Your posture is more important than simply looking taller or thinner. It has a huge influence on the strength and balance of your body as a whole. Having a good posture can help to decrease pain and tension, as well as stress on your muscles. It’s also known to reduce the risk of injury.
When you ensure that you are holding your body in the correct position, you’re taking a step towards injury and pain prevention and a whole host of other health problems. Let’s take a look at what exactly your posture is and the simple steps that you can take to improve it.
What are the Different Types of Posture?
Believe it or not, there is actually more than one posture type: Dynamic posture and static posture. Your dynamic posture is your body’s position when you are involved in movement of some kind. This could be walking, exercising, or simply bending over to pick something up off of the ground.
Your static posture, on the other hand, is your body’s position when you are not moving. This includes things like sleeping, standing and sitting. It’s equally as important for your body that you have a strong dynamic and static posture.
There are three curves in your back that are completely natural: Your neck, mid-back and lower back. The key to good posture is maintaining the correct spinal position through these curves. They should still be curved but never more than they need to be. Ideally, your head should be perched on your shoulders and your shoulders should be in line with your hips.
What Impact can Poor Posture Have?
As mentioned, posture doesn’t just affect how you look; it can affect your overall health in the following ways:
- Cause misalignment in the musculoskeletal system.
- Increase the risk of injury to the spine.
- Increase risk of neck, should and back pain.
- Cause a decrease in flexibility.
- Can impinge on joint movement.
- Puts balance off.
- Can cause some digestive issues.
- Could cause difficulty in breathing.
Easy Ways to Improve Your Posture
- Be mindful and pay attention to the way you carry yourself throughout the day. Make an effort to straighten up during your daily activities.
- Exercise: Stronger muscles will help you to have a better posture. While almost any exercise is good, those that target your core, back, abdomen and pelvis are particularly effective. Think yoga, Pilates, swimming and other such exercises.
- Try to keep your weight down: Healthy weight also goes a long way in improving your posture. Excess weight can weaken the abdominal muscles and could cause lower back pain.
- Wear the right shoes: We know, not all comfortable shoes look amazing, but low-heeling, comfortable shoes are the best for your posture. High heels are really a bad posture choice.
- Ideal height for surfaces: It’s important that your desk, dinner table, kitchen counters or anywhere else that you spend a lot of time, is the right height for you.
Stay on Top of Your Health for Good Posture
As you can see, there are some simple things that you can do to improve your posture. Perhaps the most important, however, is ensuring that you look after your body as a whole. This means eating well, drinking plenty of water, taking supplements, and keeping as fit as you can.
At Freedom Sports Medicine, we offer podiatry and physiotherapy in Ringwood, physiotherapists in Kilsyth and surrounding areas. But we don’t just treat sporting injuries. We will work with anyone to ensure that they can recover from any pain or discomfort they have been feeling and get back to the life they deserve. As well as our podiatrist in Bayswater, our physiotherapist in Bayswater is also available for appointments at your convenience.
