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thedrifter
08-16-05, 06:25 PM
Stop slouching! Good posture improves health
BY CONNIE MIDEY
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

When Eric Cantu stepped off the bus for Marine Corps Boot Camp in San Diego, he was directed to stand in yellow footprints painted on the pavement and taught the Marines' "position of attention."

"Posture is the first thing you learn," says Cantu, now a sergeant and a public affairs officer at a Marine Corps recruiting headquarters.

That was almost 10 years ago, and when he hears the word "attention," his body still moves automatically into the proper stance.

Good posture, supported by regular exercise, strengthens his back, he says, making him feel and look fit.

"If you slouch over and look tired, that's going to tell people you're not ready to do your job," Cantu says. "But if you walk in and you're standing up straight, it shows you're ready for action."

Posture, it turns out, does matter, physically and psychologically. Grandmas who warned against slouching and physical education teachers who made students balance a book on their head always have known that, and doctors confirm it.

Curl over your computer keyboard or sag behind a grocery cart long enough, and you might experience anything from migraine headaches to foot pain.

Physician Stephen Borowsky, medical director of a pain unit in a surgical center, says seemingly trivial postural misalignments sometimes lead to pain. A wallet in a back pocket, for example, can tilt a man's pelvis while he's seated, curving his spine and interfering with circulation to his legs.

"Low-back pain is probably the most common type of pain people experience," he says, "and good posture is the best remedy."

He tells patients to position themselves while imagining a straight line from the ear, through the shoulder, to the hip and ankle.

At the Academy of Etiquette in Gilbert, Ariz., Heila Gibb still uses the ages-old device of directing kids to practicing walking with a book balanced on their head.

"When you put a book on your head," says Gibb, "your head automatically goes straight and your shoulders go back, without having to be told to stand up straight."

Former teenage sloucher Janice Novak of Chanhassen, Minn., creator of the book and video "Posture, Get It Straight!" (www.improvey ourposture.com), teaches a three-step process for improving posture.

It starts with aligning the body, then doing strengthening and stretching exercises to maintain good posture. Finally, she advises making adjustments in your daily routine, including rearranging your computer workstation, moving your car seat and placing a pillow strategically.

"There is so much to gain from improving your posture," said Novak, who has a master's degree in health and physical education. "Everybody's interested in the way they look, and then they're astounded to find the other benefits."

Sitting and standing up straight make people look 10 years younger and 10 pounds lighter, but those are just the outward changes, she said.

"When you're poorly aligned, your joints don't fit together the way they're supposed to, and some muscles have to work harder than others. They get really tight and tense, and the other muscles get weaker and weaker."

Look at her models of good posture -- gymnasts, ballet dancers, horseback riders and military men and women. Then look at teens hunched over video games or teachers bent down to help students with their work.

"If I touch the muscle at the back of the neck of someone who is often slouched forward, it feels like cement," Novak says. "It has to work overtime to keep the head straight.

"That same muscle goes all the way down to the mid-back, and just as the top part of the muscle is tight, the bottom part is weak and atrophied. This sets up a vicious cycle."

Ellie

dcline
08-16-05, 08:25 PM
Thank for the insite I have been trying to figure out why I have more neck pain in the summer than in the winter. It just hit me. Im a welder who is slouch over my table 8 to 10hr a day in the summer but only 6 to 8hr in the winter. I play golf 1 to 2 times a week but snowboard 4 to 6 times a week. This mean one thing I need to play more golf.

Osotogary
08-16-05, 09:33 PM
I straightened up now all I have to do is fly right. :)

Although the above information isn't new , it is always good to read as a reminder.