Dynamic Posture: Your Best Posture is Your Next Posture
Re-Thinking Your Posture
Posture is not simply how you sit. It’s much more than that. Your posture is how you carry yourself and how you present yourself to others. Dr. Paris states it beautifully, “Posture is a reflection of ones attitude on life.”
We’ve always been told to sit up straight with our shoulders squeezed back and to maintain that posture. However, nobody can ever sustain that type of posture. Why not? If that’s the way we are supposed to sit, shouldn’t we be able to train our body to sit like that?
Posture is meant to be dynamic. The body is built for mobility and is not meant to sit statically in one position for an extended period of time. If you work in an office or at a desk, I can guarantee you’ve experienced some aches and pains from prolonged sitting. If you haven’t yet, you probably will if you continue to sit at a desk all day. The good news is, these common musculoskeletal aches and pains associated with prolonged sitting are preventable.
Why do our bodies ache from being in one position for so long?
All of the tissue in your body (i.e. joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments) have viscoelastic properties. This means that they are subject to deformation after a certain period of time. Just like any physical material, your body structures are subject to the stress-strain curve. Prolonged stress to a tissue will eventually lead to increased strain on that tissue and possibly deformation.
The other problem with staying in one position for too long is that your mechanoreceptors start to shut off. You have small receptors in your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joint capsules that respond to movement. These receptors help your brain understand where your body is in space. This allows your postural muscles to turn on and help absorb some external forces such as gravity. Without these receptors, we often fall into a slouched posture and rely on our ligaments to hold us up because are postural muscles are not being turned on. This causes a pain response and eventually leads to low back and neck dysfunctions.
Adopting Dynamic Posture
Your best posture is your next posture.
In order to effectively interact with our environment, we need to move. We need to be mobile. No matter what position you are in (seated or standing) there is going to be some stresses occurring on various structures. Changing your posture allows the stresses to certain structures to be intermittent.
Let’s take the example of a standing desk. If you’ve read my previous article on why you should transition to a standing desk, you’ll know that I’m a huge advocate of these. However, is static standing any better than static sitting? No, not really. As I have already mentioned, posture should be dynamic. A height adjustable desk as shown below, is your best bet. These desks allow you to change positions throughout the day.
Why Dynamic Posture is so Important
- It helps prevent musculoskeletal aches and pains
- It improves circulation throughout the body to allow your tissues to get nutrients
- It minimizes the progressive strain on muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc.
- It distributes the work among muscles and minimizes fatigue.
- It helps keep you more alert, leading to increased energy and productivity
The Challenge For YOU
My challenge for you is to re-organize your desk or work station at your office. If you primarily sit all day, I challenge you to stand and work for 15 minutes of each hour. In addition to that, you might even try developing a workplace stretching routine. You’ll be amazed at how much better you feel when you allow your body to move more throughout the day.
Do you value your health? If so, then I highly encourage you to invest in a height adjustable work station shown above. Who knows, your company may even reimburse you for it. It may take a bit of time to get used to standing in your office but your body is going to feel so much better once you do! Take care of your body. Don’t spend all day sitting.
As always, if you have any comments or questions, feel free to submit them in the comments section or contact me directly. If you work with other people who spend most of the day sitting, do them a favor and share this article with them!