What is good standing posture?

We all know we need to maintain good posture, but what exactly is good standing posture?

Good standing posture

When standing, keep these tips in mind:

  • Keep your shoulders back and relaxed.
  • Pull in your abdomen.
  • Keep your feet about hip distance apart.
  • Balance your weight evenly on both feet.
  • Let your hands hang naturally at your sides.

Try not to tilt your head forward, backward or sideways, and make sure your knees are relaxed — not locked.

Take the wall test

To test your standing posture, take the wall test. Stand with your head, shoulder blades and buttocks touching a wall, and have your heels about 2 to 4 inches (about 5 to 10 centimeters) away from the wall. Reach back and slide your hand behind the curve in your lower back, with your palm flat against the wall.

Ideally, you’ll feel about one hand’s thickness of space between your back and the wall. If there’s too much space, tighten your abdominal muscles to flatten the curve in your back. If there’s too little space, arch your back so that your hand fits comfortably behind you. Walk away from the wall while maintaining this posture. Keep it up throughout your daily activities.

Check out your reflection

To see if you’re keeping your shoulders straight, stand in front of a mirror. Aim to keep your shoulders square and relaxed.

It all adds up

Although good posture should be natural, you might feel wooden or stiff at first if you’ve forgotten the sensation of standing up straight. The key is to practice good posture all the time.  Remember its never to late to start practicing good posture.

 

Related Posts

  • Massage Therapy and Neck Pain

    Painful neckOne of the most common conditions we treat is neck pain which can range from a simple stiff neck, to inability to turn your head to either the right or left. So in this blog post I wanted to discuss the recent scientific research regarding massage therapy for neck pain in people with neck arthritis.

    Background

    • 1 in 5 people who visit a massage therapist do so because of neck pain
    • 28% of people with neck pain due to neck arthritis are likely to book a massage

    Until the most recent research the scientific literature on the effects of massage therapy on neck arthritis pain was mixed.  In this study an attempt was made to enhance the effects of weekly massage therapy by having the participants massage themselves daily.

    Methods

    Forth eight participants from a medical school, suffering from neck arthritis pain, were randomly split into two groups, one that received massage treatments and a wait list control group. The first group received a course of four 30 minutes weekly moderate pressure massages and supplemented this with 15 minute daily self-massage.  The control group started the same course of treatments after four weeks without massages.

    The effectiveness of the treatments were measured through self-reports and range of motion assessments, completed after massage treatments on the first and last days of the monthly study period.

    Results

    The group that received the monthly course of weekly massage treatments, showed significant reductions in pain and improvements in range of motion.  These ROM changes occurred specifically for nodding your head (flexion) and right and left lateral flexion motions.  Between the first and last day of the course of treatments showed on average a 50% decrease in pain during flexion.  Conversely the control group reported increases in pain and reductions in range of movement while waiting for massage treatments.

    The study Field T, Diego M, Gonzalez G and Funk C G (2014) Neck arthritis pain is reduced and range of motion is increased by massage therapy, Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 20(4): 219 - 223 supports my subjective experience that massage therapy helps reduced neck pain and increase clients range of movement when it has been compromised.

  • Can tackling the big questions in life make you less depressed and anxious?

    Mixed anxiety & depression is the most common mental disorder in Britain,and it estimates to cause one fifth of days off from work. Well according to researches if you prepared to tackle big questions in life e.g.

    • Is there a God?
    • Does life have a purpose?
    you will be less likely to suffer from anxiety and depression and better able to cope with emotions. Researches surveyed 307 people about their recent life experience and found those who wouldn't engage in the big questions of life suffered "more intense" bouts of depression and anxiety.  People seem to be more emotionally healthy if they're able to accept troubling insights. Looking at spiritual doubts in an objective way seems to help.  You may or may not work through them but you can at least tolerate having them.  Also ignoring the big questions could be symptomatic of a more general problem of avoidance and escapism, which can be harmful or even self-defeating when trying to achieve goals. So maybe now is the time to start tackling the big questions in life. References NICE (2011). Common mental health disorders | Guidance and guidelines | NICE. [online] Available at: http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg123 Das-Munshi et al. (2008) cited in McManus S, Bebbington P, Jenkins R, Brugha T. (eds.) (2016) Mental health and wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014. Leeds: NHS Digital [Accessed 5 Oct 2016] Available at: http://content.digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB21748/apms-2014-full-rpt.pdf  Carmen K. Oemig Dworsky, Kenneth I. Pargament, Serena Wong, Julie J. Exline. Suppressing spiritual struggles: The role of experiential avoidance in mental health. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 2016; 5 (4): 258 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcbs.2016.10.002  

  • Headaches – How to tell when they are serious

    More than 10 million people in the UK get headaches regularly, making them one of the most common health complaints. The most common treatment is to take a pain killer.  In previous blog posts I have explored other treatments including

    Most headaches aren't serious and are easily treated.  However it is important that anyone with a headache “that is out of the norm” should see their GP as soon as possible. Particularly if the headache is more likely to be serious i.e.:
    • it occurs suddenly and is very severe – often described as a blinding pain unlike anything experienced before
    • it doesn't go away and gets worse over time
    • it occurs after a severe head injury
    • it's triggered suddenly by coughing, laughing, sneezing, changes in posture, or physical exertion
    • you have symptoms suggesting a problem with your brain or nervous system, including weakness, slurred speech, confusion, memory loss, and drowsiness
    • you have additional symptoms, such as a high temperature (fever), a stiff neck, a rash, jaw pain while chewing, vision problems, a sore scalp, or severe pain and redness in one of your eyes
    Tension headaches (see headache categorization) are one of the most common complaints we see in the Vitality Therapy treatment rooms, and Seated Acupressure Neck & Shoulder massage is what we recommend. (Book here)