Helping Your Body With Corrective Posture

As we age, we usually tend to pick up on bad habits and posture stances. Many of us never consider the effects of how we walk, stand, sit or lie down and how it impacts our bodies until we end up with damaged tissue or need assistance with injury recovery. Our team of Mt Eden physio specialists see how detrimental bad posture is on almost a daily basis. And even though we encourage patients to find time to stretch frequently throughout the day, maintain a healthy activity level during the week and to avoid harmful poses – most simply shrug it off until it’s too late.

Here are some of our suggestions to implement into your every day that requires minimal effort but will have a significant impact.

Sitting In An Office 

As the workday progresses, you may find yourself struggling to get up not because of the amount of work you have but because of an aching body that feels too tight to move. Instead of buying expensive equipment to help you sit better for long periods, you can easily start correcting your posture with a few simple moves. Ensure your eyes are in line with the top of your monitor, you may need to adjust your chair or the height of your monitor for this, have your elbows comfortably resting next to you, better still – use the arm rests on your chair if you have them. When sitting in your chair, make sure your knees are lower than your hips and you are sitting upright nice and comfortably. This allows your spine to be held in its’ more natural curve thus taking pressure off it. Any discomfort usually indicates poor posture somewhere along the body.

Waiting In A Queue

You’ll be surprised how bad your standing posture is once you start to analyse your daily movements. Slouching is often the culprit and a terrible habit we introduce to our bodies at an early age. We usually feel more comfortable in this position, but it will cause more damage over time. Ensure that your head is upright so that you do not strain your neck and focus on the amount of weight you’re pushing down towards your feet. The stance should not feel awkward and once you start doing it more often, you’ll forget why you ever resorted to slouching.

Lying Down 

We all know the feeling of being completely drained out by the end of the week and wanting to lie down on our couches, watching copious amounts of Netflix. And though we do understand how comfortable it may feel, your body takes on an enormous amount of stress during this period. Try to avoid lying down anywhere other than on your mattress or the floor. When you go to sleep, ensure you stretch for five minutes to release any tension in your body and try to sleep with a pillow between your bent knees.

In between daily long commutes to work, stressful days at the office and managing a busy household, some don’t believe they have any time at all to work on their posture. But with a few subtle adjustments and mental mind shift, you will quickly realise that those few minutes a day truly do make a difference to your overall body. To book a session with one of our qualified Mt Eden physio specialists, give us a call today.