![]() ![]() Leaning too far forward leads to a hunched-over look, while leaning too far back scrunches your neck. The cervical curve, better known as your neck, should also be slightly curved inward to complete the S-shape. Those two adjustments can do wonders for your posture and, by extension, your presence. Your fingers should be able to fit, but if your full hand slides in without resistance, your curve is too steep. Your thoracic curve and tailbone should be resting on the surface, but your lumbar curve should not be touching the wall. To measure your curve, lean your back against a wall. ![]() Overcompensating will lead to lumbar hyperlordosis. ![]() You can recover the curve by yanking your tailbone back and pushing your belly button forward. We lose this natural form when we lean back in our chairs and slide our bottoms forward. These vertebrae should be slightly curled inward. Now look down to the lumbar curve, which connects your abs to your lower body. Puff out your chest a little if it helps you, but avoid “winging” your shoulder blades back (like in the military stance). This is the stereotypical “good” posture - the one you jump into when someone tells you to stop slouching. The solution? Stretch your thoracic curve up to the ceiling. Photographer Roberto Valenzuela calls the thoracic curve “the culprit for most of the problems with a pose, because it is the part of the spine responsible for hunching and slouching.” The thoracic curve is named for the thorax, the area between the neck and the abs. Let’s start like a Quentin Tarantino movie: in the middle. Whether you’re sitting down or standing up, try to apply what you learn as we traverse the vertebrae. APTA defines “good posture” as a balanced alignment of these curves.īesides improving your long-term health, learning the three sections of the spine will make you look and feel more confident when meeting new people, presenting in front of groups, and posing in photographs. Instead, it’s an S-shape made up of three curves. We tell people to stand up “straight,” but the spine itself isn’t a straight line. Luther’s advice to my dad worked, but it was a little misleading. Unlike an acute event like an ankle sprain, these injuries take a long time to heal. The discs in our back struggle to absorb shock. “If you have poor posture, your bones are not properly aligned, and your muscles, joints, and ligaments take more strain than nature intended,” says the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). A third of Americans over 50 have chronic back or neck problems, and people of all ages feel stiff after long periods of hunched sitting. Slouching puts tremendous stress on our bodies over time. The price of bad posture is more than pride. We could stand to gain some confidence - if we stood a little better. We look shorter than we actually are, not taller. We slide back in our chairs and slump over our desks. Most of us aren’t like my dad and Luther. His posture translates to a confident presence, the bedrock of a 30-year career in sales. He’s 6-foot-2, but people often think he’s taller than that. It worked: I don’t think my dad has slouched since. It was 1973, at Clark Air Base in the Philippines, and Luther didn’t put up with poor posture. That’s what a man named Luther used to tell my dad, a slouching 19-year-old, when they served in the military together. Stand up straight, keep your head up, and take pride in yourself. This entry was posted in Staying Healthy and tagged back health, posture. You might notice this right away as the classic Halloween cat look.Improve Your Posture: Learn the 3 Curves of the Spine Once they see there is no real danger, they go back to normal like nothing ever happened. Usually, this is quick, accompanied by raised hair and terrified expressions. ![]() Regardless of the offense, if there’s something that suddenly scares your cat, they might arch their back as a defense response. If you have an angry kitty, it’s best to leave them alone until they cool off-or you might get the claws. It could be the family dog they don’t like, or an unfamiliar stranger working close by. If your cat is angry about something or is wanting someone to step off, they might arch their back, hiss, and back away from whatever it is that is causing them this kind of grief. If the danger keeps moving closer to them, they might give it a good smack. You might notice if they keep the stance until the perceived threat has either proven itself to be non-threatening, or it disappears completely. If your cat is around something unfamiliar that they don’t like or are unsure about, they might arch their back to make themselves look bigger. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |