Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and noticed your posture? Do you have issues with your back? Do you feel tight and stressful? A good posture can help to improve your day to day life, your verbal communication, self-confidence, mood and how others see you.
There are ways to help improve our posture. Technology has hurt our posture because we’re finding ourselves slouching over our phones, computers and tablets. Notice I said “we” in that previous sentence. Even fitness trainers like myself have to check our posture throughout the day. If you’re using a lot of technology during your day (seems like everyone is now), there’s a few tech tools that offer posture help, courtesy of the American Council on Exercise (ACE).
One of these tech tools is called UPRIGHT. It attaches to the lower back and helps to train the back muscles to hold proper alignment for long periods of time. It vibrates to alert you if you start to slouch.
Another tech tool to help with posture is called StandUp! and it uses your smartphone to alarm you when it’s time to take a break, stand up, stretch, and walk around. You can set multiple alarms throughout the day.
A great tech tool to help assess head and neck position is called Alex+. It attaches to your ears and rests on the neck at the base of the skull. It will vibrate if the head slouches out of its ideal posture position for longer than two minutes (based on the user’s settings).
A tech tool called ZIKTO Walk helps maintain good posture when walking. This tech tool analyzes your walking patterns and gently vibrates if your wrist moves out of proper alignment.
There’s also many exercises to do to help improve posture. Chin tucks, kneeling hip flexor stretches, shoulder blade squeezes, and floor exercises to name a few. Physical therapy, chiropractic care and massage therapy can help improve posture by realigning the vertebrae and stretching tight, knotted muscles.
Don’t neglect your posture. Take the time to address any postural issues. Here’s to your great health.
Jonathan Souder is the Fitness Director at Manor House, an Acts Retirement-Life Community in Seaford, Delaware. This column appeared in the April 25, 2019 edition of the Seaford Star.
