Saturday, July 31, 2010

Poor Sitting Posture – Your Spine

Many individuals either work a desk job or spend a lot of time in front of their computer sitting in a chair daily. We need to learn the difference between poor sitting posture and a good sitting posture. Your comfort and good health depend a lot on your posture. Keep these few tips in mind while sitting to relieve pain and tension.

If you have ever notice that you are in pain when you stand up or that sitting for long periods in certain positions makes your body ache, it is definitely time to try something new and to learn how to sit appropriately for good office chair posture. What steps do you need to take to make sure that you are avoiding bad sitting posture.

Avoid sitting on your tailbone, which is actually the bottom bone of your spine. Sitting on the tailbone for any length of time will cause pain, soreness and stiffness. Always try to sit squarely on your buttocks.

The sit bones are part of the hipbones and should bear most of the weight while you are sitting. The muscles of the buttocks cover these bones. They have the ability to sustain the weight of the body, whereas the tailbone does not. When you are sitting always, sit squarely. Never lean to far backwards or forwards as this causes strain and tension.

Look at where your shoulders are right now, as you read these words. Are they hunched forward? Chances are good that if you are working at a computer or work station that your shoulders are curled forward and in. This will cause tension in your shoulders and it will have a regular impact on the way that you look and feel.

You should widen your shoulders and pull them backwards. This may feel a bit strange; however, with practice it will begin to feel normal. You can do some exercises for loosening the rounded shoulders posture and feel much better.

Do you crane your neck? This is something that happens fairly regularly when you need to hunch over and peer at your screen. This will cause tension and strain in the back of your neck. One quick fix for this is to change the orientation of your computer screen.

For instance, if you have a flat screen computer monitor that you need to keep your chin tucked down to read, it might be time for you to put the screen up on a sand. Figure out where your correct neck posture is.

Is your lower back rounded? When you are sitting in a hard chair, one that has the back at a stiff 90 degree angle from the seat, you might find that your lower back is rounding back; it is because your entire back wants support and your body is bending forward slightly to get it. Get a good ergonomic chair and make sure that your seat is tilted slightly forward.

These tips might be a little hard to keep up with, depending on how strong and flexible you are, and certainly on how much body awareness you have developed. If you really want to help yourself relieve the pain associated with poor sitting posture, find a program that focuses on strength, flexibility, relaxation, and body awareness, and does not take much time out of your schedule. That will help ensure your success and get rid of your back pain.

There are various benefits of improving your posture. These may include more energy, better health and easier relaxation as well as freedom for back pain. Your well-being depends upon these things. Take a moment to imagine how well life can be without all that nagging pain and tension.

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