Guide To Good Posture

Correct posture is incredibly important when it comes to sitting and standing at a computer desk. Poor posture doesn’t only affect our physical health. It also affects our confidence, mental health, blood flow, nerve health, and more. The first step toward injury prevention is to improve your posture.

Many people don’t think twice about their bad posture. They have no idea they may be contributing to future back pain, postural stress, muscle fatigue, rounded shoulders and more.

So, today I’m sharing my ultimate guide to good posture. By trying these tips, you could noticeably improve your posture and feel the difference too. I sat at a computer desk with poor posture for many years. One day, I took accountability for my bad posture and started implementing as many small, correct posture habits as I could.

Nothing on my website is medical advice. It’s for informational purposes only. I share my experience, what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. I talk about the poor posture mistakes I’ve fixed and the correct posture habits I’ve learned.

You are your primary caretaker. Not your doctor, surgeon, coach, or physical therapist. They all play a role. But, they also have their own agenda and their own motivation that’s not always in our best interest, regardless if it’s intentional or not. Do your research and make good decisions. Be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare and sitting posture.

Guide To Good Posture

Good posture looks like a balanced spine, postural muscles lightly engaged, and natural curves comfortably flowing throughout the body. Good posture looks like holding your head naturally, not too far ahead of the anterior (front) portion of your upper torso. Our abdominal muscles are engaged, but they are not stiff. Regardless if we are in a sitting posture or standing up straight, correct posture feels like a strong tree that sways in the wind, not stiff like a brick building.

When I maintain good posture, my 3 biggest overall health benefits are:

• Decreased pain in muscles and joints
• Increased energy levels
• Improved mental clarity

You can read more about these benefits in an article I wrote titled “3 Benefits of Good Posture“.

How To Improve Sitting Posture

Keep your feet flat on the floor

I used to sit with my feet in a terrible position (like the user on the right side of the photo below). My feet weren’t flat on the floor. My hamstrings were contracted, which brought my feet under my chair, leading me to only rest my toes on the ground. I became hamstring and heel dominant. It caused me to walk and run on my heels. My quads and calves were in an overextended position for long periods of time. This led to my forefoot becoming super weak and my arches became flat.

To fix this, make sure your upper legs are parallel to the floor or just slightly above parallel to the floor. Your lower legs should be at a 90 degree angle to the floor. Do not cross your legs. I know it’s socially acceptable for women to cross your legs when wearing high heels. However, crossing your legs can not only lead to poor posture issues in the legs and feet, but also into the gluts, lower back, even the shoulder blade. Everything in the body is connected. Muscles, nerves, tendons. The poor posture of my feet was causing issues throughout my body.

Switch up sitting positions

Working in the same position for long periods of time will cause repetitive strain injuries. Keep in mind these injuries can happen regardless if we have bad posture or correct posture. This is why I make sure to work in different sitting and standing positions throughout the day. I’ll work in sitting posture for a while, then I’ll raise my desk so I can work standing up straight. I will switch back and forth between sitting and standing multiple times throughout the day.

Don’t sit for so long

Ideally, I don’t want to sit for more than 15 minutes. If I can’t walk around and take a break, I want to at least stand up and take some deep breaths. If I’m really on a creative roll and getting work done, I’ll sit for 30 minutes at the most. I very rarely sit for longer that 30 minutes at a time. At first, I thought this was going to decrease my productivity in a big way. I’ve actually experienced the exact opposite. I’ve found that sitting in a bad posture position for long periods of time made me much less productive due to the physical pain and mind-numbing brain fog. On the other hand, I’m more motivated to get quality work done for every 15 minute increment. I’ve also experienced better blood flow and more mental clarity.

Relax shoulders into a neutral position

It’s very important that I am conscious of my internal shoulder rotation. It’s easy to internally rotate way too much when holding a keyboard, mouse, or steering wheel. Shoulder pain is one key identifier that we are way too internally rotated. When I feel shoulder pain, I try easing up a little bit and using a neutral shoulder position when driving, working at a desk, or even just on a couch.

Internal shoulder rotation can also lead to other bad posture problems. Internally rotating my shoulders into a compromised position would then cause my neck and upper back to lean forward into a vulnerable state (known as kyphosis). During kyphosis, the anterior (front) side of the spine becomes compressed. At the same time, the posterior (back) side of the spine becomes overextended. Sitting for long periods with an imbalance in the spine like this is what leads to spinal disc degeneration. Internally rotated shoulders were the catalyst to all of that for me.

Be mindful of your sitting position when sitting in the car, on a couch, at a desk

Regardless of where we are sitting, I make sure that one main rule applies when in that position for long periods of time. This rule is to make sure the spine is neutral with it’s natural curves. Not compressed or slouching, and not overextended by sitting up too straight.

How To Improve Standing Posture

Standing up straight with a neutral spine

The spine has natural curves in it. We want to keep these natural curves in place when we are standing. This will avoid spinal disc degeneration. In order to avoid this, we need to make sure we aren’t slouching our upper body forward. Conversely, we also need to make sure we aren’t standing up “too straight”. This bad posture mistake will remove the natural curves and overextend the spine. Right in between a slouching position and an overextended spine, we have the correct posture. That is where we have a balanced, neutral spine.

Keeping your head leveled

When it comes to postural muscles, a big mistake is holding our head too far forward. Again, the spine has natural curves in it. There are several different sections of the spine. The top section that connects to the skull is known as the cervical spine. The cervical spine places the head comfortably above the torso. This is the correct posture for holding your head.

Letting your arms hang naturally at your sides

We don’t want to extend our upper arms too far forward when we are standing up straight at a computer (upper arms meaning biceps and triceps). I’ve made this bad posture mistake before. This caused shoulder pain in my shoulder blade. We want to let them hang naturally so the elbows are directly below the shoulders. In my experience, the ideal correct posture for me is to bend my arms at the elbow and rest my hands on the keyboard. My forearms are almost parallel to the floor. If anything, my forearms are just slightly more than a 90 degree angle from my upper arms. This requires making sure that your keyboard is the correct height, which is just slightly below the elbows when we are standing up straight.

We also want to make sure that our arm muscles are lightly engaged (biceps, triceps, and forearms). I’ve made a mistake in the past of letting my arms be too relaxed. This caused a lot of pain in the middle of my upper back. Right outside of the spine on each side, I could feel a pulling, sharp pain when I worked in a standing position for long periods of time. I corrected this by making sure my keyboard was the correct height, as well as by lightly engaging my arm muscles. The same goes for supporting the arms as it goes for supporting the torso when sitting. We want to let our arms sway like a tree blowing in the wind, not stiff like a brick building. Stiffness will cause repetitive strain injuries, regardless if we are using poor posture or correct posture.

Conclusion

Correct posture is an extensive process that can be very overwhelming. I’ve created a checklist that breaks sitting posture down into an easy process. It’s an even more ultimate guide than the tips in this article. The checklist goes into detail for each of it’s 14 steps. It’s in PDF form so you can print it out easily and post it at your desk as a daily reference tool to maintain good posture. Click the image below, or you download it for free at sittingposture.com/checklist.

Thanks for your interest in sitting posture. If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re taking valuable steps to improve your posture.

If this article was helpful, check out my book titled “45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.” It’s available in both digital and paperback versions.  

>>> Click here to pick up your copy

This book explains how to improve your posture through different variables of health and wellness. These include sitting posture, standing posture, sleep, hydration, and breathing. Poor posture is not just how we sit at a computer. The health habits we practice, 24 hours a day, are directly related to how good (or bad) our computer posture is.

Go to SittingPosture.com/book to learn more.

Take care,

Todd Bowen

P.S. You can sign up for my free computer posture newsletter here.