: ‘WHAT IS GOOD POSTURE?

Good posture means a body in balance,
Eight general rules for good standing
posture are:

(1) Stand tall (6) Spine straight
(2) Chin level (7) Buttocks flat
(3) Abdomen pull- (8) Feet parallel,
ed in and up toes straight
(4) Chest high ahead, weight
(5) Shoulders distributedeven-
relaxed ly on both feet

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The easiest way to visualize good stand-
ing posture is to imagine a perpendicu-
lar line running (side view) from your
' skull through the middle of your ear,
neck, shoulder, hip, knee and instep. See
dotted line on figure at lower right.

  

HOW TO TEST POSTURE

(1) Stand with back to wall —head, heels, and shoulders touching it;
hands by sides. Press buttocks down against the wall. If posture is good the
space at the hollow of your back should be only about the thickness of yotir
hand. (2) In facing the wall your chest should touch first; if abdomen
does, your posture is really bad and you should see a physician.

GOOD WALKING POSTURE

Stand against the wall as for first posture test. Throw greatest weight on
balls of feet. With chest high and abdomen contracted, step out, swinging
legs from hips; toes pointing in a straight line ahead; left hand moving for-
ward with right foot, and vice versa. (For illustration see page 3.)

POOR POSTURE SHRINKS YOUR HEIGHT
AND CAUSES FOOT TROUBLE

Test how much shorter you become when your posture
is faulty by taking your measure against the wall in good
standing position and again in a slumped position.
Poor fitting shoes retard circulation, cause fatigue,
nervousness and bad posture. To allow.for an easy, sure
stride they should have medium or low heels and be long
enough and wide enough to allow for the natural spread
of the toes. Run-down heels are indicative of poor pos-
ture. High heels throw the body out of plumb. Look at
the dotted line of balance on the left figure. See how this
has shifted on the one at the right. Throwing the weight
on the toes interferes with the mechanism of the feet.