{"id":152,"date":"2019-12-11T17:57:18","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T17:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/?p=152"},"modified":"2019-12-11T17:57:19","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T17:57:19","slug":"standing-ergonomics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/standing-ergonomics\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing ergonomics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>It\u2019s time to stand up, the right way<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> I often think of dentistry, and how dentist\u2019s have done a great job of  educating the public on how to take better preventative care of their oral hygiene; by using  floss, brushing after every meal, mouth wash, avoiding certain foods and beverages, and cleaning check ups every 6 months.  This idea of proactive preventative maintenance is often called wellness care, wellness lifestyle, or a healthy lifestyle.  The idea is to be proactive, not just against the signs of aging, but to feel healthier, have a higher quality of life, and to avoid, or prevent, disease, by not waiting to have a problem and being reactive.\u00a0 \u00a0 This idea of wellness care, in the long run, will not only save money, but lives, pain, and disabilities.\u00a0 But for some reason, the public has not been educated on how to take care of their body, through proper diet, stretching, exercise, ergonomics, and routine check ups.\u00a0 This is in part by the constant changing information, and misinformation, coming from the medical profession itself; I am sure if we had 5 posture and ergonomic specialists read this blog they all will have something to add or disagree with, but the take home message is all the same, perfection does not exist, and these little differences are just that, little.\u00a0 After reading this blog, I want you the reader, to know how to better take care of yourself.\u00a0 This brings me to the topic of the proper standing posture.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/bad-posture-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/bad-posture-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/bad-posture-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/bad-posture-768x1151.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/bad-posture-1600x2398.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It sounds simple enough, but have you ever really given it much thought?\u00a0 Have you ever asked a health care professional how to improve on your standing posture?\u00a0 Have you ever practiced good standing posture?\u00a0 Do you expect to be good at something without practice or professional input? Like most of our activities, when as young child, our parents are just happy to have us standing.\u00a0 The typical American parents will not start their young children off with proper ergonomic standing position, thusly we will often develop bad habits, which through the years get deeply embedded into our unconscious memory and therefore is very difficult to correct.\u00a0 These poor standing habits will contribute to many different ailments including: tension headaches, difficulty breathing, tight muscles, overuse syndromes such as degenerative arthritis, fatigue, decreased sports performance, more likely to get injured, and decreased healing capacity after an injury.\u00a0 Posture is a combination of your structure, or bones and joints, your soft tissues, meaning you muscles, ligaments, tendons, cartilage, and discs, and your brain\u2019s input into how to appropriately use your structure and soft tissues.\u00a0 This is where most of our posture, and ergonomic, problems can arise.\u00a0 Maybe someone has a structural issue, maybe one leg is anatomically shorter than the other, or maybe someone has a hamstring that is tighter than the other, or their core is stronger on one side versus the other.\u00a0 But more often than not, it is our brain and our lack of effort that has the greatest contribution to poor posture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Basic tips for good standing posture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Visualize yourself from the front.\u00a0 Your eyes, ears, shoulders, and hips should be level.\u00a0 Try to not be standing while weight bearing one leg more than the other, and your feet should be pointing forward about shoulder width apart.<\/li><li>Visualize yourself from the side.\u00a0 Your head should be in a neutral position, with your ears inline with your shoulders, hips, and knees.\u00a0 Your head should be held high.\u00a0 Your shoulders should be relaxed\/down and back so that your shoulders are not rounded foreword, and your chest should be out.\u00a0 Your pelvis should be near level, or in neutral, and your knees should be straight but not locked position.\u00a0 Lower cross syndrome can play a part in your body\u2019s side profile.\u00a0 Lower cross syndrome is when we have anterior pelvic tilt as a result of tight Iliopsoas, piriformis, Rectus femoris, TFL, hip adductor group, erector spinae, gastrocnemius, and soleus muscles and weak gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, hamstrings, oblique, and retus abdominis muscles.\u00a0 These imbalances would have to be corrected for long term postural corrections.<\/li><li>Avoid standing in the same position for too long, move around, squat down, use a stool or box (in the kitchen open a cabinet and rest your foot inside) and rest a foot on it for a period of time then switch to the other foot.<\/li><li>Wear good, supportive, comfortable, shoes and replace shoes often.\u00a0 This is extremely difficult with woman\u2019s dress shoes, so if you must wear them, wear walking shoes and when you get where you are going switch to the heels.<\/li><li>Make sure your work station is an appropriate height for you that you are not bent over, for example do not fold laundry on your bed find a counter that is higher.<\/li><li>A strong core that has endurance is very important; include bridge type exercises in your routine. Pilates is often a good source for these types of exercises. I often hear patients state that it is not the first hour of standing that hurts it is the 2<sup>nd<\/sup>, 3<sup>rd<\/sup>, or 4<sup>th<\/sup>.\u00a0 This is often due to a lack of endurance in postural muscles.\u00a0 When you are standing with bad posture for a long time, your muscles will tire and relax.\u00a0 Keep in mind that our body is more efficient at standing when it is in a proper standing position.\u00a0 This is due to the fact that while in proper standing posture our structure will support our body weight, and when we are standing in poor posture our muscles will have to support our body weight.<\/li><li>Stretch your chest muscles.<\/li><li>Strengthen your upper back with rowing type exercises.<\/li><li>Work on your ability to balance.<\/li><li>Have someone take a candid picture of you so you can see what your posture is normally.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>One important tip, that is\noften not mentioned, is the use of custom foot stabilizers to help with\nstanding posture.&nbsp; First off, understand\nthat our body is a kinetic chain, in which we are all connected; for example\nour ankle can have an effect on our knee, then our knee on our hip, our hip on\nour pelvis, our pelvis on our back.&nbsp; Some\nexperts estimated that nearly 70% of Americans have fallen arches in their feet\nand would benefit from foot stabilizers, or orthotics.&nbsp; Foot Pronation is a common word that comes up\nwith this topic.&nbsp; Foot Pronation\ndescribes a rotation downward and inward by the foot which can result in a decrease\nin arch height.&nbsp; A falling arch, and\/or\nPronation, will lead to inward rotation of the knee and hip; thusly disrupting standing\nposture and the optimal position for these joints to function, which some\nexperts suggest can lead to early degeneration of these joints.&nbsp; By correcting structural problems with the\nfeet, we can reduce abnormal biomechanics, forces, and stress to the kinetic\nchain and improve posture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/good-posture-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/good-posture-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/good-posture-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/good-posture-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/good-posture-1600x1067.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Good posture makes you look younger, more attractive, and slimmer.\u00a0 Having good posture ensures your body is aligned for maximum efficiency and function, when you are not in good posture your body must work harder because it can not work the way it was designed to.\u00a0 The bottom line is we all need to live a wellness minded lifestyle, and having good standing posture is an important part of that.\u00a0 If this blog sparked your interest, consult with a personal trainer, physical therapist, chiropractor, or other health care provider for further guidance.\u00a0 I will end with this, Will Rogers has been quoted as saying \u201cEven if you\u2019re on the right track, you\u2019ll get run over if you just sit there.\u201d\u00a0 So get motivated, educated, and most importantly proactive in your health.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s time to stand up, the right way I often think of dentistry, and how dentist\u2019s have done a great&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[17,57,18,55,60],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chiropractic-tips","tag-ergonomics","tag-hesperia-chiropractor","tag-posture","tag-standing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions\/336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hannonchiropractic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}