Submitted by Becky Wooster PT, DPT & Wells Branch resident

A basic quality common to all humans is our upright posture and I find this information from a pain management doctor in Tallahassee, FL quite resourceful.  As humans are vertically oriented, gravity takes a toll on our bodies.  We must fight gravity to remain upright to perform our normal human functions like eating, sitting at the computer, and walking about our environment.  With the affect of gravity on a poor posture, muscles of the neck and upper back become weaker, knotted, and either stretched out or tensed up.  Our body then lets us know that something is not quite right by sending our brain pain signals.  Ouch!

Improving posture is not difficult knowing just two tips. First of all, get moving.  Staying in one position for an extended period of time is the worst thing that you can do to your body, and that goes for any part of the body not just the main players of posture.  Take a 30 second break to roll your shoulders in backwards circles and stand up to increase blood flow to lacking areas.  Do this every 30 minutes while typing away at work or relaxing watching television.  Set a timer to remind yourself.  Your body will thank you.  Secondly, think proper alignment – ears over shoulders over hips.  Whenever we fall out of this proper alignment, the curves of the spine increase, facilitating certain muscles on the back to become weak, and other muscles on the front of the body become tight.  Stand along a flat wall with your head, upper back, and buttocks touching the wall, and with your feet six inches away from the wall.  Now you have good posture!

The key to improving posture is consistency.  Putting these tips consistently into practice will give your body a healthy, confident start to the New Year.  For questions, contact Becky at chrcpt@gmail.com.