5 Recommendations to Improve Your Posture and Relieve Back Pain

Besides taking care of your posture, if you spend many hours seated in front of the computer, try to set a few minutes aside each day to get up and stretch. This will help you prevent and relieve back pain.

Reviewed and approved by Doctor Carlos Fabián Avila.

Written by Katherine Flórez

Last update: 26 May, 2022

How is your posture? Did you know that improving your posture can help you relieve back pain?

Back pain can be caused by different factors, some of them are harder to endure. Some of the ones that stand out the most and are considered as one of the main causes is bad posture.

In general terms, back pain appears because you don’t hold your body correctly.

Specifically, bad back and shoulder posture contributes to the appearance of several pains. Among them the following pain stands out:

• Lumbar
• Cervical
• Neck
• Shoulder

However, bad posture doesn’t happen by itself. You have unhealthy habits for your body.

This is the case for physical work that you don’t do correctly. Sleeping on uncomfortable surfaces and the most relevant: being sedentary.

Being sedentary and your posture

Over the course of history, man has evolved his habits. This includes everything from his work to the way he spends his free time.

Currently, most activities are done under a roof and in the comfort of your home. Even though it can appear to be comfortable, this practice has caused human beings to be sedentary.

Add to this the computers and mobile devices that are present in your house or in universities, schools, and your office. These places promote being sedentary. And, this brings with it bad postures that aren’t natural for your body.

You should remember that being sedentary happens because your body is passive in a position. A clear example of this happens during the work day in offices.

Recommendations for bettering your posture and to relieve back pain

Based on what we just said, we’re going to give a series of recommendations to give you an adequate posture. By having better posture we can even relieve back pain as well.

1. Prioritize your comfort

It’s difficult to leave the night’s responsibilities for the morning. It doesn’t matter if it’s your studies or office work. However, these should be done with as much comfort as possible.

To create a comfortable place, we recommend focusing on the environment that you’re going to spend most of the day. Keep in mind that it’s necessary to change it a little, within reason.

So that you can do your work the best possible way, you should:

• Use a comfortable chair.
• Keep your back straight against the back of the chair. Your legs should make a right angle: this is the correct posture for working at the computer.
• On the other hand, the height of the screen should be right in front of your eyes. This way your spine won’t slouch easily.

2. Use your imagination

Maybe the topic of your posture and trying to relieve back pains sounds a little strict or square. However, not everything should be done this way. It’s also possible to have fun, learn, and help your body.

An alternative for getting good posture is using your imagination.

• To do this, you only have to think about a string that’s attached to the top of your head (or it could be the top of your neck).
• When your body starts to slouch, you should think about this string being pulled upwards towards the sky. Think about lengthening your spine as if it were long and straight as a string.

3. Use comfortable clothing

This recommendation is associated with prioritizing your comfort. However, clothing twists into a point that’s much tighter than normal.

Using loose or comfortable clothing doesn’t just encourage having good posture. It also helps prevent pain in your body. This includes in your back.

This recommendation also covers your footwear. It’s better if they’re smoother and lower to the ground.

Following this improves your blood flow. This is because it keeps your blood from pooling and increases your body’s oxygenation in general.

4. Have active breaks

Currently, many companies have started to focus on contracting health professionals to teach their employees about being sedentary.

However, you can do this by yourself. To correct your posture and relieve back pain you just have to take active breaks.

• Stretch and jog in place. Or, take a walk around the floor your office is on. These help you achieve your goal. Fifteen to twenty minutes is enough to have a good active break.

5. Manage your breathing

Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. However, by also practicing disciplines like yoga or pilates will improve your posture and relieve back pain.

On the other hand, by learning to manage your breathing, oxygen reaches every corner of your body. This helps you to fight back pain too.