TIPS ON POSTURE

TIPS ON POSTURE


SEATED

¥ Keep your feet flat on the floor. Do not tuck them up under your chair.

¥ Do not use a lumbar support pillow. Your objective is to be upright, but relaxed. Use the back of the chair to help orient your body. Your stomach should be gently tucked in and sunken inferiorly (towards your feet). Your sacrum / tailbone should point towards your feet and your lower back should be relaxed.

¥ Keep your arms supported. Do not make your neck and shoulders hold your arms up all day.

¥ Try to avoid reading or writing on a flat surface. This brings the head forward, putting stress on the neck and upper back. Put your material on an inclined surface atop your desk or other working surface.

¥ Ideally, your chair should be soft and have a back that comes up to your shoulders and the base of your neck, but not to the back of your head.



STANDING

¥ Let your skeleton hold you up. Get your weight centered over your ankles so that you will align vertically.

¥ Avoid a military posture with exaggerated tension in the shoulders.

¥ Wear shoes that provide back ankle support. Shoes without a back force your feet to tighten to hold the shoes on. Avoid high heels.

¥ The goal is be upright, yet relaxed.