Posture checks

Having good postures is essential for your health. Poor office chairs, bad office set-ups, and several other things can contribute to poor posture. Back pain, shoulder pain, and neck pain can are all culprits of poor posture. Over 80 percent of Americans will experience poor posture sometime during their life and it can be the cause of lower back pain for most people. Obese employees are prone to poor posture because the excess weight in their stomach pulls on their back muscles, this causes them to slouch.

Employees are not as active as they used to be. The creation of the computer and the internet brought along several modern tools that forces employees to sit for 8 or more hours a day. Not only are employees slouching in their office chairs, they slouch in the car, at home, in front of the TV, and even at the dinner table. When you slouch, you are placing additional stress on the neck, back, and shoulders. Over time the muscles will start to get weaker and your back will start to develop a curve.

Poor posture is also directly related to stress. When people are under a great deal of stress they tend to tighten the muscles around their neck and shoulders. Your body will again compensate for this and will place additional strain on other muscles in the body. Have you ever taken a look at the way you sit? Do you push your shoulders back and sit up on your "sits bone". This is the bone at the bottom on your pelvis that is intended to be sat on. If you ever go to a yoga class, they will teach you how to properly sit on your "sits bone."

Your head needs to be centered on your shoulders. It is common to pull the head forward to read the computer screen or other things and this pulls the body forward and down. Have you ever seen an elderly person with poor posture? They start to get a bend in their spine. If you don't want to look like this when you are in your 80's you need to start working on correcting your posture now.

Sitting correctly is just one way to improve your posture. There are a handful of other things you need to do. Do you exercise daily? How about regularly (3 times a week)? If you aren't getting regular exercise, it is time to start. When our bodies are not physically challenged, the lack of movement starts to hurt the muscles. Think about the last time you tried to run for a short distance, how quickly were you out of breath and cramping? Exercise helps to build the muscles and it is important for maintaining proper health.

What commonly happens to desk-job employees is that they sit all day and only take a break every 2-3 hours. Desk-job employees need to be taking breaks every 45 minutes to stand up and stretch their muscles. They need to get up and walk around for a couple minutes to get the blood flowing properly in the legs and other areas of the body.

If you just sit all day your back muscles will get weaker, especially if you do not maintain proper posture. To strengthen back muscles, start going for walks or runs each day. This is a great cardiovascular exercise that works the entire body. Once you build up to a 5 mile walk or run each day, start exercising the individual muscle groups like your back, shoulders, arms, abs, legs, and chest. Keeping all the muscle groups stronger will promote better posture and you will find that your back pain will quickly diminish.