Your Best Posture is Your Next Posture!

The old saying to “stand up tall and pull your shoulder up, back then down” is greatly out-dated. Our shoulder blades are designed to mobile, like all of our joints. Spending a long time in any one-posture can be demanding on the body and lead to mobility restrictions, muscle weaknesses, imbalances and joint pain. 

It has become clear that many of us are adopting these “forward” postures. It’s no surprise, given that many of us spend long periods of time at a desk, driving and looking down at electronics. The world is catering more and more for “sitting disease”. Getting our groceries delivered to our car boot, long sedentary work hours, use of electronics and escalators & moving sidewalks are all nudging us to move less. For many of us, working from home has become the new normal. Not having to get dressed up for work or walk from our cars to our office is taking a toll on our daily step count.  

Did you know that part of the Australian Recommended Physical Activity Guidelines is to break up long periods of sedentary activity as often as possible? This recommendation is often missed and needs highlighting. This shouldn’t be limited to just breaking up long periods of sitting or lying down, but should really should highlight the importance to keep any posture changing as often as possible. Stand breaks and stand desks are great, but for some, having a break from standing may be the missing link to addressing their joint pain. 

Sometimes it can be difficult to imagine having frequent active breaks or postural changes, especially if you work a sedentary job. But small breaks, even 30 seconds of standing, can be so appreciated by your body.  What can you do to have more active breaks? 

Here are some tips that might yet you thinking: 

• Move your bin from under your work desk to a few steps away 
• Use a stand diary – tick off every hour that you have stood up and moved around 
• Using a stand desk to alternate sitting/standing 
• Move around during TV ad breaks 
• Ditch the TV remote and use the physical buttons 
• Stretch for a few minutes every hour 
• Go for a walk on your lunch break 
• Stand or walk around while talking on the phone 
• Take a walk break while the kettle boils 
• Walk around the house every 10 pages of reading your book 

 

Shanyn Anderson

Accredited Exercise Physiologist