By Eveline Erni

At one time or another almost everyone has been told to "stand up straight." Unfortunately, most of us don't really know what that means. In physical therapy lingo we call it "functional neutral alignment" and in the general terms it is called having good posture. First let me explain what good posture is not. It is not:

A stiff and static position
Standing at attention as if you were in the military
Pulling in your stomach, holding your breath and squeezing your shoulder blades back

So how do you achieve good posture? To get the idea you should read the following and take a look at the picture with this article (the picture should help put the pieces together). The elements of good posture are (working from the floor up):

Keep your weight over the center of your feet (neither over the balls of the feet or over the heels)
The knees should be relaxed
The rim of your pelvis should be horizontal (you can orient yourself on your belt to find horizontal: your belt buckle should neither be higher or lower than the back of the belt)
The chest sits on top of the pelvis (often the chest is too far behind the pelvis)
The chest bone should be lifted forward and up
Relax your shoulders down
The head should be positioned back over the shoulders
Lengthen the back of your neck (chin down)
Reach the top of your head to the sky

Putting all of that together takes some work and occasionally some professional assistance. However, if you persist, over time you learn to find the right positions for all the different body segments and the structures of your body will change, so it becomes easier to maintain the functional neutral alignment.

Finally, to help put all of the pieces together let's try an image. Think that you have string attached on the top of your head that lengthens your spine to the sky.

Remember, having good posture pays significant dividends and not just the reduction in strain on the back. Good posture is your presentation to the world. In an age of incredible competition for jobs, career and social status, posture is a very basic statement of how you feel about yourself.