Gravity affects us all the time, and it is the posture (postural muscles) that ensures that we can stand upright and function as we should, and that we do not collapse.
One usually thinks of the posture as the ear, shoulder, hip and the ball of the outside of the foot should be in a straight line between these body parts.
If this line becomes overly flexible, it can lead to consequences in the body. For example, if the neck or shoulders fall too far forward, the line in the center of gravity will not be evenly distributed over the body. Which can lead to compensations and pain.
The neck or back can be painful, even if the fault/cause lies in, for example, a stiff thoracic spine. The reason for this is that if the thoracic spine is not functioning optimally, other parts of the spine must compensate for this. In many cases, it is then the lower back and/or the neck that is overstrained.
Therefore, it is important that the entire spine has good function. Taking hold of your posture can often be a good solution to this.
Posture often changes as the years go by, and then the conditions in the body also change.
Therefore, it can be a good idea to think about your posture and train, for example, your back, shoulders and neck muscles, which have a great responsibility in our posture. If one is weak or tired in these muscles, we tend to collapse in our posture, which can lead to discomfort.
Two good exercises for your posture:
Road fangs :
You stand with your back against a wall and try to have your seat, back, shoulders, shoulders and neck in contact with the wall. Then you also put both arms behind you at shoulder height (and approx. 90 degree bend in the elbow).
In this position, you must make snow angels (road angels) while maintaining contact with the wall in all parts. It is more challenging than it looks.
Sit on pilates ball (two variations)
1. Sit on the pilates ball with hip, shoulder, ear in a straight line, and 90 degree bend in hip and knee joints.
In this position, you bounce gently and gracefully while maintaining your posture.
5 min morning, 5 min evening.
2. Sit at least 1 hour per working day (office job) on a pilates ball in the same position (good posture). No need to bounce. Just sit upright in the position described above.
One last ergonomic tip for your posture:
Try getting out on the edge of the office chair (feet under the chair) from time to time during the working day.
This makes it easier for you to have your thighs pointed downwards and widened outwards. Which results in you being able to have an upright posture more easily and more circulation to the hips.
This in combination with good computer height and resting forearms on the desk.