You’re at work. Your back is killing you. You’re shifting in your chair to try to stay as upright as possible, but it actually kind of hurts. But, you’ve been told to sit upright, so it must be better for you, right?
“Sit up straight.” “Pull your shoulders back.” “Don’t slouch.” Are these thoughts that you tell yourself? When you’re sitting at your desk? While driving? Or even just sitting at dinner?
I see this all the time with new clients. In an honest attempt to protect their spine, they have actually begun to make the issue worse! It’s not their fault – we’ve been told these things all of our life! After all, slouching doesn’t look very professional in school or a meeting. But did you know that excessively sitting upright can actually be just as bad for you as excessively slouching?
Imagine holding a plank all day. Sitting upright and holding your spine straight all day is no different! At some point, instead of getting stronger, those muscles are going to fatigue and get weak and tight!
That’s why I ALWAYS prescribe this exercise to 95% of my clients.
It will FINALLY let those poor back muscles relax!
The body simply loves movement VARIABILITY. That’s why the body doesn’t respond well to lots of sitting OR lots of standing. Neither is inherently bad, but it’s the lack of movement, and the over-abundance of the same posture.
I’ll even let you in on a little secret:
The best posture is the posture that changes most often.
I suggest shifting around in your chair and changing positions at least every 10 minutes! And yes, that should absolutely include a bit of slouching to give your back a rest!
So next time someone’s giving you a hard time at the office for having bad posture, let them in on the secret too – you actually have great posture!
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