Why Is Posture Important?
Understanding Posture
Why is posture so important? It’s because your body functions best when all your body parts are in proper alignment. Your body is made with specific curves and contours that, when properly aligned, allow you to perform your daily tasks in the most efficient and pain-free manner.
When speaking specifically about the back you can see that curves are a normal part of the spine’s structure. If you look at the spine from the side, you notice that 3 naturally occurring curves can be seen. There are two forward curves, one in the neck and one in the low back, and there is one backward curve which occurs in the mid back.
These 3 gentle curves serve to distribute the mechanical stresses that are incurred throughout your day’s activities. Good posture puts your spine in proper alignment and so the stress of activity is properly distributed to the intended muscles and ligaments. Maintaining proper posture, therefore, allows the muscles to work efficiently and decreases the stress on the ligaments that hold the joints of your spine together.
When you are out of alignment, the stress on supporting muscles and ligaments is significantly increased and you can begin to experience discomfort and injury to those supporting tissues. When posture is poor and you are not in proper alignment, the increased stress on the muscles in your back causes them to have to work harder and results in muscle fatigue. Over time, this can lead to muscle strain and overuse injury and can be a major cause of low back pain.
Proper posture is especially important for those of you who spend many hours a day sitting in an office chair while working. As you concentrate on your work activities, you often have a tendency to drop your head and neck forward. This then causes your mid and low back to round forward too. The weight of the head and upper body are no longer balanced over the spine and the stresses are no longer properly distributed to the intended muscles and ligaments. This fatigues the muscles and places strain on the ligaments of your back. This change in the normal curve of your spine might also lead to constricted blood vessels and nerves and this can be an added source of pain to your low back.
Being aware of the importance of good posture is the first step to improving your back pain. The next step is understanding what good posture looks like.
Good Sitting Posture:
- Eyes level and chin parallel to the floor
- Shoulders rolled back, relaxed and in line with your ears and hips
- Sit evenly on both hips and don’t sag to one side
- Thighs parallel to the ground with knees pointing straight ahead
- Both feet flat on the floor and pointing forward
- A chair with good low back support or small pillow between the chair and your low back to maintain proper low back curve
Good Standing Posture:
- Eyes level and chin parallel to the floor
- Shoulders rolled back, relaxed and in line with your ears and hips
- Stomach tucked in and pelvis rolled back
- Feet shoulder width apart
- Weight every distributed between your heel and balls of feet
- Think of imaginary straight line connecting ears, shoulders, hips and ankles
In both the sitting and standing posture, it is imperative to avoid slouching and rounded shoulders. This results in significant imbalance and improper alignment of the spine and is one of the primary causes of low back pain.
Posture Training
It is important to recognize that restoring proper posture takes training. Just as a dancer requires extensive training to achieve proper dance technique, you will need to train your body if you want to correct poor posture. This is especially true if you have spent years sitting and standing with poor posture and slouching shoulders. Improving your posture will likely take some time and conscious effort but with consistent daily training you can achieve proper posture and reduce your back pain symptoms. The Str8back Posture Corrector is a fantastic instructional aid to help you train and maintain perfect posture.
