Living in the Western world, we are spending more time than ever sitting at a desk, behind the wheel or relaxing on the couch with technology. These repetitive behaviours have a compounding effect on our posture, eventually confirming the argument, we are a product of our environment and habits.
Our posture is a constant physical stress on our body, unlike our work, exercise or other physical activities, our postural stress is there from the moment we wake to the time we retire for the night. Ensuring we are in the best possible position can minimise the impact that this can have on our spine, body and health overall. While also limiting the likelihood of lower back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, headaches & more.
Combating poor postural practices, with better awareness of our body position, daily good postural practices and exercise strategies are ultimately the biggest things we can do to start shifting the needle with our postural health.
Read on below if you’d like to learn some of the key strategies our Geelong Chiropractors suggest when it comes to improving posture. These changes can often be small, but with the volume of time we spend at our computers and desks, they can really add up.
Alterations such as ensuring ideal seat height, monitor height and distance, and arm position are easy ways to optimise your posture, and ultimately the stress on your spine during these tasks.
Finding yourself slouching or hunching while driving? Considering how much time we might spend behind the wheel on our daily commute this can add up.
Small modifications to your seat position, adding some lumbar support and raising your review mirror (so you need to sit up in order to see behind you) are all easy cues to improve your spine posture while driving.
No matter how great your posture is there is no substitute for regular movement and exercise.
Having regular breaks from work tasks, hobbies or the like allows you to mobilise and reset your body.
Throughout your day, set an alarm, timer or notification system every 30-60 minutes to get up, walk around and do something else for 5 or so minutes.
Posture self-care might be as simple as incorporating basic stretches into your daily routine, targeting your low back, mid back, shoulders and neck areas.
Laying down with a foam roller along your spine, promotes more extension through the middle and upper parts of our spine. This can be a great reset after a big day of sitting hunched over.
Also, getting into a regular exercise regime, combining exercises targeting our hips, back, shoulders & neck can be effective strategies to fortify these areas from posture-related stresses.
- MacLean, Kathleen F.E. et al. ‘The Role of at Home Workstation Ergonomics and Gender on Musculoskeletal Pain’. 1 Jan. 2022 : 309 – 318. https://content.iospress.com/articles/work/wor210692
- Radulović, Azra Huršidić, Žaja, Roko, Milošević, Milan, Radulović, Bojana, Luketić, Ivica and Božić, Tajana. “Work from home and musculoskeletal pain in telecommunications workers during COVID-19 pandemic: a pilot study” Archives of Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology, vol.72, no.3, 2021, pp.232-239. https://doi.org/10.2478/aiht-2021-72-355
