Postural hygiene comprises a set of recommendations and postural attitudes that will help us to avoid certain injuries and can even reduce and completely eliminate some pathologies, such as back pain, if we are able to carry out good postural hygiene on a daily basis.
In general, it is not easy to carry out postural hygiene correctly, since many times it does not even depend on us, for example, if we have bad or defective chairs at work.
It is a matter of carrying out some simple daily habits or rules to comply with, which can significantly reduce cervical, neck, back and other muscle pain.
Benefits of good postural hygiene
- Optimization of our muscular work.
- Strengthening of our musculature (both internal or support and external).
- Increased muscle mobility.
- Calm tensions.
- Prevents contractures.
- Prevents back pain.
Positioning or stretching techniques such as Pilates or gymnastics are highly recommended if you suffer from muscular injuries.
Postural hygiene tips
Our spine is formed by the cervical area, which makes a forward curve, the thoracic area, makes a backward curve, and the lumbar area, has a forward curve, again. In this way what we really have is a shock absorber, which allows us to have a certain control of the weight we are supporting to be able to move.
It is important that our weight always goes to the center of gravity, that it is always between our legs, between our feet, right and left, because if we always have a lateral forward posture what we are doing is overloading all these muscles and making the normal curves are reversed.
Some practical tips are:
- Try not to force unnatural postures for the body.
- As far as possible, try to adjust the height of the tables and chairs we use to work.
- Avoid staying too long in the same posture. Change your posture and shift your weight from one leg to another.
- The ideal posture is to keep the torso upright, the spine straight and the shoulders slightly backwards.
- If you are going to carry weight vertically, the most appropriate posture is to bend your knees with your legs slightly apart, while keeping your back upright.
- In the vertical posture, when we are standing, we have to be as straight as possible and the weight between the two feet, not leaning forward or leaning backwards.
Let us remember that the spine is our support and that we must take care of it every day.