Wells Branch Neighborhood Association

Submitted by Becky Wooster PT, DPT & Wells Branch resident

A basic quality common to all humans is our upright posture.  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.

One fifth of all Americans suffer from allergies affecting the sinuses and lungs. During the winter, everyone is trying hard to keep the house warm and closed off from the outside air. Unfortunately, that also seals up the indoor atmosphere where certain pollutants can irritate allergies. These pollutants include dust mites, pets and mold. The way to eliminate the irritation caused by these things is usually as simple as removing the source. The room you most need to focus on is the room you sleep in. Here are a few tips to help keep the sneezing and sniffing to a minimum this winter.

• Keep your house properly ventilated and get fresh air on a regular basis.
• Keep upholstered furniture to a minimum in your bedroom and vacuum it frequently.
• Cover you mattress, pillows and box springs with an impermeable covering. Dust mites thrive in bedding.
• Unclutter the room as much as possible to keep down dust and dust mites.
• Vacuum and dust as frequently as you possibly can. Have someone who is NOT allergy-prone do this, since these activities can really aggravate allergies.
• Try to keep your bedroom uncarpeted. Dust mites love carpeting, and even vacuuming twice a week can’t combat them.
• If you can’t keep your pet outdoors, at least keep them out of the bedroom, and for heaven’s sake, don’t let your pet sleep with you!
• Avoid high humidity. Run humidifiers only when the heater is running.
• Don’t run humidifiers in the room with the door closed.
• Use super-fine furnace filters and change them frequently (at least once a month).