What Is a Good Posture? Part Two

February 15, 2017

Last week we went over the importance of a good foundation. You can’t build on top of something weak, after all. Once you’ve established a proper “ground level” you can move on to stacking the rest of your body properly. But how?

ALIGNING YOUR PELVIS, RIBCAGE, SHOULDERS, AND EARS

Once you have the correct foundation, the next step is to stack the rest of your body. Think of stacking your pelvis, ribcage, shoulders, and ears in one straight line. Sounds simple when you read it, but actually double checking yourself to see if you’ve got it? Not so easy.

A common postural issue is often the neck. Especially in our modern society, we have a tendency to look down all the time. We’re always looking down at our phones, or laptops, or iPads. The muscles in our necks then become trained to think that having our chins down and our ears out of line with our shoulders (forward head posture) is the new natural state of being. Wrong. Bring your neck back to its proper position by trying to get your ears to be stacked on top of your shoulders. If you focus on this for an entire day you might even find yourself with less headaches than you’ve had before.

MAINTAINING GOOD POSTURE

The above example is just one of many postural compensations that people have. Learning about the type of posture you have is important. Awareness is the first step – you must be aware of your posture in your everyday life, whether you are sitting down or standing up. And you shouldn’t need a mirror or visual cues to remind you. When you combine this awareness with a pilates practice or purposeful movements, you become more knowledgeable about where your posture muscles are and how to properly recruit them. You begin to re educate yourself and your muscles, allowing you to maintain proper posture throughout your days.

By maintaining good posture, you can easily correct many of the pains and aches in your everyday life. Make sure you’re doing it right by coming into our practice and checking with our physical therapists or pilates instructors. Contact us here to book your first session.