Posture

Posture is important in maintaining proper forces on various structures in the body. In the first picture, my fiancé, Colt, is demonstrating a fairly proper posture in which he is standing up straight. In the last picture, my cute little neighbor is also standing fairly straight but with a little bit or lordosis in his lower spine. In the middle picture, my roommate is sitting at a desk looking at her phone, and this is the picture that I will be focusing on.

 In this picture, the her pelvis is tilted forward, and the lumbar and thoracic spine are kyphotic (or concave anteriorly). The cervical spine is lordotic (or convex anteriorly) as the head is tilted slightly upward and not completely over the cervical vertebrae. Her femurs appear to be fairly parallel to the ground with a slight inward rotation and resting on the seat of the chair. The scapulae are slightly elevated with some forward protraction.

This position is more efficient for stability than mobility because with her feet on the ground and thighs and buttocks fully supported in the seat, she has a large base of support. It would probably be more difficult to move out of this position because of this support. In this instance, the upper extremities are being used for support as she is leaning forwards on them. Her left arm appears to be bearing more weight than her right, so it may be possible for her to have some more mobility in her right arm. I would not consider this posture to support joint alignment as it is not considered to be the ideal posture where everything is lined up in a straight line. Because the lumbar spine is typically lordotic, and they are kyphotic here, it is possible that there was extra stress placed on them.

I think that a person could stay in this position for a fairly decent amount of time; however, it is not recommended due to the improper posture. She might occasionally need to extend her back if it becomes stiff.

One reason it is important to teach proper posture is so that there is not addition stress placed on the joints. This can keep them from causing pain or from growing improperly. Proper posture is also important in having proper body mechanics which can also prevent injury.

To teach proper posture, I would inform them of what it looks like and have the client pretend that there was a pole down their spine in order to keep it straight, or I would have them actually use some sort of pole that allows them to feel it straight. To practice proper body mechanics, I would make sure that when I am lifting or transferring anyone or anything I am using my legs to lift and not my back.