Melissa Murphy

Poor posture can cause back pain but did you know it also affects your overall fitness? Melissa Murphy explains how standing tall is essential for good health.

Posture, in a nutshell, is how we carry our body. If you have good posture, then your body will be in the position that nature intended it to be.

“Optimum posture enables the body to move without putting stress on the skeletal frame and its joints,” says Nicky Lawson, who works as an expert coach at David Lloyd Leisure (www.davidlloyd.co.uk).

The key to good posture is the position of your spine. “A correct and straight spine is kept in the right position by the muscles surrounding it,” says Helen Buchanan, a fitness trainer for Virgin Active. “These muscles maintain a straight spine just like supporting lines on a suspension bridge maintain a straight road. When your weight is supported correctly, your body can best resist gravity.”

It’s impossible to have perfect posture all the time, especially due to the nature of modern life. Evolutionally, we were designed to spend most of his time standing; in modern life, however, we leads a far more sedentary life and spend a large amount of time sitting, so it’s no wonder our bodies sometimes find it hard to adapt.

What is good posture?
So what exactly does good posture look like? Fitness trainer Kristoph Thompson (www.kristoph.co.uk) explains: “Starting from the ground up - the joints of the lower body (ankles, knees, and hips) should be neutral.  Weight should be equally distributed through the left and the right legs.  The hips should be level and not rotated, the spine should follow its natural curve, and the shoulders should be level and not rounded forwards or backwards.  The head should not be forward, tilted to one side, or rotated.” Bad posture is any position which deviates from this.

There are some common poor posture habits. The first type of poor posture is rounded shoulders or a hunched back. This creates an excessive curve in the upper back and makes the head jut forward. Another common problem is where there is an excessive curve in the lower back. This is created by your bodyweight going forwards at the hips and your body leaning back to compensate. This reduces the stability of the spine and can cause lower back pain.

The causes of both these postural faults are normally to do with our lifestyle. For example, if we sit on an office chair all day then we’re likely to adopt a hunched back or rounded shoulders.

“Bad posture is caused by our lifestyle,” says Nicky Lawson. “We spend our time in a seated position for most of the day - in our cars, at our desks, watching telly etc… Wearing high heels all day, this constantly puts your calves in a shortened position which over time leads to tight calf muscles. To compensate for the high heels, your feet end up turning out.”
 
How posture affects your training
Posture positions can have a huge impact on the effectiveness of our exercise. Poor posture can result in exercising the wrong muscles and increase the risk of injury. Exercising regularly does not protect us from bad posture either. “Far from it,” says Ben Jones at Lifetime Health & Fitness. “A badly structured programme can seriously worsen posture by tightening and strengthening the wrong muscles or neglecting to stretch those that need it.”

Nicky Lawson agrees: “If we train with bad posture, then we are pushing ourselves towards injury as we are stressing the joints under load. It’s much better to correct any existing muscle imbalances and then exercise with a good technique to encourage correct posture.  You want to avoid exercising with bad posture as this stresses the joints and leads to injury further down the line.”

Gym users should watch their routine, too, as overworking one area can lead to muscle imbalance in another. It can also alter your posture. “At the gym, there is often an over-emphasis on working the limb muscles while the core muscles become weakened,” says Helen Buchanan. “This means that over time the muscles and the joints will not operate optimally and it could lead to an injury.”

Improve your posture
The best way to improve your posture is to adopt the correct position wherever possible. Core training is the best form of exercise for improving your posture. The key core muscle is called the transverse abdominus and it wraps around your entire trunk wall and stabilises your spine and pelvis. Using a Swiss Ball is especially useful, as the unstable base exercises the normally overlooked core muscles.

It’s also important to try and spot what your postural weaknesses are. You may need to get a friend to look at you standing. “Get a friend to assess your posture,” says Kristoph Thompson. “Hang a piece of string from the ceiling and stand next to it.  Ask your friend to see if your body deviates forwards or backwards from this line.”

You may also want to try exercising in front of a mirror to spot any changes in your posture. If you’re a gym user, it’s worth having a session with a fitness instructor who can demonstrate the correct posture for each machine. 

If you’re sat in an office chair all day, then check your posture as much as possible. Try to sit up straight and if possible take regular breaks to move around. A simple exercise you can try even sitting down is to focus on your breathing. “Focus on pulling your belly button away from your waistband but maintain your breathing at the same time. This engages your inner core muscles and will help to support your spine,” says Nicky Lawson.

“No more tension headaches!”

Laura* is 27-year-old secretary who spends most of her day typing and sat in front of a computer screen.

“I’d always suffered from a lot of tension headaches at work and I just put it down stress. Then I started to have aches and pains in my upper back and I found it quite uncomfortable to be seated for long periods.”

Laura saw her GP who recommended that try some simple exercises to improve her posture.

“I’d never really thought about it before, but I’d always sat hunched over my desk. My shoulders were rounded and I would sit in my chair for hours, sometimes eating lunch at my desk if I was really busy.”

Laura started to change her posture by keeping her spine straight, shoulders back and keeping her head upright and level.

“I had to change my desk around, I adjusted my chair and moved my computer screen higher. It felt very unnatural at first, I kept wanting to slouch. I asked a couple of colleagues to tell me if I started to slouch too in case I forgot!”
 
Within a few weeks, Laura’s neck aches disappeared and her tension headaches lessened.

“I hardly get tension headaches anymore. I’m also a lot more comfortable as I don’t have neck or back pain. I always make sure I take a break and walk around too which has really helped. I’d definitely recommend looking at your posture if you suffer from a lot of back aches.”

Posture check-list
During exercise, use Nicky Lawson’s check-list to ensure your posture isn’t working against you.

Feet         
Keep the feet parallel - hip width apart.

Knees        
Knees should be parallel, in line with the second and third toe.

Hips         
Hips should not tip forwards or backwards. The waistline should be level.

Shoulders    
Try to keep the shoulders back and down and stable during movement. Keep pulling the shoulders back to avoid rounded shoulders.

Head         
Avoid jutting the head forward. Try to keep your ears over the mid-line of your body.
Top posture tips
To improve your posture in everyday life, try these tips from Helen Buchanan:

Stand properly
• Try to avoid rounding your back: imagine you are being lifted by a string fixed to the top of your head.
• Try to avoid hunching your shoulders and tensing your neck when stressed.
• Wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes.

Sit properly
• Use an upright chair which supports your lower back.
• Try supporting the small of your back (the bit that curves in above your hips) with a small cushion or rolled-up towel.
• Get up and stretch every 20-30 minutes.

Moving & lifting
• Always look at alternatives to lifting. Can you push or pull it?
• Lift only what you can handle and get help if you need it.
• Bend your knees and keep your back straight and your feet apart when lifting.
• Avoid lifting and twisting at the same time.
• Always lift and carry close to your body.
• Bend your knees rather than your back when putting a load down.