Posture and trade-offs. The importance of good posture
Sedentary life and repetitive, forced or maintained postures or movements in our daily life affect our postural hygiene. If our body is not strong, stable, flexible and balanced, it will have less resistance to maintain a good posture for a long time. This is when aches and pains appear, which in the long term can lead to pathologies. Our body will suffer pressures or structural imbalances as different injuries or ailments appear. This new situation will cause chain compensations that will affect other nearby areas and, over time, more distal areas, producing misalignments and favouring the appearance of other areas of pain. Good posture is largely determined by the position and characteristics of our spine. It is important to have a spine with its 3 physiological curves (cervical, dorsal and lumbar) balanced and strong but at the same time flexible. Working all the muscles that surround and work the spine is essential to achieve a good posture and maintain it. The most common postures that we must correct are the following:
The way we sit. If we are in front of a computer, concentrating on a screen, we usually end up hunched over and with our shoulders forward. This means that when we have to keep our eyes up we have to extend our neck backwards, which can cause neck pain or headaches. Another common mistake is sitting on the edge of the chair, having the chair too low or not resting your elbows on the table when writing. It is also important not to lean more on one hip than the other and not to cross your legs.
Sleeping positions. The prone position should be avoided as the pressure on our lumbar spine increases its curve and causes an extreme twisting of the cervical spine. It also compresses our organs and makes breathing difficult.
Maintain a standing position. It is very common that our back, due to lack of strength in the abdomen and the spine, “falls” behind our pelvis, thus overloading the lumbar area. As a consequence, our chest is depressed and the upper back curves, causing pain and lumbar pathology.
Lifting or carrying a heavy object. To lift a weight we should not bend our trunk forward because when we straighten our body we will pull our back. The best thing to do is to bend your knees and lift the weight, drawing the force from your core (abdomen and hips). If we are carrying a weight, the ideal is to position it in front of us, close to our body and hug it, so that we can distribute the load better.
Use of shoulder bags or handbags. Avoid putting all your weight on one shoulder, as this will strain the back and neck muscles and may even cause some nerve compression in the shoulder area.
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