Good Posture Boosts Your Immune System…

I just saw the title of an article, “Coronavirus prompts people to work from home:  How is Posture Affected?” So, as a Posture Alignment Specialist, I decided to sit and write my thoughts about the topic of the article before reading it. 

 First, I think working from home could be helpful for your posture.  It gives people the ability to move around more and change positions including standing at a tall counter, sitting, tall kneeling and lying down on your stomach using pillows as needed for comfort. In addition, taking on work at home gives people the chance to move around and take exercise or movement breaks without anyone looking at you funny. If you are a client of mine, I give you posture breaks to do throughout your workday to help keep your body feeling best.

 There are downsides to working at home in regard to posture.    If you don’t have a proper workstation set-up, then it could create some aches and pains.  It might be enticing to slouch in bed or the couch while you work but, this can wreak havoc on your posture.

 Why is posture so important at this time when we are all hoping to stay as healthy as possible?  Posture can help your immune system. Tension created by poor posture can lead to pain and chronic conditions.

 We have many pathways that transport different fluids and cells throughout the body.  Some of these pathways or tracts are arteries, veins, nerves, and lymph vessels. These tracts run from our brain down to our toes and any kind of kink in the lines affects the ability of our systems to work optimally, just like a kink in a water hose. Kinks include postural deviations such as: forward head, rounded shoulders, kyphosis (bending forward of the upper back), rotations of the upper body or lower body, hip shifted upward/downward, knees slightly bent at rest, or when feet are turned out or in.  

 All these deviations can decrease the flow of oxygen, transmission of hormones or neurotransmitters, and especially are lymphatic fluid which expels waste products from the body.  The lymphatic system has no pump on its vessels; it requires muscle movement or gravitational change in body position to help the flow back towards the heart.  This is how we fight viruses and infections.

 It is interesting to see more and more articles that connect posture not only to chronic pain, but also to overall health and wellness. Like I said previously, posture determines things like the quality of our immune system, which is so crucial at this moment in time.  Posture is no longer only about looking good on the outside.