Posture check

PAID CONTENT

May is posture awareness month. Let it serve as your annual reminder to find out how your posture has changed over the past year and your call to action for improvement, if you need it. Though there is not one perfect posture, there are better and worse postures. It is not just how you stand, it is also how you align and balance your body when you move and sit.

Good posture is more than standing up straight and keeping your shoulders back. Good posture is strong, and bad posture is weak. To improve posture you have to strengthen how your body balances, and how it moves. Taking time to objectively assess your posture will help you see what needs to be strengthened and improved.

Unfortunately, most of us spend too much of our day sitting. Technology drives both work and recreation for many, and it has negatively affected our posture. It is the primary cause of neck, shoulder and back pain. The body is designed to move. Sitting day after day weakens the deep core muscles responsible for balancing our body through its full range of motion. Posture suffers over time unless you are actively doing something to counteract the problem.

If preventing pain and looking better aren’t enough of a motivation, consider the negative impact weak posture has on your health. Young or old, posture is an indicator of your health. Research suggests the physical restriction of lungs and abdominal organs caused by loss of height caused a much higher risk of heart disease, stroke and respiratory mortality.

Studies show increased mortality with worsening posture. One of the reasons is because balance is an integral element of posture. Posture, motion and balance tend to get progressively worse with age. According to the CDC, each year 2.8 million older people are treated in emergency departments for fall injuries. In 2015, the total medical costs for falls totaled more than $50 billion. Medicare and Medicaid shouldered 75 percent of these costs.

If your posture is already strong, congratulations! The benefits you enjoy include: better balance, flexibility and coordination, less pain with movement, higher energy levels, more youthful appearance, ability to breathe deeply and staying active longer, just to name a few.

Find out how you stack up with a posture assessment. The website www.posturemonth.org is a great resource to get you started. You can often see improved posture even if you only invest a few minutes a day to posture exercises.

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For more information on posture, contact Dr. Wendy at haydenhealth@gmail.com, or to schedule a posture assessment, call 208-635-5658.