Category Archives: Exercise and posture

Sitting

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Many of us have sit down jobs, we sit on the bus or train to get that job and  then we spend more time relaxing and eating in the seated position so it is worth sitting right. One of the main problems with sitting is that our chairs are rarely designed well and when they are they are not always used properly.

Whatever you sit upon your weight should be evenly distributed on both buttocks, try it now (back pockets empty when you do this)… do you feel a bit lop sided when you adjust yourself so there is an even sensation of pressure beneath your buttocks? Usually there will be which serves to alert us just how used to being slightly (or moderately) lop sided we are.

The first step to correcting this is to remove objects such as wallets from back pockets and to avoid crossing your legs. Next take a deep breath and notice how you have straightened your back to do this, shoulders back and down, chin in and head directly above body rather than forward of it.

If you are not fortunate enough to be on a saddle or a knee chair use the chair tilt to slope down at the front. The rationale for this is it is easier to maintain a straight back when the angle between your body and thighs is closer to 135 degrees rather than the 90-100 degree angle that chairs tend to be. Think about how straight, dignified and well balanced equestrian riders look, duplicating that kind of posture is good for your back and you will last longer comfortably seated when you get used to sitting like that

Sitting cross legged on the floor is a good sitting exercise too, it quickly alerts us about leg and hip stiffness. It is easy to avoid sitting on the floor because we have so many chairs, unfortunately sitting on chairs can make us lazy about the way we use our hip, back and leg muscles. Even if you have no practical reason why you should sit on the floor the inability to do so should be taken as an early warning that you really need to do more stretching exercise.

When driving your bottom should be as far back into the car seat as it can go, if  the accelerator and break pedals appear too far away move your seat forward, do not slide your backside forward to reach them because it is bad posture and will cause you lower back problems. Men tend to be worse offenders at doing this than women.

When you sit on a lounge place that scatter cushion in the small of your back don’t let yourself sag in the middle.The way we treat our spines when we are young determines their shape later on, it looks lazy and graceless to slump like a sack of spuds, it is also bad for you spinal discs.

In 1955 Dr Keegan of the US and in 1962 Dr Schoberth of Germany (both orthopaedic surgeons) conducted independent research into the causes of lower spinal degeneration. Based on their patients case histories and Xrays it was the opinion of both men that sitting for long periods is bad for your back. Both men also advocated sitting on chairs that allow a 135 degree angle between thigh and torso. No one else can take as good care of your back as you can.    

Exercise and Work

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It is usually much easier to convince an office worker than a manual labourer that they need to get regular exercise, after all if you have been climbing up ladders, digging threnches, laying pavers and loading/ unloading vehicles all day you shouldn’t need regular physical exercise should you?, Wrong!.

The way you use your body when you do most jobs is very different to how you use your body when you exercise. When you work you are focused on the task at hand, if you are right handed you will use it to operate power tools for instance because it is more productive and safer than using your left hand, so a right handed worker will usually have much more muscular development in their right hand, arm, shoulder and upper back than on their left side, this right/left muscular strength imbalance can give you a crooked spine and cause premature wear and tear on that side of your body. When you exercise, the body is used in a much more ambidextrous way which keeps your spine straighter by fostering even right/left sided muscular strength.

Work can help make you physically stronger in a task specific way but it is unlikely to do so in a way that will give you good stature and proportion. As far as stretching exercise is concerned how many occupations require you to actually stretch your muscles in the course of executing your duties?, unless you are a Yoga teacher (for instance) leading the class by demonstrating exercises, who ever stretches at work?

Watch a person who is exercising with good technique, the way they lift weights is much different to how a worker might unload bricks from his ute, exercise is as much about technique as it is about effort, in order to exercise properly you must be posture conscious and aware that you give all your major muscle groups a good even workout, the focus of physical effort at work is about achieving tasks so you get paid, the whole mission is different in focus and execution.

If you have a manual occupation and feel too physically tired after work to exercise you may need to do it before work and make a point of exercising on the weekend too, a strategy to accomodate exercise no matter what your circumstances is important and will have a direct consequence on your health in the medium and long term future. If you are a resourceful person you can make opportunities to exercise, you don’t need a state of the art gym to exercise, you can use 5 minutes in your morning tea break to stretch your legs or do some neck stretches sitting in your car waiting for the lights to change, you will probably find many inventive ways to exercise if you go looking for them.

Work and exercise are different activities with different purposes and objectives and should be viewed as such, labour is no substitute for exercise.

Stress and Exercise

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There is alot more to stress than Depression but Depression is a very common manifestation of stress. Increasing number of General Practitioners are now recommending regular physical exercise as a front line treatment for mild to moderate depression, there is solid scientific evidence that shows exercise measurably increases the level of the feel-good hormone serotinen, the very hormone that anti-depressants such as Prosac promotes the presence of in your bloodstream. When there is a healthy level of serotinen in your bloodstream it makes you feel a lot happier than when there is not enough.

Even those amongst us who don’t particularly enjoy exercise will concede that exercise puts you on a high for a while after you do it, it is an easy theory to test out (so long as it is performed sensibly!), your body feels lighter and more energised and mentally you feel satisfied that you are doing something positive, if you are a parent or carer of children it also sets a good example for them to follow.

As we get older it doesn’t take long to notice how much harder it is to stay fit and maintain a body shape and size that we can be proud of, it is a reality that all of us have to face eventually, I once heard someone say “you know when you are getting older because all of the sportsmen are younger than you!”.

The same can be said of stress, as we mature we realise through painful experience that it is not possible to be all the things we dreamt of when we were young, growing up almost always means taking on responsibilities both professionally and personally put our own wants into the background. When we become senior citizens we have to then contend with longer recovery times from illness, we need more rest and most of us will see more people of our own age slow down and pass away, a big reminder of our own mortality.

Exercise is one of the cheapest and most accessible ways of actively combatting stress. One of the most common mistakes I have seen people make is they prematurely consign themselves to the scrap heap, ” well I’m getting older aren’t I?, that’s why my knees creak and I’m over-weight and out of breath!”, unless you actively challenge your assumptions about aging you may become their prisoner.

Unfortunately these self limiting attitudes are common amongst  health professionals too, the only elderly people they see are sick, they never get to meet the health ones ! I have known many older people who have had a visit to a health professional and have left feeling like they don’t really matter because they won’t be around much longer anyway. If you are stressed and unfit don’t be embarrassed about it (another apathy trap!) you are not alone.

It is bad enough to have a big serious issue infront of you, it is worse when you cannot take your mind off it, even walking can clear your head about your problems.

Posture III- Self Esteem

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Frederick Alexander was an actor who became so interested about the effect of posture on the mind and body that he pioneered his own form of postural therapy and called it the Alexander technique. It is easy to prove for yourself, stand in front of a mirror nice and straight with your chest out, shoulders back and chin in. Now do the opposite and ask yourself how standing straight compares to slouching. Being upright looks healthier, more confident, distinguished and even more intelligent than assuming poor posture.

A bus driver I knew did a work related self defence course, during the course he was shown a series of  CCTV recordings of muggings and bag snatchings in public places, at the end of the video presentation the course instructors turned the lights back on and asked everyone what all the victims had in common. This was not an easily answered question (infact no one got the answer right) because some of the victims were men, some were women, some older and some younger and no common denominator was immediately obvious.

The course instructor then told his instructees ” look at the posture of the victims”. Sure enough they watched the same CCTV footage again and it was true, the assailants did not seem to choose their victims just because they were small or old or female because prior to pouncing, there were people who safely walked past the muggers who were not that big and strong looking atall but they did have straight backs and a confident looking way of carrying themselves. The victims looked like victims before they became victims, and none fought back.

A good posture looks confident, when people prepare to be bullied they shrink and look like easy targets. Kids who get picked on at school try to take up as little space as possible so they don’t get noticed by the playground thugs.

Actors, singers, public speakers, politicians, anybody who performs infront of others consciously use posture and body language to communicate, the rest of us tend to unconsciously do it. A person’s poor posture might be the result of low self esteem, if your posture is poor you might need to remind yourself of your achievements and the things you do well, this may be what you need to stand straighter.

It is not just for health reasons that good posture is worth the effort, the muggers in the videos may consciously know nothing about body language atall but instinctively we all do. When people carry themselves well they are usually treated with more respect and deference (and appear  fitter and more attractive) than they do when they have that tired and defeated look about them.

Replacing bad postural habits for good ones is not easy, it is always a work in progress and like doing other forms of exercise if  you don’t use it you lose it,  it is hard to see ourselves from the outside objectively so look at the posture of others and ask yourself “do I want to look like that?” and do something about it.

Posture II- Bad Habits

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*Sleeping on lounges is a very easy trap to fall into but the trouble is that they are designed to be sat on, not slept on. The backward slanting and narrow (compared to a bed) surface that you sit upon makes it impossible to keep a straight back when you sleep on the average lounge, chronic lounge sleepers eventually develop bad postures, whether you sleep upright or lie down. If you get lower back and/or neck pain you will undermine your best attempts to rid yourself of these problems for as long as you continue to do this.

*Car seats, if you cannot place your heels against the fire-wall (the floor between the peddles) without moving your backside forward in the seat as you are doing so, your seat is too far from the dashboard, move it forward. Your bottom should always be as far back in the seat as possible, the best lower back support in your vehicle is useless if you don’t sit in it properly. Men are usually the worst offenders at this, Formula 1 drivers sit in specially designed couches in very low profile vehicles, they are supposed to lean right back, the rest of us are not, give it a go- and don’t forget to tip your mirrors up too or you will immediately sink back down in your seat the first time you need to use them.

*Sleeping face down is another common postural bad habit, your back cannot stay straight in this position, even though sleeping is totally passive, you will spend between a quarter to a third of your life doing it so your spine is effected by your sleeping posture/position. If you can’t get comfortable enough to sleep in any way other than the prone position it might be time for a new mattress and /or pillow, if that doesn’t work you probably need therapy and exercise, acupuncture, massage, osteopathy, yoga and pilates are all good places to start. Prone sleeping is much more common amongst women than it is men.

*Being totally left or right hand dominant has postural consequences too, the more you use one hand (or foot) to do anything repeatedly makes one side of your body stronger and stiffer than the other side, your spine may become scoliosed (bent to the side) as a result. Make a conscious effort to approach life in a more ambidextrous way and your spine will benefit from it, just simple things like shaving, brushing your hair and carrying your brief case or handbag on the opposite side to what you normally do is a good place to start.

This is only a short list of common bad posture habits but the good news is that it doesn’t cost anything to do something about it. Breaking bad habits is never easy, when you have replaced your poor postural habits with good ones you have achieved something important.