Stand Up Right: Is There A Right Way to Stand?

We all know sitting too much isn’t great for our bodies or our health.

These days there is a constant barrage of information that condemns sitting, often stating that is even worse than smoking.

With this, there has been a shift in popularity to standing desks in the work place. Even desks with a treadmill – but we won’t go there today!

Sitting bad. Standing good.

Would that be a safe assumption?

Simply put, no.

If you can sit poorly, surely you can stand poorly too.

A few months back, we reviewed how to find your neutral posture in sitting.

Many people get neck, back and shoulder pain from poor sitting posture, but with a little education and re-training, leaning how to sit correctly can make a significant difference in alleviating these areas of pain.

When you stand for a prolonged time, your muscles fatigue just as they do in sitting.

You shift around – putting all your weight to one side through your pelvis and foot, shifting your trunk the opposite way.

This can then impact how you hold your neck and shoulders.

So, what’s the correct way to stand?

1. Even weight on both feet, left and right, with your weight centred to the front of your heels
2. Soft knees. You shouldn’t look like your squatting, just soften your knees to take out the tension out of your quads. Place your hands on your pelvis and lock out your knees – feel how if pushes your pelvis forward.
3. Neutral pelvis. Tilting back and forth with one hand on the pubic bone and one on the tailbone, find the mid-position.
4. Neutral trunk. Make a fist and place the thumb side against your sternum. Visualize a light shining out of your chest – lift and lower your chest until the light shines forward horizontally.
5. Lastly – roll your shoulders back and lengthen your neck but dropping your chin slightly – gaze should be fixed straight ahead.

Now you’re standing right!

Correct standing posture is one of the foundations of our Clinical Pilates classes – check out our class timetable.

#posture #backpain #neckpain #shoulderpain #physiotherapy