How often do we think about our posture on a daily basis? It was not a New Year resolution and I was just learning more about how to work on my fitness level. ‘Posture’ immediately takes me back to the picture in my school textbook of a boy balancing a notebook while he sits and stands.
I asked myself if I was missing out anything when it came to posture. I have had a bad neck on and off and I keep blaming it on my workout. I have a tendency to shrug my shoulders when I’m doing any workout, so may be I hadn’t really noticed how I sit and walk around. Which lead me to focus a bit on this topic.
I did some extensive reading and found out a few things about how I had constantly engaged my shoulders, walked with feet flopping out a little, didn’t stand enough compared to how many hours I sit and my postures on a daily life wasn’t the best. I happened to visit Dr. Prathap a Chiropractor at my gym who also gave me a few tips on how to sit when I’m at work and how sitting for 6 hours would nullify the effect of my 1 hours workout. All this and I knew some changes had to be made.
Not like the next morning I was up and about all fixed and aligned. I was catching myself slouching, straining my neck too while using my phone, lying on the bed and reading books, slowly melting on the couch while watching TV. The worst was I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, to get back to sitting, moving and doing things how we are naturally meant to do as humans. Mostly I saw a pattern with technology and external factors that were making my body tense up and accept an unusual posture as comfortable, my body got accustomed to such an extent that it almost felt normal to my body. Firstly I had to notice my movements and separate right from wrong as much as possible. So this was the painful stage.
Using too much of my phone and laptop were causing a bad posture most of the times, switching from facebook to instagram and then to whatsapp. I decided to delete all the apps on my phone for more than a month and I was able to notice myself and it became easier to correct myself. This was definitely a great experience and everyone should try a digital detox once in a while its totally worth it, at your own risk as your people really need to be understanding for you to do this.
I had a problem with my toes turning out when I stand and understood how I can improve it through one of these articles. (1,2)
How things affect you emotionally also influences your posture and this was news to me. Overtime whenever I came around an authoritative figure or I wasn’t feeling too buzzed I’d notice my shoulders were already drooping like whole body language was showing what I felt.
It’s been almost a month and it still doesn’t feel easy to maintain the right posture, and I’m catching myself every time I’m faltering. It is not permanent yet but my neck pain isn’t there anymore.
To make it come naturally and make it permanent I will have to change the furniture (chairs) and pillows I’m using. So instead of slouching on the bed I use the dining table if I have to read something for now.
If I can spread this message to all the young people out there who are learning to live with wrong postures, please correct yourselves before its too late and not so easy to unlearn and before it causes any injuries to your body. Good habits are easily lost and so hard to get back and this ones just one of those.
My take back from this January’s obsession turning into a lifestyle change is being active and half the problem is solved.
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