Work place injuries, especially back and neck injuries, can many times be attributed to poor posture. Poor posture while sitting can lead to chronic back and neck pain. Poor posture while lifting or bending can lead to severe lower back injuries requiring missed work and extensive therapy.

Many employers are developing programs to combat these issues. Properly designed workstations that move the computer monitors to eye level and ergonomically designed chairs are a good start. Allowing for stretch breaks every so often throughout the day also help. Some employers also encourage their employees to strengthen their muscles through in house weight training programs or incentive programs for employees to join local fitness centers. Training in proper lifting technique for those employees whose jobs require it helps to reduce lifting injuries.

Taking the initiative in your own workplace is important. Use proper alignment when sitting in a chair with a slight forward lean to your hips and your chest up and shoulders down and back, with your head up and looking straight ahead to maintain a healthy posture. Take time during your breaks to stretch your neck, back and shoulders. When lifting always bend at the knees and never lift more than you are capable of doing safely. Always ask for help when lifting heavy or awkward loads. Never reach out in front of your body with a heavy or awkward load, keep it close to you.

Set up your workstation to reduce lateral twisting at the waist and hips. When possible turn your entire body to get items beside you or behind you. Keep your most commonly used items in front of you and close enough so you do not need to reach excessively to obtain them. If you are doing work that requires you to be in a poor posture position take breaks often to stretch and return to a good posture.

If you must stand, without moving around, for an extended period of time take time to stretch your muscles well before and after the activity. Wear proper fitting shoes with good support in the arches. Try to keep your weight on the mid to front portion of your feet, keep your chest up and shoulder relaxed and back slightly and our knees slightly bent. This keeps the weight evenly distributed and reduces the stress on the spine and other joints.

Employers are working to improve workplace safety and ergonomics but the responsibility still falls on each of us to make sure we are doing our part to ensure good workplace posture. We will be more productive, reduce pain and fatigue, and enjoy work more by making simple changes in our posture and alignment.

Maybe you should reconsider. Maintaining proper posture can actually go a long way to supporting optimum health in many areas that aren’t even related to your back.

What you need to keep in mind is that the spine is quite flexible although being very structurally strong. It has to learn to bend with the body, often times in quite awkward positions, all while trying to keep the tendons, ligaments and nerves working together as a functional unit. When you put your spine in too awkward of a position that is when problems are encountered, as it can no longer maintain this unit.

Your spine protects all of your organs as well as carries messages to your brain. If you jeopardize the nature of it, you really are also jeopardizing all the muscle movements you make, as these are regulated by the brain through nerve transmission signals.

If your spine becomes severely out of alignment, your body may not be able to make the nerve transmissions as quickly and reaction times will be reduced, thus your performance in all physical activity is impaired.

Additionally, since your lungs are housed by your rib cage, which is directly connected to the spine, if you want them functioning at their best, you need to allow them to fully be able to expand and contract, moving air easily into and out of the body. If you are involved in endurance types of activities and they cannot do this, you aren’t going to be as efficient at utilizing the oxygen and will see both decreased performance and a quicker onset of fatigue (since there will be less oxygenated blood traveling through the body which would then lead to a greater build-up of lactic acid, one of the prime pre-cursors to feelings of fatigue).

One of the big problems with the issue of posture is that so many people, if they start experiencing pain in the back (or elsewhere in the body that is related to improper posture), rather than addressing the root cause of this problem, simple pop a pill to make themselves feel better. While they may feel better temporarily, this pill is not going to solve their problems and the issues will keep coming back to haunt them. Only when they have figured out they need to improve their posture and have any current deformities (a spine that is structurally out of alignment for example) fixed will they see improved functioning.

Many individuals choose to pursue chiropractic visits on a regular basis to keep things in check. This can be a very good solution for a couple of reasons.

First, your chiropractor will often be able to spot small issues before they develop into problems. For instance, he or she may notice that one of your legs is slightly longer than the other. This indicates a spine that is out of alignment. They are able to correct this alignment problem while you are there but will also likely recommend you exercises to do to prevent it from occurring again. This is the key here. By doing these exercises you will hopefully reduce the risk of future problems. If your chiropractor can catch them before they become too serious, you will not run into nearly as many problems. Prevention is always the best method.

Secondly, going to a chiropractor is a good idea because even if you aren’t experiencing any pain and use proper posture, your back still may be in not the best of shape. Stress is one factor that can really affect us, whether we notice it or not. When we become stressed, we automatically tense up our shoulders. You’ve likely noticed this before. Tense shoulders lead to tightened upper back muscles which leads to tensed ligaments which leads to tightened lower back muscles and I’m sure you can see the point. When it comes to your back everything is connected so a simple problem such as tight neck muscles can cause a whole host of pain later on. By seeing a chiropractor (or a regular masseuse for that matter), you will hopefully monitor and fix any tension that is developing. Doing so every few weeks will go a long way to keeping you pain free.

Additionally, when your muscles are looser due to the fact that your neck muscles are not as tight, it is easier to maintain proper posture. So really, it is like a catch-22 here. Both processes feed into each other, therefore taking care of one will often take care of the other. Simple!

So make sure you are not overlooking the importance of good posture. It does more for you than making you look better and thinner. It can really affect how well you feel, function and the current health status of your body.

The human body is a remarkable machine. It works hard to maintain a “status quo.” Bones, ligaments, muscles and tendons are the building blocks of posture. Our bones form the framework for our body. If they are misaligned or damaged the structure will not be aligned. Ligaments hold the bones together at the joints. If they are tight they pull the bones in awkward directions. If they are loose they do not hold them in their normal alignment. Muscles and tendons hold and move the bones where they need to go. If the muscles in one area are weak the opposing muscles will pull the bones into a different plane. If the muscle imbalance is not corrected this becomes the new “norm” for the body.

Now we all assume a posture of some sort. We see different postures around us everyday. Extreme postures (either good or bad) catch our eye. The real question is what is considered correct, or good, posture. Even though our parents, teachers and the kind old neighbor always told us to stand up, or sit up, straight, this is not entirely correct. A straight body is actually a tight body and can lead to undue stresses. Correct posture starts by aligning the body so the stresses are distributed evenly and the body’s weight is centralized. Starting with a plumb line at the ear that line should drop and follow through the shoulders, the hips all the way to the ankles with all the joints in line. The knees are flexed slightly and the weight is on the mid to front part of the foot. The chest is up and out slightly opening the ribcage. The back maintains a natural S-curve.

When seated the plumb line still drops through the ear, shoulder and hips. The hips should have a slight forward tilt and the lumbar area should maintain its normal curve. The shoulders should be relaxed with the head up, looking straight ahead.

Dynamic posture, posture while moving, is very important to prevent injuries. Improper alignment while walking, climbing, bending or lifting leads to many injuries every day. Chronic poor posture can lead to muscles that are weaker in certain positions and by adding a force to them they become overstressed and lead to injury. Acute misalignment, by simply not paying attention to posture during a movement, can lead to very painful reminders of the importance of good posture.

Whether standing, sitting or walking posture plays a role in overall comfort and performance. Proper alignment of the body through correct posture helps one to avoid injury and reduce the external, and internal, stresses on the body. And yes Grandma, I am sitting up straight, I washed behind my ears and that’s the truth.

In today’s sedentary world, many of us spend at least 8 hours a day strapped behind a desk, hunched over for at least a portion of the time no doubt. This is going to lead to weakened back muscles, which not only makes your posture worse, but also increases the chances that you suffer from injuries. When you do not have a strong posture base developed and start performing weight lifting exercises in the gym using heavy weights, it will be harder to maintain proper form and you know what that can mean – PAIN! Using proper form and posture during any weight lifting session is absolutely critical if you hope to get the best results and remain injury free.

What are some of the other benefits of better posture? They are numerous.

1. Slimmer Midsection. Yes, that’s right. If you want to look like you lost ten pounds, stand up straighter. Wasn’t that easy? That’s all it takes for many people.

2. More Confidence. Ever heard that confidence was sexy? Well it is. You cannot deny the fact that when some people walk into a room they just carry this air about them that others are attracted to. That right there is confidence at work. Next time you come across a person like this, take a good look at how they are standing. Will you see proper posture? You bet. Why not make that you?

3. Better Endurance. If you are a big fan of running races, bike-a-thons or any other type of long duration cardio activity, having proper posture is going to be beneficial to you. The reason for this being that when you are standing tall, you will be opening up your chest more and allowing your respiratory system to work without any problems. Air will be able to circulate quickly throughout the body, making it easier for you to keep the activity going and prevent the build-up of lactic acid in the blood.

4. Less Stress. This benefit is seen more indirectly when posture is improved. When an individual gets stressed, likely the first thing that happens is their shoulders tense up and they hunch over. It is a natural flight or fight response. Upon being told to take a deep breathe and let it all out slowly, their shoulders will drop, head will go up and their posture will more than likely be improved. By being more aware of your posture throughout the day, you will not only feel better about yourself but because of this your stress levels will go down. When we are feeling good about our bodies and competent as people, little things that used to get us all worked up will not be as bothersome.

5. Decreased Neck And Back Pain. No one likes it when a back injury strikes. They can be chronic and very dehabilitating conditions. Because the back is the core of the body, if it is not being held in a proper position, the tendons and ligaments are not going to be maintained in the position they should and this could also lead to pain elsewhere in the body. Some individuals who are suffering from shin splints even find that their poor posture is what caused this injury in the first place. Most people would never think poor posture to be the cause of something like this. Don’t overlook it though. Your back position could be causing you more damage than you thought possible if you aren’t careful.

So next time you are in the gym, rather than spending the whole time doing chest presses, bicep curls and leg extensions, dedicate a portion of your workout to posture exercises. Do movements such as back hyperextension raises, stiff-legged deadlifts, pelvic tilt exercises and bridges. All of these will help to strengthen those lower and upper back muscles translating to you using better posture.

Lastly do not underestimate the power that simply sitting straight can have on these muscles. Possibly the best way to get better posture is to use better posture all the time. Sure you will likely fatigue the first few days while trying to sit up straight but over time it will develop into a habit and pretty soon you won’t even notice that these muscles are working. So don’t let this goal slip by you another day!

Here are some of the key reasons why you need to fix poor posture starting today.

Lower Energy Levels

The first reason to fix bad posture is to enhance your energy levels. When we aren’t using good posture, our body gets zapped of energy as oxygen is not getting to all the tissues properly. If you find you’re always fatigued by the time you get home from work, you should have a look at your posture.

Increased Injury Risk

The second reason to cure poor posture is because it increases your risk of injuries. When a stress is placed on the back, if you’re not in proper alignment there is a much higher chance of a nerve being pinched or other problems occurring.

Lower Self-Esteem

Finally, you should also work on fixing poor posture to increase your levels of self-esteem. Standing up straight will make you feel more confident about your looks, which will directly carry over to how you feel about all other aspects of yourself.

So, don’t make the mistake of forgetting about poor posture. Take a few simple steps today to get on the pathway to standing up straight all the time.

Here are the best posture exercises to start performing regularly.

Bent Over Rows

Bent over rows are a great posture exercise to work the middle of the back. When performing these make sure you aim to keep a straight back position throughout to work the muscles properly.

Lateral Pull-Downs

The second of the posture exercises to perform are lateral pull-downs. These work the muscles that are located on the sides of the back, which will be important for helping you maintain the straight back position.

Shoulder Retractions

Finally the third exercise you’ll want to perform are shoulder retraction. This is simply done by thinking of squeezing the shoulder blades together in the middle of the back. By doing so you’ll strengthen the muscles that pull the shoulder girdle back, which then will help you throughout the day maintain good posture.

So keep these posture exercises in mind to improve your ability to maintain good posture.

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Let’s take a quick look right now at the main reasons why you should improve posture.

Better Energy Levels

The very first reason to improve posture is because it’s really going to work to help increase your energy levels.  Those who are using good posture have more air circulation in and out of their body, which then helps to prevent fatigue.

If you sit hunched over all day, it’s definitely going to cause you to feel drowsier as time progress onwards.

Slimmer Waistline

Second, if you can work to improve posture you’re also going to notice that you have a slimmer waistline as well.  When you use proper posture you’ll automatically suck in the stomach and hold everything in better.

As soon as you slouch over however, then you’re back to having a protruding belly again, making it seem as though you have a lot more body fat than you actually do.

More Confident Appearance

Finally, the last nice benefit you get from improving posture is that you’ll come across as a lot more confident as well.  Those who do utilize good posture maintain better respect from others and also look more self-assured.

When others are viewing you this can make a big difference on the overall impression they get, so it’s worth it to put some serious effort into maintaining better posture.

So do keep these points in mind. If you want to look like you’ve instantly lost weight and are much more confident, simply work to improve posture.

Let’s take a quick look at what better posture can help you with so you’ll hopefully start putting for the necessary energy to improve upon this.

Increased Sports Performance

The very first thing that better posture can help you with is an increased level of sports performance.   When you are using better posture you will be less likely to be taken down if you’re playing a contact sport and also have greater levels of agility if you’re performing a sport that requires that.

Any way you want to look at it, if you are looking to improve your performance, having the proper back position will make things that much easier.  Since almost all movement patterns radiate out from the back, this really is the key ‘foundation’ to the right action path.

Clear Focus And Concentration

Second, the next thing that better posture helps with is maintaining a high level of focus and concentration.  When you use good posture you’re going to be getting plenty of air circulation into and out of the lungs, which then improves your ability to concentrate.

If you’re having a moment at work where you just cannot seem to focus on the task at hand, have a look at your posture and correct things there. You’ll be surprised at the influence this will have over you.

Ease Of Movement

As you go about your everyday life, having better posture will also help you execute all the movement patterns that you want to with ease.  If you aren’t using good posture you may get into a position where the body feels ’stuck’ and limited in how it can move.

By correctly shifting your spinal column alignment so you are using better posture, often this is solved instantly.

Stronger Muscle Development

Finally the last thing benefit that better posture will help you out with is that it will enhance muscle development.  If you’re maintaining better posture while you are doing your resistance training exercises, you will hit the target muscles better and notice greater overall strength gains.

What’s more is that by making sure that your spinal column is in the correct position, you’re also going to reduce the risk that you suffer an injury due to misalignment, which would then take you right out of your workout entirely.

So keep all these benefits of better posture in mind.   You really must start performing posture exercises to improve this aspect of your health today.