Take a pause and ask yourself one simple question: Are you aware of your posture right now? Our spine may get affected badly if you are not practising a proper and good posture, which leads to more consequences. One of the most common conditions which is developed by faulty postures is scoliosis, which is an abnormal sideway curvature of the spine. It may worsen your quality of life if we do not take it seriously. Hence, here are some important tips for you to lead a healthier life!
1. No slouching, stay upright
Slouching gives you a lot of serious bad impacts. You may not find it happens now, but when your body gets used of the slouched posture for time to time, your body may react in a shocking way. It not only puts more strain and tension on your muscles, bones, and joints of your back, but also affects your breathing pattern.
Imagine having a string pulling on top of your head, to remind yourself sitting straight from time to time. Get yourself a small stool for legs support if your seat is too high!
2. Avoid ‘text neck’
When you look around, it is not difficult to discover people reading or texting on their phones, especially those who are taking or waiting for public transports. To make matters worse, most of them are looking at their phones in a head tilted down position. In fact, as you look down, the force exerted on the neck is highly increased than normal. It puts a lot of strain over the spine, causing neck pain hits over the time.
Hence, always remind yourself to lift the phone up for a better view, and make sure your neck is in neutral position. Don’t forget to give yourself a good stretch too after a long day!
3. Practise good sleeping position
Try avoid sleeping on your tummy as this might largely affect the normal spinal alignment, creating more stress on your neck, back and shoulders.
Make sure to get yourself a pillow which is not too soft, but firm at the same time. Place a pillow in between knees to have a proper alignment of spine, especially for those experiencing back pain.
4. Get yourself a pair of comfy and suitable footwear
You may want to look nice on high heels or look taller with thicker soles but bear in mind that these kinds of footwears can change the body’s natural center of gravity. When the natural alignment is altered, it might affect our backbone and put pressure on nerve as well, making you more prone to have low back pain.
Thus, it is important to choose a daily wear with lower heel and good arch support which allows you to walk in ease and cozy.
5. Stand with both legs in equal weight bear
Most of the people find leaning on one leg while standing comfortable. However, do you know that this posture can place incredible pressure on one side of your hip and even lower back? As time passes, it can cause muscle imbalance or ligament sprain around your pelvic area, and even knee pain due to excessive weight on one side.
So start to make it a habit now to stand with weight bearing equally distributed on both legs!
Prepare by
Mak Jie Min
Physiotherapist from Your Physio