No one is a stranger to the idea that exercise or movement is better for your overall health than less. But what many people do not realize is how important posture plays a role in keeping the body healthy during movement.  Proper posture is another way of saying the body is in balance.  A body out of balance will lead to to breakdown and likely pain no matter how many times you walk around the neighborhood in fact will speed it up.So much like a car needs to have balance with equal amount of air in its tires to prevent wear, your body should have proper alignment to get out of exercise what you intend.

When we look at balance in relation to posture certain images hopefully come to mind. Attached to your spine are muscles.  When muscles get injured or are under or over used, posture is affected leading to breakdown and reduced ability for the body to thrive as you age. From the journal of Biomechanics, 2005(june), “Abnormal spinal curvatures enhance the likelihood of whiplash injury and may have long- term clinical and bimechanical implications.” And from Movement Therapy journal, Nov. 2005, “Symptomatic individuals had altered muscle recruitment patterns that persisted throughout the sustained occupational task.” This is saying if you are at the computer for long hours and your upper back and neck are painful and tight the muscles are overworked and will affect your posture.

How do you know if your posture is adequate? One test you can do is to test your balance. Simple stand straight, tuck in your pelvis and lift one leg 90 degrees to the floor. If you cannot sustain this for 30 seconds without having to put your leg down to prevent yourself from falling you may have a posture problem stemming from your pelvic area. One way to improve that would be to sit on a large inflatable exercise ball on its center, tuck in top part of your pelvis causing the ball to role back a little and breath out, then move it forward  breathing in. Do this slowly 5 times to begin with daily.

So to sum up, proper posture means you are in balance. Proper balance means you are moving the way life intended leading slowing the joint breakdown and aging process. for more questions or exercises and posture analysis consult with a chiropractor.