Health and Fitness Information Center

Posture, Part 3

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When standing, divide your weight equally between your feet. Your legs should be about hip-width apart with knees slightly soft. Keep your abdominal muscles pulled gently in toward your spine to help support your back. Your shoulders should be gently pressed down away from your ears and with shoulder blades drawn slightly towards each other. Your head aligns with you body and should’t be craning forward.

Sitting is often more of a problem for people in regards to posture than standing. It’s so easy to slouch in a chair. The computer screen is too far away so you crane your neck forward. You think that slouching is actually saving you energy but in reality it adds to your fatigue. Your lungs have less room to take a full breath. The muscles in your upper back are tired from holding that forward-rounded posture. Your low back is complaining because there’s nothing to support it.

When you’re sitting, the same postural guidelines as standing apply. Keep your shoulders down away from your ears and shoulder blades drawn back. Head aligns with your body. Your hips should be even underneath you on the chair with legs forward and feet on the floor in front of you aligned under your hips.

Crossing your legs at the knee will throw your posture off. Tightly crossed legs can also hinder circulation. Throw out everything you’ve heard about politeness and leg crossing (this mainly applies to women) and know that you’ll be much healthier if you keep them uncrossed with the weight equally divided on both legs.