Posture has been an ongoing concern for almost everyone. I often received questions about the best or ideal posture and if there is a way to fix bad posture. Therefore, i have decided to take this opportunity to talk about posture.

To answer this question, we wil first look at the definition of posture. What is Posture? It is the position that is reflected by your body’s physical, functional and habitual patterns. It is the position of your body while you are sitting or standing.

At the present time, most of us are considered to be staying at one position for too long be it working at a desk, watching tv and etc. This raised alot of questions as to whether we are sitting with the ideal posture to prevent any musculoskeletal issue.

There are many information out there about sitting with the right posture. However, to be honest, there isnt such thing as a “perfect posture”. We are all different at anatomic level, therefore trying a universal quick fix is not going to help. As i have mentioned above, everyone is made differently, from our bones to muscles. If i am diagnosed with a muscle tightness, that doesnt mean you have the same muscle tightness. By looking at this, how can we expect everyone to move, stand and even sit the same?

Is the goal of good posture to “sit up straight?”

In Malaysia, you will often hear from your parents or grandparents asking you to sit upright or they will pat your back to hint at “incorrect posture”. Is that the right way to go? For a person to sit upright, we will need our muscles from our neck to our leg to be working in order to hold our body in that position. If we were to sit for a long period of time, it all comes down to muscle’s endurance. Can your muscle hold your body in that position for let’s say 30mins or an hour?

Lets explore on how this muscle endurance work. Take a bottle filled with water in your hand and hold it up with your shoulder and arm straight, 90 degress to your body and stay at that position. Now how do you feel? Can you feel your muscle starting to sore? Now imagine that happening to your lower back when you are sitting upright. No matter how healthy or upright you are sitting, anyone is bound to have ache at their lower back after sitting for a prolong time without moving.

So what should you do? Well, it may be simpler than you’d think. Instead of looking at the ideal posture as the solution, you might want to change you posture every now and then. Staying in one position for a prolong time is the source of the problem here. What does that mean? Easy! Just take a break! Still dont understand? Don’t worry, i will give you some examples.

If you find yourself stuck to your desk sitting for too long, take a walk either around your work place or to the bathroom. You can even do some simple stretches to mobilise your body. Take a break every 30mins to an hour and it will help to break your postural habits. This too apply to job that require standing in one position throughout the day. Find a chair and have a seat. This will greatly benefit muscles and spine.

Besides that, having a proper chair will benefit you. What kind of chair is best you ask? You dont have to spend a fortune to get an expensive ergonomic chair. Just a chair with a proper back support will do! All you need to do is make sure you sit all the way to the back of the chair and lean back against the back rest. This way, your back will be well supported and have less pressure onto your back muscles.

Of course we can’t ignore the fact that doing some exercises help in improving your overall posture and not to mention your physical health. There are a few home exercises that i find useful and easy to do at home, especially when I need to sit for long hours researching and writing blogs. I will be posting it in my next blog so stay tuned!
If you have a questions or concern that you can’t find an answer from this post, don’t hesitate to contact us or pay a visit to our center. We will be delighted to help.