Gratitude helps you feel better on ALL levels.  Here’s the link to a very good article about an easy system for being thankful for what’s good in your life.

Increase Gratitude, Decrease Pain and Suffering. (<– click here.)  And start feeling better!

People with poor posture look like they are leaning or collapsing forward.  Often their head is way forward in front of their body (“forward head posture.”)  The curve in their neck is either too much or too flat, and so is the curve behind their waist. Their shoulders round forward.

Poor posture impacts a LOT of your body!  Almost every part of your body is affected by collapsed posture.

Here are several things you can check so you will know whether your posture is good or not-so-good.

1.  Stand up and hold your arms at your sides in their usual position.  Look down.  If your thumbs are pointing to each other, your shoulders are rounded forward.  Your chest muscles are tight and shortened.  They are pulling your shoulders forward.  But, if your thumbs point straight ahead, your shoulders aren’t rounded forward.

2.  Are you constantly straightening up and constantly collapsing forward again? That’s a clue that the muscles in the front of your body are short and pulling your forward.

3.  Are your feet flat or do you have nice arches?  Flat feet will cause your posture to collapse because flat arches move your weight forward.

4.  Does the front of your neckline choke you or always slide backward?

5.  Do you get a lot of headaches, pain in your neck or back?  Those are symptoms caused by poor posture.

If you discover that your posture isn’t so good, there’s a lot you can do.  There are articles at Simple Strengthening that will help you get straight and strong.

And, I have good news for you!

Bodies want to be well and you can correct your posture.  When your posture is better, you will have less pain in your head, back, arms…all over!

Oh Boy!  It surely can!  In fact, it does.

Poor, or collapsed, posture can cause pain in your head, neck, feet, legs, hips, upper and lower back. Why?  Because being out of muscular “balance” means that you are using muscles to do the job of bones.

With poor posture, your muscles are trying to hold you upright, but that’s the job of your bones. Muscles are for moving.  Bones are for supporting.

All of your muscles attach to bones.  When a muscle is overworked or overstretched because of poor posture, it causes pain.

Poor posture can even cause your organs–heart, lungs, intestines, stomach–to have difficulty functioning.  Why?  Because you are collapsing forward.  As you bend forward, all of your organs are compressed, or squashed.  It is much harder for your organs to do their best job when they are squashed.

What can you to to correct your posture?

One important thing is to get arch supports (orthotics) for your shoes if your feet are “flat.”

How can you tell if your arches are flat?

Stand up with your weight the same on both feet for 5 minutes.  Then assess:  Do you feel that most of the pressure on your feet is in your toes?  You need arch supports.  Get a pair with a “real” arch, something that will truly support you.

Feet are supposed to have arches.  They are the foundation of your skeleton.

Just like a building, we need a solid foundation.  If our foundation flattens, or collapses, the integrity of our building–our body–is compromised.  We get into trouble, and the trouble starts with poor, or collapsed posture.

A good pair of arch supports may feel as though you have a boulder under your foot.

Try to get a pair that actually fits to the shape or your foot.  You want them to put your feet into the arched position they used to have.  Take time to adjust to them.  Start with just an hour a day, then 2 hours.  Work your way up to wearing them all day.

Massage your feet by pressing the sole of your feet against a tennis ball, or golf ball, and rolling it back and forth, width-wise and length-wise.  Do this for 5 minutes for each foot.  After you do the first foot, you will have one happy foot.  You’ll have to do your other foot so it will be happy, too.  This helps relax your muscles and tendons and make it easier to adjust to your new arch supports.

There is more to do to correct your posture and get you back to feeling and functioning well, but arch supports are a good place to start.

Let’s say that I sit for eight hours a day at a desk. Maybe I walk around for ten minutes during the whole day. My muscles get used to being in that seated position. Some muscles are shortened in that position. Some muscles are being unused, so they shut off.

Or maybe I drive around all day in my pickup. I like to stick my left elbow out the window and keep my right hand down low, on the gear shift. Of course, I have my right foot on the accelerator. By and by, when I get out of my truck, those muscles will stay where they have become used to being. My muscles now think that this new position is comfortable. Now when I sit on the couch, I assume the same posture, because now it is “comfortable.”

We are always most comfortable in our disfunction. Whatever we get used to is what feels comfortable to us. Is it best for us? Will it help us grow older strong and straight? The answers are no.

What muscle imbalance does do is cause us pain. Sometimes current pain, always future pain. When we lose that nice balance we used to have, when we were toddlers, we are setting ourselves up for future pain and dysfunction.

Headaches, migraines, neck and shoulder pain are all caused by muscles complaining. Upper and lower back pain, carpal tunnel pain, almost any pain you experience is caused by muscles. When muscles are unhappy, they complain. When muscles complain, you experience pain.

It is never too late to get back into balance, and start getting out of pain. It takes some work and dedication, but is well worth the payoff: Having straight posture with a strong back will take us into old age in a healthy, happy body.

If you are already doing an exercise program of some sort, be sure to incorporate exercises to strengthen the backside of your body from neck to knees. Squeeze your shoulder blades toward your spine. Do exercises to strengthen your shin muscles.

Get more information on how to strengthen your whole backside at http://SimpleStrengthening.com.

Be strong and be happy.