Improve Posture While Sitting

Most people spend more than their fair share of time sitting.  As much as we try to keep good posture, our daily routines just involve too much sitting.  Even worse, poor posture while sitting causes back, neck, and shoulder pain.  Here is a simple technique that you can do ANYWHERE (as long as you remember to do it!) to help improve your posture thus reducing upper body tension.

Place a 4"inch vinyl ball in the middle of your back while sitting - at the office, at home on the computer, in the car when commuting, on a plane, etc.  If your chair does not have a high enough back support, try propping a few pillows.  Placement of the ball at the mid-back supports you into an ergonomically correct 90 degree posture when seated.  If you start to slouch, well, the ball is going to fall giving you a friendly reminder to not slouch or you will just have to keep picking the ball off the floor!

Keep the pressure of the ball in the same spot for AT LEAST 90-120 seconds at a time.  If you tend to get up and down a lot from your chair, that's okay.  As long as you get into a routine of having the ball behind your back whenever you are seated, you are much better than not.  The ball is also putting sustained pressure into fascial barriers in the mid-back helping to minimize repetitive strain on the back muscles.