommend a physical therapist or medication. You may also want to consult a chiropractor to help you correct bad posture. Take time to be aware of how you stand, walk, sit, and lift. If you relax too much you may get lazy and begin slouching instead of keeping your spine straight and stomach pulled in. Keeping your posture intact helps strengthen the muscles along the spine and can help reduce or eliminate back pain.



What is a good posture?

Posture is how a person holds their body when not only standing but when sitting or laying down. It requires a person to balance their muscle along their spine, have good muscle flexibility, and normal motion in the joints. Those who have good posture are aware of their posture and correct it when wrong. Posture comes from a combination of good muscle control, strength, and self-confidence. Those with good posture walk and sit with their back straight, shoulders back, and head high.

Douglas Wisoff, a Boulder physical therapis says: Reducing stress and ramping up physical activity can both help improve posture, he says. For those with very poor posture, he suggests seeing a professional for advice. "The mistake that people make is that they force themselves into a new position, rather than relax into a new position," he says. "(Improving posture) might require some good instruction. Forcing it creates that very tight military posture that you see. Basically you lay a whole new set of tensions on top of your old tensions. In the future, that causes problems."

Useful links:

* Posture for a Healthy Back