Postural Awareness
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How Can I Correct My Posture at Home?
The quick answer is to take the first step by correcting your posture by posture awareness. To understand what your actual proper posture is. The proper posture for standing is, one should be able to draw a straight line from their ear to shoulder to hips to knees to ankles. The other major position for proper posture is sitting. For sitting, ideally one’s feet should be planted on the floor, back and thighs should make a 90 degree angle. Also for the seated position, one should be able to draw a straight line through one’s ear to shoulder to waist.
Difference in Bad Posture and Good Posture
So how can you correct your posture at home? The first action is stand by a mirror and ideally have someone else to observe as well. Observe from the side to see if the ear, shoulder, hips, knees, and ankle make a straight line. If they do, no corrective actions are needed. If a straight-line is not made then some work has to be done. The same task can be done for being seated as well. Take a chair; sit with a side view to the mirror. Check to see if the feet are planted on the ground, the back and hips are making a 90 degree angle and draw a straight line connecting one’s ears, shoulder, and waist.
The second action is once one notices that they are sitting or standing with an abnormal posture, adjust the body one’s self physically to assume proper posture position. Retract the head back gently, squeeze the shoulder blades back gently, stand up nice and tall, gently draw the belly in, and leave a little bend/give in the knees. For sitting: Retract the head back gently, squeeze the shoulder blades back gently, sit up nice and tall, and plant both feet firmly on the floor.
The third action is to practice holding these two positions (seated/standing) for 10 seconds at a time and then relax throughout the day. This action will help increase one’s postural awareness.
The fourth action is to perform exercises to improve one’s postural muscle strength, endurance and awareness; so one can easily be aware when one needs to correct their posture and their body can easily self-correct and has the ability hold proper posture for extended periods with no discomfort.
Can You Fix Really Bad Posture?
Posture can be corrected through strengthening exercises.
Can you fix really bad posture; it depends on the cause. If the cause is muscle imbalances, yes really bad posture can be corrected. If the posture, is due to structural causes, skeletal deformities from birth, trauma, or years of bad posture, the answer is more complicated. If the reason is from years of bad posture, yes the posture can be fixed because the initial cause is muscle imbalances, but if the muscle imbalance start to cause skeletal deformities, the correction will be more difficult. If the reason is trauma or deformities from birth, the answer is a maybe and more likely if the answer is yes; it would be surgery.
Muscles imbalances and years of bad posture can be corrected through a combination of stretching, soft tissue mobilizations, and strengthening exercises.
If you are worried about your posture, contact a doctor or physical therapist at Jacksonville Orthopedic Institute and will help you correct your posture and educate you on a home exercise program that will help you continue to correct and maintain your proper posture.
Postural Awareness – How Do You Know if Your Posture is Correct?
The quick answer is, to know if your posture is truly correct one will need a mirror or someone else observing to check for proper positioning.
People also have a skill they can acquire called postural awareness. The ability without having someone else observing or looking in a mirror, to tell if one ’s self is in proper posture. The best way to improve the skill of postural awareness is first to look in a mirror or having someone observe one’s posture. Have the observer or yourself correct your posture. Once the posture is corrected, observe your body and feel how each body part feels in the proper positions. Then assume your old posture and observe how the body feels and take note of the differences. Once you have practiced this enough, you can do self-checks on yourself throughout the day, and correct posture if needed with ease.
What is the Proper Posture for Sitting at a Desk?
Proper posture for sitting or standing at a desk will help prevent back pain
The proper posture for sitting at a desk starts with the proper posture when seated in the chair. Then extra adjustments to be made are:
Placing the computer screen where you can easily look straight ahead without straining the head or neck that allows the ears to stay in line with the shoulders and waist.
The next adjustment, make sure the arm rests are adjusted to where the forearms can rest on the arm rest, where the shoulders are relaxed not hiked up or straining downward, and the elbows rest around a 90 degree angle.
The final adjustment, make sure the keyboard is lined up where the arms can rest on the armrest or where the shoulders are relaxed and the wrists can type in a neutral positions (the wrists are not angled too far up or too far down).
To schedule an appointment for physical therapy at one of the 12 JOI Rehab Centers, please call 904-858-7045.
How Can I Keep My Posture at Work?
Your work station should be ergonomically positioned for proper posture
The quick answer is, Posture Awareness Tips to keep the proper posture at work:
- is to mentally check with yourself and use a mirror if available to see if you are in proper posture.
- talk with your boss about making sure your work station is ergonomically positioned for you or if you have the power to change your station yourself, go ahead and change your ergonomics yourself.
- use the correct body mechanics for your tasks at work: squatting down and instead of bending over to lift items off the ground. Pivot on your legs instead of twisting the back. Tighten the core when lifting items.
- if a task is going to put you in a compromising position if you perform the task individually, ask for another person to help with the task, therefore the task can be performed safely with proper posture and body mechanics to decrease risk of injury.
If you would like additional information on ergonomics in the workplace read this ARTICLE.
Tips on How to Avoid Back Pain at Home
Posture awareness will help you avoid back pain at home
Tips on how to avoid back pain are as follows:
When seated either sit with upper trunk upright and engage the core gently or sit in a chair with lumbar support and the back resting on the back support. Some chairs come with built with the lumbar support. Lumbar support is a curve that rests on the low back to maintain proper posture and allowing the low back muscles to relax. If one is not built into your chair take a pillow and roll it up and place it at your low back. You should be able to sit with proper seated posture with the pillow comfortably at the low back. There should be no discomfort, the low back should feel supported. Also the support should not be pushing you out of the chair of changing the angle of the back from a straight line.
When standing, especially for extended periods make sure you are in proper posture when standing for extended periods. A majority of low back pain when standing comes from when the person’s upper trunk (waist and above) is leaning forward for extended periods.
Another activity that causes low back pain is lifting items off the ground. The tip is instead of bending over to reach for the item on the ground, squat down to the item, grab the item, tighten the core and push up with the legs. If you are unable to squat that low, then place items where you can easily squat down to the items or place the items at a level where bending is not necessary.
The other activity that cause back pain at home is twisting of the back. To avoiding twisting of the back, pivot on the legs and tighten the core, so the twisting is coming from the legs not the spine.
To schedule for physical therapy at any of the JOI Rehab Centers, please call 904-858-7045.
Book an Appointment with The Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute Today!
JOI Physicians continue to offer online new patient appointments. This is another option to make it more convenient to make new patient appointments with less phone hold times. Follow the link below to select your JOI MD and schedule online.
You can still call 904-JOI-2000 to make new patient JOI Physician Appointments if that is your preference.
To make appointments with JOI Rehab, please call 904-858-7045.