What’s your posture communicating about you?

At Spine and Health, we’re committed to helping our clients develop and maintain great posture. Improving your posture is one of the best things you can do for your health and makes it easier for your body to move the way it was designed. Good posture reduces pain, allows for a greater range of motion, encourages and enables an active lifestyle.

But posture is also important for another great reason – it is one of the strongest non-verbal messages you send into the world. Whether it is consciously or subconsciously, other people are making judgements about you based on your posture. This can have an impact on your success at work, how quickly you get served at the bar, and of course, in matters of love and attraction. At its most basic, when your posture is better you simply look better.

Hiding or striding?

A slumped posture sends the message that you lack confidence, or aren’t interested in what’s going on around you. Typically, your shoulders cave inwards, making yourself appear smaller – sending the message that you are insecure or even insignificant. It’s the non-verbal equivalent of saying “Don’t look at me.”  Posture can either make you appear dominant or submissive – so it’s good advice if walking alone at night to think about standing tall and appearing strong and confident.

And, even more importantly, sending the right physical signals can actually change how you feel. In her TED talk, Harvard researcher Amy Cuddy, explains how if you adopt the body language of looking powerful and confident, you will actually feel more powerful and confident – and it even influences your hormones. Being conscious of your posture is a key element in presenting a positive image to the world.

Hey boy, hey girl

 

We’re going to appeal to your vanity here: good posture just looks better. If you have good posture, you’ll appear taller and more confident. Posture is also one of the most important body language indicators that can influence if we’ll ask someone out on a date.

You’ll look more energetic and radiate youthfulness. Next time you are out and about, have a look around and you’ll see that it is true – poor posture and a hunched back makes you look old and weak. Nobody wants to look old before their time, and improving your posture can take years off your appearance!

Five simple steps for improving posture

1. Maintain a healthy weight. We are partnered with Body Measure, who can help you calculate YOUR ideal weight.
2. Pay attention to how you sit, and conduct a regular ergonomic assessment of your work environment. Book in to attend our ‘Sleeping, Sitting, Standing’ information session at the Spine and Health clinic and learn the correct way to sit.
3. Sleep tight, sleep right. Consider upgrading to a firmer mattress that provides better support. Ditch the super-high stack of pillows that cause your neck to bend unnaturally and avoid sleeping on your stomach.
4. Walk tall and with purpose. Concentrate on pulling those shoulders back and keep your head up looking straight ahead, rather than shuffling about with your eyes looking at the ground.
5. Work with a posture chiropractor. At Spine and Health, we are posture chiropractors. We don’t just treat your symptoms, we’ll get to the cause of your problems and fix your posture so that you can remain pain-free.

Are you aware of what message your posture sends to the world? Book in with a chiropractor at North Sydney or Crows Nest Spine and Health- WE FIX POSTURE!