1. Know What Good Posture Is
Posture is the way we humans stand, sit and lie against gravity, all the while maintaining proper alignment of the spinal column by using various muscles.
Good posture has several requirements: Normal muscle mobility and strength, flexibility of joints, good strength in the muscle groups responsible for good posture, such as the spinous muscles in the neck and back, and above all, an awareness of one's own posture so that deviations from the normal posture can be recognized.
Proper posture not only aids in proper spinal alignment, it can greatly decrease risk factors such as back injuries from strains associated with bad posture.
2. Contributing Factors to Poor Posture
There are just as many factors that contribute to poor posture as there are contributing to good posture. Examples of these factors can include obesity--where weakened abdominal muscles increase strain on the paraspinous muscles in the mid and lower back--pregnancy, high-heel shoes, diminished overall flexibility, and poor work environments and habits.
3. How the Posture Braces Work
Most of the over-the-counter, non-prescriptive braces exert their influence on the shoulders and upper back, gently pulling the shoulders back, thus pulling the upper thoracic area into slight extension. Many of these braces strap around the front of the shoulders and subsequently cris-cross in back, between the shoulder blades.
Some supports are in the form of a large, wide wrap-around belt affair, which compresses abdominal contents against the back of the abdominal cavity and internal back muscles, creating the support. This type is particularly useful in later stage pregnancy when there is considerable hyper-extension of the lumbar spine.
4. Braces are Not a Substitute for Proper Body Mechanics
While bracing can offer significant relief of back strains due to poor posture, it is not designed to be a substitute for proper body mechanics. Learning to bend, stoop and lift properly not only reduces the chances of injury, it can also serve to help re-educate muscles in proper posturing during work and normal activity.
Many employers require training in proper body mechanics and ergonomics. This pro-active stance helps to reduce the potentials for work-related injuries which can be extremely costly to the company. Proper posture and body mechanics provides an atmosphere for a healthy back, and reduces the chances for early degeneration of the spinal column.
5. Exercise, Train and Educate Your Way to a Healthy Back
Good posture requires training and education of the supportive muscles of the back and abdomen. Posture braces help to re-educate these muscles to perform in a synergistic manner, complementing each other to achieve good posture. Posture bracing also helps to maximize spinal column alignment in an effort to reduce asymmetric tensions on muscles that could result in an imbalance in posture.
There are specific strengthening exercises that can be done do improve muscle tone and balance. These exercises include the back as well as the abdominal muscle groups. Even with a healthy back, weakened abdominal muscles will put an accentuated amount of stress and strain on the back muscles.
