"Sit up straight and don't be listless!" I bet most of us have said those words to us at some point. And they're good advice even if you don't understand the physiology behind them.
Did you know that globally, back pain is the leading cause of disability and
At any one time, 31 million Americans experience low back pain?
The simple fact is that most of us are completely unaware of our posture while sitting, standing, sleeping, or walking. Everyday life doesn't help either. We commute with heavy laptops, wallets and bags, our kids go to school with huge backpacks full of books, and we sit hunched over for hours on end in front of computer screens, smartphones and TVs. No wonder it's easy to fall into bad posture habits, but it's much harder to develop good posture.
Good posture is important
Posture is not only about how you sit or stand, but also how you hold and move your body as you go about your daily tasks and activities.
The ideal posture protects the muscle and bone structures that support the body. Small changes in how you move and hold yourself add up over time. Years of bad habits can add stress to your body and wear down your musculoskeletal system, making it weaker and more prone to injury.
Mechanically, this makes sense because all of our bodily systems are interconnected. Take, for example, what happens when we sit in front of a computer and our shoulders lean forward; to compensate for the change in posture, our neck muscles stretch to raise our head to properly view the screen. Over time, the muscles in the chest tighten and shorten, and the muscles between the shoulder blades and the back weaken and lengthen. These changes affect the mechanics of our shoulders and lower middle back. Ultimately, poor posture puts additional stress on the spine and surrounding muscles, ligaments, and soft tissues.
You can correct bad posture
If you've developed bad posture habits, you're certainly not alone, and it makes sense to take some steps for your long-term health. The good news is that you can get rid of bad posture habits and improve your overall health. With practice, mindfulness, and a little time, good posture habits will become second nature.
What is a Posture Corrector?
Posture correctors are devices that help improve or correct your posture. We're often asked, "Do posture correctors work?" Considering the number of wellness products on the market that haven't lived up to expectations, that's a fair question. This article promises to fix the problem once and for all, and reassure skeptical slobs. We'll weigh the pros and cons of traditional back braces and see how they stack up against today's smart posture trainers.
For years, people all over the world have included harnesses and harnesses as part of their morning routine. While these are never the most effective postural correction methods, there simply aren't many viable alternatives for reasons we'll get to later. But thanks to recent innovations in wearable health technology, smart posture trainers have quickly become the method of choice for fitness seekers around the world.
How do posture correctors work?
A back brace is a corset-like garment that holds your back in a fixed, upright position, making it nearly impossible to be sluggish. It promotes good back posture by pulling the back muscles into their natural position and conditioning them to stay that way. As you can imagine, wearing something like this under your clothes all day would be uncomfortable, not to mention ugly. Back braces are great if you're injured, but they may not be effective for things like poor shoulder and neck posture.
Posture correctors can help you maintain proper body alignment for a long time, after a while your body starts to adapt at the cellular level. As the new position forms, the tissue in the chest contracts and the tissue in the back expands. This change in tissue length makes it difficult to return to the original posture.
How soon will I start seeing results?
As we discussed in a recent article, it's unrealistic to expect any kind of posture corrector to eliminate listlessness from one day to the next. After all, these are postural aids, not miracle workers.
Having said that, the Smart Digital Posture Corrector does have an instant reminder to straighten your body, so in that sense, you'll see immediate results. As long as you wear the device, you will appear taller and slimmer. But for these results to have a lasting effect, you need to keep training for at least 2 weeks.
The back brace can also keep you upright while using it, however, it may take several months before it shows any meaningful signs of improvement. Since you'll be wearing it under your clothes for 20-25 minutes a day, you need to make sure it fits snugly and the material doesn't irritate your skin.