This is a phrase you hear parents saying less and less to their kids these days. With the development of technology and increased demands on everyone’s system to focus intently on what is directly in front of them (i.e. cell phone, tablet, computer), it’s easy to see why good posture has gone by the wayside. 

The intent here is not to discuss any of the controversies surrounding good posture, but rather to offer a few common-sense things that everyone can experience first-hand to feel the difference that better posture can make on their system.

First, try sticking your head as far forward as you can and then try to swallow. Good luck! Unfortunately, there are some among us who are mechanically stuck with this kind of posture from a lifetime of poor posture and now very easily aspirate when they try to eat or drink. This is not to say that poor posture is the only cause of aspiration pneumonia as there are many factors. This is simply an observation made as a therapist working in the skilled rehab setting.

Now slump intentionally into poor posture by rounding out your upper back. Try reaching overhead and notice how much range you get from your shoulder. Compare to sitting or standing up straight doing the same reach. Pretty different isn’t it? Repetitive reaching overhead with a rounded back can lead to impingement syndrome of the shoulder. Again, this is not to suggest that poor posture is the only factor at play, this is simply to highlight how posture can be a significant component of shoulder impingement.

Finally, while standing, try allowing your pelvis to move forward with your sternum depressed down (if you’re not already there!) Walk around for a while like that or try looking up. Pay attention to where in your feet the weight of your body is being distributed. If you notice that you’re putting a lot of weight through your heels, realize that this is not the place to be if you run into some type of challenge to your balance. Hint: it’s an awful lot like standing on a pair of skis with your weight all the way back. If something pushes you off-balance, there is nowhere left to move in the backwards direction because now you’re all out of foot. If you instead drop the weight of your body down toward the arches of your feet by moving your pelvis back from that forward position, you already have more options to react with in both the forward and backward directions.

These are just a few common postural dysfunctions that just about anyone can feel how alignment changes can make a difference in function. At Revive and Thrive, we take posture very seriously where posture is not simply considered a static activity that should be assumed while standing still. Instead, we consider good posture to be a dynamic activity that we train into becoming an automatic preference. We achieve this through normalization of tissue length and tension, facilitation of specific stabilizing muscle groups, and training efficient motor strategies which aim to reduce mechanical stress across the body as a whole for a better quality of life!