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About a year ago, I started noticing that I was slightly off balance when exercising. Specifically, I had a hard time maintaining my balance while doing a banded overhead shoulder press and also when doing a banded deadlift. While I wasn’t anywhere near at risk for falling over, my slight lack of balance was definitely noticeable.
At first, I thought it might be related to some kind of ear infection I wasn’t yet aware of. However, after a couple of months I knew that wasn’t the case. So, I did what most people do, and I turned to Google for answers.
I found this article published on the Harvard Health website that gave me some clues. The article explains that good posture keeps your body weight centered over your feet and having good balance is directly connected to maintaining balance during a workout. This made sense considering I felt like I was struggling with my posture.
My less-than-perfect posture wasn’t the result of laziness or bad habits. In my search for answers I learned that poor posture can be caused by inflexible muscles that decrease your range of motion, which leaves you no choice but to slouch a little bit.
I wondered how hard it would be to increase my range of motion, strengthen my core, and improve my posture and balance. It seemed doable, so I set out on a 30-day mission to make good posture my new reality. Here’s what I did.
I invested in ergonomic office furniture and equipment
I realized that sitting on my couch with my laptop wasn’t ever going to support my goal of improving my posture. It wouldn’t matter how straight I sat up – my couch was not a good office setup. I didn’t have much room in my house for a full-sized desk, so I prepared a small space in a corner of my living room. I bought an ergonomic office chair from Amazon along with a medium-sized pneumatic standing desk that can be raised and lowered with the push of a lever.
I bought a pneumatic standing desk because I read that it’s best to alternate between standing and sitting all day. Standing all day can cause just as many problems as sitting all day. A desk that can be raised and lowered quickly makes it possible for me to switch positions every couple of hours. In addition to maintaining cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health, sit-stand desks have been shown to increase productivity by up to 20%.
The other ergonomic items I bought are:
- A wrist pad that goes in front of my keyboard.
- A mouse that has a comfortable shape that fits my hand (I bought a travel-sized mouse because it’s easier to use than a full-size mouse).
- A foam roller to place underneath my feet while I’m sitting. When my chair is at the right height for my desk, my legs dangle a bit and the foam roller keeps my legs at a 90-degree angle.
- A monitor stand to make my laptop sit at eye level to eliminate neck strain.
My results came fast
I wasn’t expecting to feel a difference so quickly. However, I felt immediate relief from using the monitor stand and the chair. My back felt like it was being forced to stay straight and strong, which also engaged my core. When my feet rested on the foam roller, I felt my core engage even more with every move. After a couple of weeks, I noticed I wasn’t off-balance with my workouts and my core was actually a little stronger. It took closer to the full month for me to feel a difference with the keyboard wrist pad and new mouse, but eventually, I noticed my wrists didn’t feel like they were under constant pressure.
Random symptoms went away
Every once in a while, I would feel my right fingers go numb for a minute, and then my left fingers would go numb for a minute. My chiropractor had given me exercises for this problem since it was caused by having tight shoulders.
When I got my new chair and monitor riser, I stopped unconsciously clenching my shoulders. This made the fingertip numbness problem disappear. The most unexpected source of relief was realizing my digestion had improved. I was guilty of eating all my meals wherever I happened to be working, and I didn’t know that bad posture after a meal can inhibit proper digestion. Lesson learned!
The verdict is in – posture comes first
Overall, I feel better while I’m working and I’m not as tired after a full day of work. I can’t say for sure, but it seems like improving my posture eliminated the need to waste energy adjusting and compensating for other issues, which may have contributed to higher levels of energy.
From this experience, I’ve learned that I can take all the best vitamins in the world, but maintaining proper posture is truly the key to overall health.
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This content is sponsored by Larry Alton.
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