BlueSkies Fitness Ltd

Good posture involves sitting, standing and moving in a way that maintains spinal and limb alignment to minimise the strain placed on your body. 

Think about the way that you sit, stand and move - at your desk, in your car, whilst shopping etc - do you place excess stress on any part of your body?  If you do, it may manifest itself as back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, headaches or possibly nerve impingement conditions such as sciatica or frozen shoulder. 

This picture shows good sitting posture - to achieve this, you should sit with:

• Your feet flat on the floor, about hip width apart and close to your chair
• Your knees bent at approximately 90 degrees
• The back of your pelvis (bottom) in contact with the back of your chair
• Your weight evenly distributed across your pelvis
• An S-shaped curve through your spine
• Shoulders relaxed, back and down
• Your chin tucked in 

Here are some tips to help you achieve this posture:

• You may need a foot rest to raise your feet off the floor to achieve the 90 degree bend at the knees
• Adjust the lumbar support of your chair to support your spine in the correct position
• If your chair does not have a lumbar support, you can buy portable lumbar supports or even use a small, rolled up towel to promote good posture - these are especially useful in cars. 
• To elongate your spine into a better position, imagine someone has a piece of string attached to the top of your head and is gently pulling it vertically.
• To achieve correct shoulder position, roll shoulders forwards, upwards, backwards and down and then relax in this position.

The benefits of good posture are numerous and include:

• It may prevent and/or alleviate back, shoulder and neck pain
• It may prevent and/or alleviate nerve impingement conditions such as sciatica
• It may prevent headaches
• It will portray and project self-confidence
• It will improve movement efficiency
• It will improve and maintain mobility
• It will optimise breathing

Good posture at work is vitally important as this is where most people spend the majority of their time. Correct workstation ergonomics which includes the way that your desk is set up and the chair that you use can help to prevent problems ranging from repetitive strain injury in the wrist to neck pain. 

Here are some tips for correct workstation set-up:

• Adjust your chair's lumbar support so that it does it's job and supports your lower spine.
• Adjust your chair height to ensure that you have a 90 degree bend in your elbows when using your mouse and keyboard - if this raises your feet off the floor, use a foot rest to bring your knees back to 90 degrees.
• If you use a hot-desk, always adjust the chair before starting work.
• If you spend a lot of time on the phone, use a headset so that you avoid having to strain your neck when taking calls.
• The top of your computer screen should be in-line with your eyes so that you don't have to move your head up or down to read it.
• Your screen and keyboard should be directly in front of you so that you do not have to twist to use them.
• If your work between two screens or between a screen and a client, swivel your whole body around on your chair keeping your hips and knees facing forward rather than rotating from your lower spine - this will help you avoid nasty lower back injuries. 
• Avoid using laptops on your lap! 
• If you use a laptop, try to get a docking station so that your screen and keyboard are at the right height. 
• If it is not possibleto get a docking station, try raising the back of your laptop up to raise the screen height.  Physio Supplies Ltd, one of the UK's leading suppliers of physio equipment, are now stocking a brand new product - the Cool Laptop Stand.  This is a portable, award winning, lightweight, laptop stand that will help to improve your posture.  It works by bringing your laptop screen to the correct height reducing the strain placed on your eyes, neck and back.  For more information, click on the banner below to visit Physio Supplies Ltd. 

Once you know what good posture is and how to achieve it, apart from practicing it, there are three other ways that you can improve your posture:

• Stretch - you need to stretch the muscles that can become tight due to poor posture and those that can cause poor posture by being tight.  Click here to go to the stretching exercises. 
• Strengthen - you need to strengthen the stabilising muscles in the abdomen, lower back and shoulders that will help you maintain good posture.  Click here to go to the strengthening exercises. 
• Stroll - there are two parts to this: 
  1. Getting up and away from your desk regularly.  Recent research shows that the average person spends 4 hours at their desk without moving which is not good for the mind or the body and can increase the risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis!  Aim to get up and move about for 5 minutes every hour.
  2. Taking part in regular cardiovascular exercise.  This will ensure that your muscles function in the way that they are meant to.  Walking is an excellent form of exercise for improving posture. 

It's all very well knowing what good posture is but how do you remember to do it? 

Visual cues work well for a lot of people.  For example, place a sticky dot or a post-it note or something else in places where you look regularly e.g. your computrer screen, your steering wheel or your remote control.  Every time you see your reminder, adjust your posture.  If you do this 5 or 6 times a day, good posture will become a habit.  When adjusting your posture, think:

• Spine - remember the S-shaped curve and the piece of string attached to your head!
• Shoulders - roll them forwards, up, back and down, then relax!
• Skull - keep your chin tucked in!

Additionally, use audible cues to remind you to get away from your desk.  Set alarms on your phone or computer to go off every hour or two and take a walk - even if it's just across the office to talk to the person you were about to e-mail - any activity will help! 

Posture Stretching Exercises