Realities of life:
- We get tired and need to sit down
- We have to work and that often involves a lot of sitting: at a desk, in a car, at a meeting
- We have to eat & that involves sitting: breakfast, lunch, drive through, dinner
- We go to kids sporting events and sit
Chances are you’re sitting as you read this article. I read that the average American sits 8 hours per day, 56 hours per week, 224 hours per month and 2,688 hours per year for a whopping 112 days per year! That is a lot of sitting!
The average adult gets up in the morning, gets ready for work, sits down for breakfast, sits down to commute to work, walks into work and sits down at a desk, takes a lunch break, often still sitting at the desk, leaves work, sits during the commute home, sits down for dinner and sits down to relax and watch TV. Weekends might be a little better, but we still sit and watch our kids play sports, sit at a movie, and sit in church. All of that actually exceeds 8 hours a day…by a lot, I would venture to guess the actual number is closer to 12 hours per day which is 168 days per year when you include sitting down to eat and watch TV.
Posture, whether sitting, standing or exercising, has a ripple effect on the rest of your body. Our bodies work as a unit, you remember, “The foot bone's connected to the leg bone. The leg bone's connected to the knee bone…” right? Well, add to that the muscles, nerves, and organs, not to mention our emotions and mental state!
I practice the Egoscue Method of Posture Therapy and Pete Egoscue says, “your bones do what your muscles tell them to do.” If you look at the average American you see that our heads stick out in front of us, our shoulders slump forward, our feet point out or even go in two different directions, and our hips change their tilt.
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Try this:
- Drop your chin toward your chest
- Let your shoulders droop forward and down
- Now take a deep breath
Try this...Round 2:
- Get your head up directly over your shoulders (ear aligned with shoulders)
- Squeeze your shoulder blades together
- Take a deep breath
No, don’t quit your job, don’t eat standing up and don’t get rid of the TV…okay, maybe get rid of the TV.
What your body needs is new stimulus, new muscle memory, to help undo the damage done by sitting all the time. Just going to the gym or continuing to run, bike or swim with the same skeletal misalignment won’t do the trick. In fact, these things often strengthen the compensation and dysfunction already taking place in your body.
The Egoscue Method of Posture Therapy developed by Pete Egoscue is designed to help our bodies get rid of dysfunction & compensation and return to original design and function.
Getting healthy is actually pretty easy, if you are willing to take on the responsibility to help your body heal. The Egoscue Method of Posture Therapy has a 94% success rate for clients who are willing to put the time and effort in to do a their exercises each day.
Host or attend a Wellness Workshop:
The workshops are informative and interactive, and will explore the role of posture and motion and the importance of understanding both in relation to physical limitations and pain, whether occasional or chronic. Stasia will share her knowledge of how poor posture and lack of motion are at the root of most of our physical pain and limitations. She will explain how people can improve their overall well being through this natural approach to pain relief by teaching them how to train their body to function as it was intended. Stasia will also share a few great exercises to help get extension back into your spine, and reduce tightness in your hips. You will leave with a 5 minute menu of exercises designed to help you feel better physically & mentally!