Janice Novak: The Posture Expert!

Posture, Get It Straight, informatively written by posture expert Janice Novak, offers a simple solution to back pain caused by poor posture while standing, sitting at your computer or hunched over a drafting table.

Novak, with her Masters Degree in Health and Physical Education and 20+ years spent as a consultant, lecturer and author, has made the study of posture her life's work.

In her book, Posture, Get It Straight (and the accompanying 2 disc set of DVDs) she stresses the healing powers that improving your posture can have for back pain.

Our sedentary lifestyles are detrimental to maintaining proper posture. We sit at our computers for hours or lounge in front of the television in various positions. Even though many of us exercise on a regular basis, we don't give a lot of thought to our posture.

Instinctively, we know that our looks and feelings have a great deal to do with how we stand, walk and sit. Janice takes it to another level in her book by maintaining that your posture can make the difference in the health of your spine and back.

Most of us work for hours at our computers paying little or no attention to how we're sitting (or slumping) in our chairs. It's only when we get up that we feel the nagging back, shoulder and neck pain that lead us to the medicine cabinet or bed.

Have you ever glanced at yourself in the mirror, noticed your shoulders were slouched and immediately straightened up?

Next time you find yourself in front of a mirror - preferably 3-way - notice your posture - and straighten up for your back's sake.

So much has been written about self-confidence and self-esteem - mainly from a psychological point of view.

In Janice Novak's book, Posture, Get It Straight, she talks about how poor posture can cause your self-esteem to plunge and also cause others look at you as a person who lacks confidence.

Achieving proper posture can affect your daily life and your future by empowering you to make positive changes, whether in career, relationships or personal goals. Not only will you feel and look better, but people in your life will take notice of your "new look."

Using Janice's easy, step-by-step techniques to improve your posture is sure to help you achieve powerful benefits in how you look and feel. Your self-confidence will improve - because just by standing up straight, shoulders back, affects how you feel about yourself and how others judge you.

Improving your posture can even knock pounds and inches off your frame. Neck and back pain seem to miraculously disappear and your appearance shows that you're a person to be listened to and reckoned with.

The DVD that comes with Novak's book, Posture, Get It Straight, provides simple steps to get your posture back into the groove it should function and be healthy in. But, even though the steps are simple, the results are powerful and conclusive.

From menopause to making a great impression on others and everything in-between, this posture expert's guide can help you plot a course to change not only your posture - but also, your life!

Try to make as many of the following adjustments to your desk and chair as possible. They will take away most of the causes of back and neck discomfort.

MONITORS:
Your monitor should be about 12 to 24 inches away from your eyes.

Your eyes should be level with the top of the monitor. This will let your eyes fall comfortably on the screen. Your head will be balanced over your spine, not tilted forward or backward. If your screen it too low, put it on a computer base or on books. If your screen is too high, lower it.
The monitor should be placed directly in front of you-not to the left or right where you have to twist your spine or neck to see it.

DOCUMENT HOLDERS:
Using a document holder can eliminate uncomfortable neck twisting. Use the in-line document holder that sits between the keyboard and tray. Put your work at eye level without having to twist your neck or spine. You want to tilt the angle of your work-not the angle of your head on your neck.

BIFOCALS/PROGRESSIVE LENS WEARERS:
Your chair should recline to 110 degrees instead of 90 degrees.

Slightly tilt your monitor back by placing something under the front edge of the monitor. This should allow you to view the screen comfortably without craning your neck forward or tilting your head back too far.

KEYBOARD SURFACE:

The perfect keyboard level for you is at elbow level, with your forearms in a ninety-degree angle with your upper arm or slightly lower with the keyboard base gently sloped away from the user. This position allows the back, neck, shoulders, and arms to relax more. If your keyboard level is too low, place blocks under the legs of the desk. If it's too high, raise your chair seat and use a footrest.

COMPUTER CHAIR:

The ideal computer chair has adjustable armrests that support your arms at elbow level. Both the width and height of the rests should be adjustable. By supporting your elbows on an armrest, 25 percent of the pressure load is taken off the lower back disks. Armrests also take the burden of holding up the arms from the mid- and upper back muscles.

The ideal chair will support the width and length of your back. At the very least, the chair back should reach to your shoulder blades.

The back of the chair, the chair rest, should be fairly straight, at a 90-110-degree angle to the seat.

When you sit, make sure you slide your bottom all the way to the back of the chair seat. Your buttocks and the middle of your back should make contact with the backrest.

The chair seat should be padded with rounded edges and slightly tilted. The back of the seat should be slightly lower than the front, so the buttocks can be placed against the back of the chair and the knees can be slightly higher than the hips.

Your knees should extend no more than a few inches from the edge of the seat.

The chair seat should be long enough to support the whole length of your thighs. That way, the weight of your body is evenly distributed over your buttocks and the full length of your thighs. If the seat is not long enough to support the length of your thighs, you'll end up crossing your legs, which causes imbalances in the hips and lower back. Sitting with your legs crossed also can contribute to varicose veins and poor circulation.

Your feet should rest flat on the floor. Adjust the height of the seat or get a footrest. A telephone book works in a pinch.

Your chair should swivel and be on casters so you can adjust your reach and line of vision without twisting, bending, or leaning forward.

For More Helpful Tips visit: Improve Your Posture today!

Ever caught your own reflection in a window or mirror to see that your head doesn't sit directly over your shoulders? Or that your upper back is too slumped forward? Or that your belly muscles just hang out? These are all common posture problems. When posture is poor, your joints no longer fit together the way they're supposed to. If joints are poorly aligned, even common, everyday activities cause uneven wear and tear, resulting in friction, pain, irritation, and osteoarthritis.

When the spine is lined up correctly, the muscle groups that support it are in balance. When the slight natural curves in the spine become exaggerated, some muscles are put in a stretched position all day causing them to continually weaken. Other muscles are contracted all day and become too tight and tense. Poor posture causes some muscles to overwork while others don't work at all. Gradually, the muscles lose their ability to support the body correctly, and posture becomes even worse.

If the lower back arches too much, pressure on the joints and the nerves that pass between them can cause dull aches or stabbing, burning pain anywhere from the waist to the tip of the big toe. A head that hangs forward, even slightly, exaggerates the curve in the upper part of the spine and can cause chronic back pain, a stiff or sore neck, or tingling or numbness in the arms and hands. The head-forward position is also a common cause of tension headaches, the most common kind of headache.

When properly aligned, your body moves with ease and comfort. The muscles in
the front and back of your body work together harmoniously and you will look
and feel better.

TOTAL POSTURE IMPROVEMENT EXERCISE
Strengthens all the muscles that support good posture.

Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat on the floor.
Place arms at sides in a forty-five degree angle to the torso.
Make sure your palms are facing up, otherwise, your shoulder joints are not aligned.
Inhale. As you exhale, pull your abdominals in, which will ease the lower back closer to the floor. Don't force anything.
Next, press your mid-back into the floor, then your upper back. Think of gently pressing your whole spine into the floor.
Now press the back of your shoulders into the floor. As you do this, you should feel every muscle in your back contract.
Hold for a count of ten without holding your breath, and then relax.
Repeat.

BACK MUSCLE RELAXATION MOVEMENT
Relaxes back muscles

Lie on the floor, knees bent, feet flat.
Clasp your hands and stretch your arms towards ceiling.
Draw big, easy circles with your clasped hands-five times in one direction and then five times in the other.
Breathe normally.

Laptops are fast becoming the most popular way to do computer work. They can be great for short periods of work. Laptops are convenient but can be extremely hard on your back and neck. Using a laptop is always a trade-off between poor head and neck posture and poor hand and wrist posture. Because of their design, you will either get the screen level correct for your body or the keyboard level correct-never both.

If you spend hours on your laptop, you may consider purchasing the following:

- an external monitor,
- an external keyboard, preferably with a negative tilt,
- a docking station.

OCCASIONAL USERS:

Find a chair that is comfortable and reclines back 110 degrees.
Position the laptop in your lap for the most neutral wrist posture.
Angle the screen to be seen with the least amount of neck deviation.

FULL-TIME USERS:

Position on desk in front of you to see the screen without leaning head forward.
You may need to elevate the laptop off the desk using a monitor pedestal.
Separate the keyboard and mouse.
Connect a separate keyboard and mouse to back of laptop.
A negative tilt keyboard is preferable to ensure a neutral wrist posture. This means your keyboard is positioned so when you type, your fingers are slightly lower than your wrists.
Use a mouse platform to raise the mouse off the desk.

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