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The P word

Everyone bangs on about posture, guilty! But thinking about it, the lifestyle we all lead now with comfy sofas, computers & mobile phones means 'good' posture is pretty hard to obtain when we are sedentary. But you know what it's ok - and i'll tell you why...
Our tissues adapt in nature to the stresses we place upon them including adapting to postures we assume during our working day/chilling with Netflix at home! Still try and get up/move regularly but we shouldn't be so harsh on the postures we adopt whilst sitting.The loads that we are placing on the tissues whilst sitting at a desk or reading something on your phone really aren't that demanding and load is really important when we are thinking of tissue damage. You don't need to panic that when we slip into 'bad' postures we are doing lasting damage. If you can get up from your desk and move around at intervals then great but if you can't don't stress about it, simple movements can be done whilst sitting which are usually enough to banish the feeling of stiffness, if done regularly (I'm afraid it won't fix the feeling of going stir crazy in the office, probably best to go for a walk!). The stiffness you feel when sat down for a while is actually a change in pH of the tissues causing irritation and reminding you you haven't moved in a while.

Those who wish to be active but feel because they've been told they have what is deemed poor posture that it may hinder them, don't worry you can change things quite quickly by simply starting exercise. At the start you may feel limited in your range of movement and general ability but a good exercise regime will address this and account for your limitations but also challenge you enough to ensure changes are being made. If your aim is to get stronger and fitter such that your daily tasks become easier then it doesn't really make any difference if you meet some ideal criteria for posture or not. Starting getting more exercise be it a walk or a trip to the gym regularly will improve how you both feel & move.

Moving more is what i'm getting at, slouching is gonna happen whilst sitting or in a prolonged sedentary position, it's just the way the world works now.

A great blog about misconceptions about posture, check it out: http://www.bettermovement.org/blog/2010/five-misconceptions-about-posture

So much is written about why we should have 'good' posture and what it looks like so we don't develop sore backs & necks. There is actually little or no evidence that posture has any relationship with these. There are so many other factors which influences pain- stress levels, how much you move during the day, sleeping patterns...


Above is a group of people with an array of postures, is one right or wrong? Good or bad? Well some of them may have pain caused by their bad posture but some don't.The position doesn't matter, what matters is your ability to move in and out of it and how that posture impacts your overall movement quality and capacity. 

It's what we look like when moving which is important! Try and aim for as good bio-mechanics as possible to minimise the stress placed on tissues. This area of posture is what we need to be looking at if we want to ensure we are doing our best to prevent injuries.

Losing the ability to move is when problems arise. MOVE IT OR LOSE IT. People hold themselves in one posture/sedentary for 30min - 1 hour and wonder why they feel stiff and perhaps have pain. Also when people are trying to resolve back pain they tend lock it down which just exacerbates the problem. 

Conclusion: Adopt a range of postures, keep moving and keep yourself pain free.





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