Postural Habits

A habit is a regular tendency or practice. This could be a tendency or practice you are aware of or unaware of. A postural habit is a posture you tend to find yourself in or one you do regularly. So why discuss postural habits? Why are they important? How can you identify them? How can you benefit from knowing about them? Well, hopefully you don’t have a habit of not reading the rest of something once you’ve started because you’d be missing out on a chance to prevent pain you don’t have to go through in the future. 

Let’s discuss postural habits. As mentioned in a previous blog, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BAD POSTURE. (Pausing for the audience to calm down from such an outrageous comment). It’s true though, the position you are in isn’t bad but rather the time you spend in that position is the true culprit. This is where the discussion of habits comes into play. The posture you have the tendency to spend the most time in is your postural habit. Whether it be during work, at home, at school, while you sleep, etc., there tends to be a position you spend the most time when you are there. Think about where you spend a majority of your day and the position you are in when you are at this location. 

Once you have considered what position you tend to be in the most, think about how much time you spend in that position. A typical day at work can be anywhere from 6-8 hours, which means that is potentially 6-8 hours in one position for 4-5 days a week. Your body begins to adapt to this position. This can create tightness and joint restrictions for movements or positions that are different from the position you spend the most time in. 

You now know how to identify your postural habit by focusing on where you’re at and what position it puts you in and how much time you spend in this position. Now it’s time to fix it and the fix might be much easier than you think. So how do you break the habit of staying in one position for an extended period of time? Move. Whether you need a reminder or if you find yourself in the position that you have deemed your posture of habit, move. Movement can be changing positions, going for a walk, standing up, etc.. As long as it is a movement from the position you are spending the most time in, you are preventing your body from getting used to that posture you tend to get in most often and preventing what could be tightness, movement restrictions, or, if left unattended long enough, pain. The best posture is all postures. Keep moving and your postural habit will be a habit you can break!