Now that I’m here, and I’ve given a little background, I want to get more specific. So I ask, why should you fix your posture?
There are many reasons to improve your posture. Off the top of my head? Postural correction has benefits for your general health and well being, your moods, sleep, confidence, career, dating, pain mitigation…
My primary reason was pain. For many years, starting in University, I suffered increasing levels of pain in my back and neck. My career led to a 10 years as a computer aided design consultant and trainer wherein I spent 8 to 12 hours a day hunched over a computer. I developed cluster headaches and migraines which got so bad that during times of high stress the only way I could get through the week was heavy use of pain killers. Saturdays became head pain days, and I would spend hours in a darkened room, waiting for it to subside.
The muscles between my shoulder blades had begun to atrophy and die, leading to flat spots in my mid spine. I developed a lumbar problem which would occasionally go “click,” and put me on bed rest, pain killers and muscle relaxants for a week.
Back problems had already begun to seriously degrade my quality of life when things took a turn for the worse. Up until this point, the effects applied primarily to me, but then…
I have 3 boys. When that lumbar nerve gets pinched, the most vigorous thing I can do is walk. Slowly. No games, sports, or roughhousing with the kids. One day my oldest was feeling car sick and when I pulled the car over to let him get some air, rather than help him out of his car seat, I almost collapsed onto him. The pain of bending and twisting my back was unbearable.
Being unable to help your sick 5 year old is no way to live, and regaining the strength and mobility of my spine relieved my pain. Now the boys are 4, 7 and 10 and when I get home from work I am greeted with “jumpy hugs,” wherein they take turns leaping off the stairs into my arms. No pain. No problem.
There were other reasons I chose to fix my posture, and many other benefits, but pain mitigation was the driver.
So, again I ask; what drives you? Why do you want to fix your back and improve your posture? Comment below or email me at standupright.ca@gmail.com.
Meanwhile, let’s all try to Stand Up Right.
