Do you slouch? When you work at your desk all day are you hunched over with your shoulders sagging? If you are than you have bad posture and may be doing something that seriously harms your health without even realizing it. In fact, one of the simplest thing we can do to help improve our muscle health is to work on our posture.
It may seem like a small thing but poor posture can have bad effects on our health in a lot of ways. Slouching or slumping over can:
- Misalign your musculoskeletal system
- Wear away at your spine, making it more fragile and prone to injury
- Cause neck, shoulder, and back pain
- Decrease your flexibility
- Affect how well your joints move
- Affect your balance and increase your risk of falling
- Make it harder to digest your food
- Make it harder to breathe
Luckily there are simple steps we can do to help us have better posture.
- Stop slouching- it might go without saying but it takes a concentrated effort to sit up straight when working at a desk or doing any other activity. Tell people in your family to keep track of your slouching and tell you when you are slipping
- Beware of ‘text neck’– everyone knows we are on our smartphones all day these days and ”when you tilt your head down to check messages it really strains your spine”. Instead try lifting your pone up and move your eyes not your head.
- Stay active- any kind of exercise will make your muscles stronger and help improve your posture. It’s particularly important to exercise your core such as crunches
- Yoga and flexibility- going along with exercise and our core activities like yoga, tai chi, and pilates can help us to have more flexibility and movement making our muscles stronger
- Wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes- high heeled shoes, in particular, can throw off your balance and change your posture. This puts stress on our muscles and can hurt our feet, legs, back and even our necks
- Support your back- when you are sedentary such as at a desk or while driving put a pillow or rolled-up towel behind you for support. This can help you to not slouch over and have poor posture
- Sleep right- many aspects off our sleep influence our posture and overall health. Choose a firm mattress over a soft one. Place the pillow so your head is level with your spine. Side sleepers make sure to bend your knees slightly.
- Check your desk- many forget to check the height of your desk. If you are having to slouch maybe you need a different desk or a different chair. It’s far better to spend the money on correct office furniture than to slouch and have back and neck pain.
There are many other tips which we can implement to help us have better posture. What are some that have worked for you? We’d love to hear in the comments section.
If you do have muscle pain don’t forget the Zim’s line of pain relief products are available to provide deep penetrating pain relief so we can relax and recover. All of our products are easy to use and effective with a vanishing scent that won’t bother those around you. It’s the perfect solution for your pain relief needs.
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