How to Improve Your Posture

How are you sitting when you read this? Are your shoulders level, your back straight, your weight evenly distributed on both buttocks, your knees relaxed and parallel and any forward movement coming from your hips and not your upper back? Or are you slumping forwards, with your neck curved and spine rounded, your shoulders uneven, your legs crossed and your weight supported through your elbows? If so, you may be in perfect physical shape but you certainly will not look it.

Of all the determinants, the most immediate is posture. Diet and exercise may give you the body you want, but unless you hold it correctly, it will never be seen to advantage.

Such misuse undermines your natural shape, robs you of the ability to move easily and freely, predisposes you to aches, pains and muscular tension and many of the more specific symptoms such as lower back pain, headaches, poor circulation, and digestive troubles.

Learning the principles of good posture and putting them into practice is one of the best investments you can make.

Your head weighs up to 12 pounds (5kg). How you hold it influences the position of the vertebrae, not only at the neck, but also the whole way down the spine.

To hold your head centrally balanced, imagine a string attached to the crown of your head gradually pulling it upwards, so that the back of your neck lengthens. At the same time, let your shoulders drop slightly, keep your eyes facing forwards and your chin at right angles to your neck.

Holding the neck in a set and rigid manner can lead to shortened and strained neck muscles, tension headaches and even migraine. Free it by holding the head as directed and by feeling the sensation of lift as the vertebrae extend away from each other.

Aches and pains in the upper back are usually caused by holding the shoulders incorrectly. Bring them level by standing with your weight evenly distributed on both feet and holding your head centrally. Now rotate the shoulders to bring them comfortably back and down then your shoulder blades at the back and the collar bones at the front will both lie quite flat.

Look upon your arms as an extension of the shoulders and upper back. Hold them relaxed by your sides, with elbows turned slightly out away from the body in order to maintain the wideness in the chest and shoulder girdle, and the wrist and fingers loose and supple, not clenched.

Think in terms of making as much space between your ribs and hips as possible. Keep your shoulders down and your back lengthened and extended, so that your respiratory and digestive systems have the room in which to work properly.

Your spine is one of the most susceptible areas of the body to the strains exerted by standing, sitting, moving and even lying down incorrectly. The spine curves naturally in at the neck, to enable you to move your head more freely, and at the small of your back, to relieve the pressure on your lower back.

Poor posture may cause these curves to flatten or become too pronounced. Keep your spine lengthened and supple and neither unnaturally straight nor unnaturally curved.

When held correctly, your pelvis supports your spine, takes the pressure off your lower back, keeps your buttocks firmly in the right place and enables your tummy to be held in naturally. When standing, your pelvis should be held forwards, facing the front.

Practice by standing against a wall. If you can get your hand between the small of your back and the wall, your spine is too arched. Bend your knees and then tilt your pelvis upwards. Hold, then release. Repeat several times then gradually straighten up the wall again. The gap should now be much too small for you to pass your hand through.

When standing, walking or exercising, your knees should be slightly flexed to take the weight of your body to prevent jarring.

Your feet take the weight of your body and provide its base for balance. Stand with feet slightly apart, weight evenly balanced between them and supported mid-way between the ball and heel of your foot. Rock gently back and forth until you find this point.

Now that you know how you should hold your body, extend these principles into the way you use it. The most perfect standing position is unlikely to do much for you, if you slump or move awkwardly for the rest of the time. The main principle is to safe guard the health of your spine. Keep it lengthened and extended, straight but not stiff, and when bending always bend your knees, never your back.