Good Posture, Good Health, & Good Looks
Contributed by Joe Bocek, Fitness Director SPORT FIT Severna Park
I am finishing another day at Sport Fit Severna Park, where I am on my feet all day. I come home, sit down in front of my computer to check e-mail and I catch myself slouching. “Sit up tall!” I scream to myself. Having good posture has many benefits – among them, making us seem younger and our favorite suit or dress appear more flattering. It is important to me to have good posture, but it involves more than just standing up straight. And the benefits far outweigh just looking good in our clothes.
There was a study conducted a few years back (Cook, Burgess-Limerick and Chang 2000) which looked at 270 clerical, technical, call-centre and managerial staff in 15 Australian companies, and found that 76% had experienced neck pain and upper limb pain that they felt was due to computer use in the past year, with 46% reporting symptoms in the past week. Jessica Whidden, RMT, of Everest Therapeutics Vancouver further emphasizes this point in an article on her website, where she tells us that poor posture and poor biomechanics can contribute to chronic daily headaches. Whidden found that poor posture puts excessive stress on important back, neck, and head muscles which leads to imbalance, as well as contributing to and causing both migraine and tension headaches.
Now, posture is much more than just standing or sitting straight and may not be something that we can fix in a few seconds. Oftentimes it is a result of over-tight or weak muscles. Paula Mastboom-Bell, a Physical Therapist and Clinical Director of Chesapeake Physical and Aquatic Therapy in Severna Park, warns us that some effects of poor posture can include degeneration of joints; arthritis; back, shoulder, and hip pain; limited lung capacity, which can result in other medical problems; poor balance; and the increase of a fall risk. Warning signs range from unexplainable chronic pain, a discovered weakness of some kind (in your arms or legs) and decreased range of motion. The longer we continue habits of bad posture, the weaker our muscles get and the harder it is to correct.
However, there is hope! Your posture is something that in many cases you can control, and change. Paula reassures us that adjustments to how you regularly sit and stand will result in great benefits: decreased pain; more ease of movement; improved cardiovascular function; improved balance, mobility and ease of movement; and of course decreased risk of injury in most areas of the body.
If you feel that your posture needs improvement or if you have some pain you believe may be associated with poor posture, you should contact your doctor or a reputable physical therapist. Afterwards, you may want to transition to working with a certified personal trainer who Can help keep you on the path of good posture.
So why should the military corner the market? Stand tall, be healthy, and look good!
