Posture and Exercise
To decide if you have good posture, perform the following test.
Stand with the back of your head touching the wall and your heels six inches from the baseboard. With your bottom touching the wall, place your hand between your lower back and the wall, and then between your neck and the wall. If you can get within an inch or two at the low back and two inches at the neck, you are close to having excellent posture. If there is a larger or smaller gap, you may need to work on your posture. Alternatively, on a hot day, wrap yourself in a wet towel and perform the test against the wall. When you step back you should see how much of your body is in contact with the wall for a few seconds before the moisture fades. A wide gap at the spine shows you have a sway back. A wide gap at the neck suggests you are carrying your head too far forward.
Modern life means we spend much time sitting and little time straightening our spines properly.
Alois Brügger was a Swiss neurologist, who developed a simple exercise to activate the muscles weakened from too much sitting and simultaneously stretch those tightened by this workplace posture. You can learn it yourself.
- Sitting in your chair follow these simple steps:
- Perch on the edge of your chair
- Turn your feet out slightly
- Have your feet slightly farther apart than your hips
- Tuck your chin in slightly as if nodding ‘yes’
- Breathe into your abdomen and slowly exhale actively by blowing the breath out through your lips while rotating your arms outwards (palms forward or turned out)
- Spread your fingers as far apart as possible
- Lift your breastbone slightly
- Relax
- Inhale
- Repeat
This should be undertaken every time you have been sitting for 20-30 minutes
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