7 Easy Ways To Improve Posture

7 easy ways to quickly improve posture

Posture is all about finding an optimum position for our body to ensure maximum protection against injuries.  It isn’t just a question of buying a standing desk! Standing desks are a great tool to help you get great posture, but we’d advise trying the no-cost ways first, or in addition. Here are 7 easy things that you can implement now without spending any money!

 1. Stand up as straight and tall as you can.

Most of us tend to adopt a hunched position, as a lazy way of attempting to get more comfortable.  Ironically, this ultimately has the opposite effect, as our muscles stop developing in the way they should, weakening our core and making it harder to hold our bodies in the correct way.  This leads to long-term discomfort and soreness and can start to cost money through visits to osteopaths and chiropractors!

2. Keep your shoulders held back.

Your shoulders should stay in line with your hips if you are sitting down or standing up.  This will alleviate and strain on your spinal column and back and becomes the building block for great posture.  If your shoulders are kept back, you’ll be more likely to stretch and move more as you’ll be more aware of your posture.  Making sure that your office chair is adjusted correctly at all times will help you achieve this, so make sure you follow our guide on posture, for help in doing this.

3. Hold your stomach in.

This isn’t just meant to make you look slimmer!  Tensing your stomach muscles regularly will take the pressure off you back and build up your core muscles.  It has been proven that many people with bad posture or back complaints also have under-developed core muscles, and that isn’t just a coincidence!  Your stomach is in your core area, and your core is key to good posture!

4. Keep your weight mostly on the balls of your feet, and even distributed between feet.

When you are standing, your posture should always look like a straight line from your shoulders, through your hips, down to your ankles.  Your knees should never be locked out, and weight predominantly on the balls of your feet to maximise blood circulation.  When you are walking, it is an interesting fact that it uses 53% more energy to walk on the balls of your feet than it does when heel-walking!

 5. Keep your head level.

There is a phenomenon that has developed mainly over the last 25 years, which has put a huge amount of strain on our necks and backs.  The Osteopathy profession refer to this colloquially as ‘text neck’ as it has mainly been brought about by an increased reliance on smartphones, tablets and laptops, and results in many of the hours of the day looking down with huge strain put on the neck.  This in turn creates pain and discomfort, that won’t ever change unless good posture is adopted.  Making a conscious effort to keep your head level will have a great positive impact on your posture.

6. Let your arms hang naturally at your sides.

If you do this and your knuckles naturally face forwards, then this is a strong indicator that you have a tight chest and a weak upper back.  This will give the appearance of rounded shoulders and can be the result of a long time hunched over a keyboard or having your screen too low to support your posture.  Letting your arms hang naturally at your sides when you have a break will help the flow of blood, and help you retain flexibility in your joints.

7. Keep your feet about hip or shoulder-width apart.

This will help to keep the alignment of your body perfect and provide the foundation of a sustainable healthy posture.  It paves the way to maintain the natural curvature of the spine, keeps you in balance, and keeps unnecessary strain off your legs. To prevent muscle imbalance in the pelvic area (which will usually result in sever muscular strain in the buttocks and lower back), it is also important to make sure that your weight isn’t placed more on one leg that the other.  Leaning on one leg more that the other can sometime feel more comfortable, especially if you have been standing for a long time, but it will exacerbate problems arising from uneven hips, and sometime take months if not years to reverse.

All these tips are very simple, and if you can get into the habit of adhering to all of them, you will find that your posture will improve by the day, leaving you more energised and invigorated.  That will result in you being healthier, happier, and more productive in and out of work!

Once you’ve nailed these tips, the next thing to work on is the environment in which you work.  Small changes to your desk and chair setup will further help your posture, without spending any money.

If you are serious about your posture as an ongoing concern, then it would be well worth considering a standing desk with electric adjustment, and investing in an ergonomic chair with optimum movement, designed for what they call ‘active sitting’.