Posture creates a positive feedback loop positively affecting blood flow, memory, long term tissue viability, confidence, mood, ability to perform exercise and how others perceive you. From a joint perspective, modern lifestyles tend to result in a flexed lower back and hips due to the amount of time we spend sitting. A downward gaze and rounded shoulders to interact with technology continues to sky rocket the incidence of neck and shoulder pain. Performing exercises to reverse and protect against over stressing these structures will reduce pain and injury. Hip and back extension movements and stretches will help to normalize your joint function. For the shoulders stretching the chest muscles and strengthening the upper back will be most effective for decreasing shoulder pain. As for neck pain, re-training the appropriate stabilizing muscles is the key for cases of chronic neck pain. Incorporate small amounts of movement throughout the day by designing your environments for improved posture. Use 10-20 different body positions throughout your work day to reduce the stress on one particular structure. Maintaining any positions for extended periods of time will always result in tissue degeneration. Although modern society continues to require us to move less, our survival is dependent on daily movement.
