Do you remember your parents telling you to stand up straight when you were a kid? That teenage slouch was hard to avoid! Now you’re older, and it’s time to get serious about your posture. The way you stand, sit, and walk affects your overall health. If you don’t maintain good posture, you may cause repetitive strain injuries or bad spinal health.
Your posture is the way that you hold your body. Proper posture aligns your bones, joints, and muscles so that everything is working together. If this alignment is off, your body is not holding itself up correctly. There are four main benefits of good posture:
- It keeps your bones and joints in line. This way you don’t overwork one muscle group, cause repetitive strains or injury.
- Reduces stress on the ligaments of your spine
- Uses less energy because your muscles are working correctly
- Prevents back and muscular pain
It’s easier than ever to have bad posture. Many of us slump without noticing which puts pressure on our spine. This position can crush our internal organs and cause intestinal issues. When you sit at a desk, it’s natural to lean forward and slump your shoulders. This position will hurt your back and neck over time. Then, there is the dreaded tech neck. We all spend so much time with our heads down looking at our phones that we cause a strain on our neck and spine. Hold your phone up high instead of leaning forward.
It may feel awkward and even painful at first to sit and stand up straight, but keep up with it. Good posture strengthens your core, spine, and helps your overall health. Your parents were right. Start standing up straight today!
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Why is the Discount Challenge prize amount $15,024? Because that is the average “per-occurrence” fine for Medicare inducements. That’s not $15,024 per patient, that’s not per provider, that’s PER VISIT. Stinks, doesn’t it? To us, the prize amount is worth the investment if we can help our profession better understand proper discounting.