We spend our whole life sitting, standing or lying down. The prolonged staying in these positions, with the wrong body posture, can cause serious problems in the spine and irreversible damage to both muscles and bones. Most of the time, a wrong twisting of the spine is not itself a cause of pain; if there is some other problem in the vertebrae, the wrong body posture increases the intensity and duration of the pain.
Here are some helpful tips for improving your posture in your daily life.
Maintaining good health goes beyond appearances; it starts with good posture. But why is good posture, particularly standing posture, so crucial? Your standing posture, influenced by habits over time, reflects the alignment and engagement of your abdominal muscles. To understand the correct body posture for the standing position, we should perform a “Wall Test”.
Stand with the back of your head touching the wall and your heels six inches from the baseboard. With your buttocks touching the wall, check the distance with your hand between your lower back and the wall, and your neck and the wall. If you can get within an inch or two at the lower back and two inches at the neck, you are close to having excellent posture. If not, your posture may need professional attention to restore the normal curves of your spine.
Sitting with a straight back and shoulders can help prevent common complaints, such as lower back pain and a stiff neck. Many people spend most of their day sitting down, as they tend to sit when commuting, working in an office, and studying or relaxing at home. Most people can improve their sitting posture by following a few simple and helpful tips:
- Keeping the feet flat or resting them on the floor or a footrest
- Avoiding crossing the knees or ankles
- Maintaining a small gap between the back of the knees and the chair
- Positioning the knees at the same height or slightly lower than the hips
- Placing the ankles in front of the knees
- Relaxing the shoulders
- Keeping the forearms and knees parallel to the floor where possible
- Holding the elbows at the sides, creating an L-shape in the arms
- Sitting up straight and looking forward without straining the neck
- Keeping the back against the chair or using a backrest or cushion if there are places where the back does not comfortably meet the chair, especially in the lower back region
- Avoiding sitting for extended periods, ideally taking at least a 10-minute break for every hour of sitting
- Switching positions regularly
The proper sitting posture is important to your overall health, but good driving posture is also hugely important in the event of an accident. For proper back support while driving, your seat back should be slightly reclined at about a 100° angle so that, from the base of your neck to the small of your back, your entire spine is always touching the seat.
Your seat should be flat so that your hips are at least at the same level as your knees, and you should be seated high enough that you can clearly see over your steering wheel and easily see all your mirrors and dashboards without leaning forward.
If you’re taking long drives, your posture is even more crucial. Take a break to stretch and readjust every couple of hours to keep your body loose and relaxed.
When you get out of the car, do not twist your waist, but turn your entire body toward the door so that you can place both feet on the ground and stand up safely.
In general terms, the most relaxed posture is almost always the best. Try lying on your back with your knees slightly bent (put a pillow under your knees). If this position doesn’t work for you, try lying on your side with a pillow between your legs.
It is important to switch your postures often as well as to stretch and mobilize all the muscles in your legs.
