Fix your posture, sitting is the new smoking, you have the posture of a jumbo shrimp… These are things you have probably heard when it comes to your posture. Are these good? Are these bad? Everyone and their mother have a different opinion on what posture is.
What is posture then?
I believe Pavel Kolar has one of the best definitions of posture. He says posture is just a snapshot of movement. If you take a picture of anyone doing anything, they have adopted a specific posture in order to complete that task. Whether you are gardening, hitting a baseball, or working at a desk, your body will organize itself into the most efficient way to complete that task and you will have many postures doing the same tasks.
Is there good posture and bad posture?
When you are in pain, I believe there is a BETTER posture and WORSE posture. If a certain posture is causing you pain, then you should not be in that position for very long. If you have heard someone say, “If it hurts just don’t do it”, they were half right. The other half is sometimes you are not in that posture often enough and you need to build some time under tension in those positions. This becomes a little more complex as you get into it, but this should suffice for now.
If you are not in pain then we should be able to move from position to position fluidly and without any hesitation. There is no right or wrong when it comes to posture in this scenario, there is just movement. You should have a lot of different movement options to complete each task if all your joints are healthy, all of which are going to show many different postures.
The human body is an adaptable, ever changing organism. It responds to the environment you're consistently in. If you sit all day, your body will adapt to be the best sitter you can be. If you want to stand up and do a back bend you may have difficulty accomplishing this because you are really good at sitting.
You can change the way you feel and the things you can do, it just takes time.
If you want to know the best posture remember this, YOUR NEXT POSTURE IS THE BEST POSTURE.
Let Kalamazoo Chiropractic & Rehabilitation help get you out of pain and back to doing the things you love!
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