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5 steps to stand taller in april

May 5, 2015

Do you know what it feels like to stand with good posture? Grandparents knew the importance of standing tall, and now science is catching up. In the book “Slouch at Your Own Peril: Hunching at Work Leads to Hunchback All the Time,” the Wall Street Journal reported on new studies showing what chiropractors and orthopedic surgeons know : Posture is the 800lb gorilla when it comes to health and wellness.Words: Dr. Steven Weiniger Read: How to Stand Tall With many of us developing a permanent slump from sitting behind computers, smartphones and texting, posture is gaining new recognition as a problem. health problems are increasing. Sitting is a flexion position, literally folding the torso over the pelvis. Texting locks hands together causing shoulders to roll inward. This combination means that the back, neck, and chest muscles are chronically tense. Plus, as we age, gravity combined with muscle imbalances makes people feel and look older than they really are. Work to rebalance your body. Posture experts recommend starting with learning how to stand tall. And while awareness is the first step, if you have back problems, improving your posture takes more than thinking about it. Retraining poses requires stretching tight areas and strengthening neglected areas. And don’t forget to consider the ergonomics aspect of how you interact with your sitting, standing and sleeping environment. Read more: 8 Effective Ways To Get Someone To Stop Texting You | Top Q & APosture Reality Check To observe and standardize what the world sees when you think you’re standing tall, today’s posture experts took a standardized photo. Everyone can do this themselves with a phone camera and a friend. Just stand tall and snap a few pictures. Each one from the front, back and side. A background as clean as a door can approximate the pose grids used by pros. Read more: 8 Effective Ways To Get Someone To Stop Texting You | Q&A on standing tall When most people try to “correct their posture,” they just pull their shoulders back. The problem is that they cannot hold the position for more than a minute (which is also true because they almost always do themselves more harm than good). As you pull your shoulders back, your head will come forward into forward head position (FHP). Also known as tech-old, it’s exactly a problem caused by too much texting and typing. Especially when there’s a postural problem, you want to stabilize the pelvis first – addressing posture by just repositioning the shoulders often makes body alignment worse. Read more: Zucchini Bread | Q&A Your body is used to moving the way it’s trained to move, so the challenge begins with learning to feel more connected. Posture is about balance, not just being straight. No matter how curvy someone’s posture is, as long as they’re upright – the body stays balanced. Posture is the sum total of what you’re doing with each part of your body – head and shoulders, abs and hips – in order not to fall. The key to improving posture is individual body correction or PostureZone. Muscle strain and joint strain are minimized when the head is in good balance with the torso, upper body pelvis and pelvis on the feet. Like a stack of children’s blocks in a tower, better alignment of the PostureZone® enhances stability and control, as well as reduces the risk of injury. Yoga practitioners have been teaching this type of mind-body focus for thousands of years, but you can get started now with this 5-step exercise by posture expert Dr. Steven Weiniger and experts. Global Posture teaches the exercises StrongPosture® teaches. How to make someone stop texting you | Top Q & A5 Steps to Standing Taller Focus and take slow, deep breaths in each of these 5 steps: 1. Stand high: Not rigid. Relax and stretch or release your head toward the ceiling. Ground your feet: Slowly go up to the toes, then to the heels. Roll your feet out and in. Press all four corners of your feet into the ground. 3. Center your pelvis: arch your low back and then draw in your pelvis. Find the midpoint as you lengthen your spine. Read more: How to cut after stretching 4. Open your torso: Raise your shoulders and roll back. Keep your neck lengthened and your head held high as you pull your shoulders back. Lift your head: Look straight ahead and slightly lift your chin to keep it level. Repeat 2 or 3 times a day, and don’t be surprised when you feel lighter and your breasts feel more open. After a few weeks, other people will usually notice the difference as well.Read more: 8 Effective Ways To Get Someone To Stop Texting You | Q&A Your Sitting Environment Improving your sitting environment starts with being aware of your alignment. An expensive ergonomic chair is a waste when it is not adjusted to keep you in alignment. Pay extra attention to the tilt of your pelvis, which is the fulcrum you’re sitting on. The forward tilt helps to align the pelvis perpendicular to the lower body to create the best mechanics for the lumbar spine and discs. Many of the better designed chairs have adjustments for this, plus an affordable headrest to optimize the way the skeleton is raised. Back supports on which you lean have not been shown to have long-term effects and some believe they can cause sitting problems by keeping the spine in a curve without affecting the muscles. that you need to stay tall. health aspect, and one aspect you can do something about. May is Posture April, so now is the perfect time for a pose photo reality check. Be sure to note down how your Posture Zones are aligned, then arrange the images to compare with next year’s posture check. Start working on improving with the steps outlined above and start standing and sitting taller to look better and feel younger. Read more: 8 Effective ways to get someone to stop texting you | Top Q&A Steven Weiniger is a posture expert, speaker, and author of lectures globally on improving posture for longevity, health, pain relief, and aging. He has trained thousands of doctors and therapists on StrongPosture® protocols.