Proper posture, footwear are key to finding fitness

As the New Year begins many people will begin a new workout routine, there are some essential points to consider when beginning this new routine. Proper posture and footwear are key points to achieve the best results in the gym and decrease your chances of injury.

It is important to maintain good postural alignment with any type of exercise ranging from a light aerobic workout to a rigorous weight lifting routine. Proper body alignment where the body is balanced and the muscles of the body are properly aligned allows for maximum physical performance, decreases the chance of injury, provides support to joints and reduces stress on ligaments. When the body’s joints and muscles are aligned properly you are better able to perform exercises and activities in your daily life such as lifting groceries or walking down a flight of stairs. Exercising with poor posture can place increased stress on joints and lead to muscle and skeletal pain.

Walking is a simple exercise to begin a new workout routine. When walking with proper posture it is helpful to imagine a string pulling from the top of the head that pulls upward, this will elongate your spine. Also imagining a plumb line that is straight with your ear, shoulder and your hip will help to show what proper posture should feel like. While in this position your shoulders should be relaxed and not rounded forward. As you begin walking you want the heel of the foot to strike the ground first and roll forward onto the forefoot to push off. Some people may have an abnormal foot strike where they experience overpronation or supination in their feet when walking, these may lead in injury.

Overpronation is quite common with people and is when the foot rolls inwards and flattens the arch of the foot. Ways to check for this are to look at your feet when standing if there is no visible arch in your foot and the innermost part of you foot is touching the ground you may be overpronated. Also, look at the wear on a pair of older shoes if the inside of the sole is more worn than the outside this may be a sign.

Supination is not as common as pronation in the feet but may also pose a problem. This happens when the foot rolls outward lifting the arch off of the ground. Excessively high arches and a shoe that is worn on the outside of the sole may be a sign of supination. These abnormalities may alter the correct alignment of the lower extremities and prevent a person from maintaining a proper posture. Corrections for this may be as simple as changing you footwear to match your foot style.

There are shoes that can correct for both of these faults and offer stability and cushion to decrease the wear and tear on the feet and joints. An example of a good all-around shoe would be the Asic Foundation. Also a knowledgeable sales associate may be helpful in buying the correct shoe for your foot type.

Proper posture is the essential in getting the best results from your workouts and enjoying your time in the gym. A personal trainer or exercise specialist may be able to offer hands on assistance in proper exercise techniques. Even with maintaining proper posture injuries may occur and Jamestown Regional Medical Center’s Rehabilitation department does offer free injury screenings, call 701-952-4800 for an appointment.

Best of luck staying fit and enjoy the New Year.

Tags: life, health, fitness