Lifting: Tips for raising your posture

This article was first published here.

Finally moving into your new dream house or just helping out a friend moving boxes? Moving is always a big undertaking mentally but physically it isn’t a walk in the park either. Most of the time it includes heavy cardboard boxes that leave you with back pain when you are getting your well-deserved night’s sleep.

The right lifting posture is very important for preventing muscle soreness and joint pain after a day’s hard work. Take a look at our tips for improving your lifting posture to make sure you get your sleep pain free.

Apply everything you know about: look straight ahead, your chest out and your shoulders back.

• Place your feet at a shoulder-width apart, this gives you a good base of support.
• Bend your hips and knees only. You want to keep your back nice and straight to prevent straining it.
• Apply everything you know about good posture: look straight ahead, your chest out and your shoulders back. This helps with keeping your back in the proper position. This proper position is not perfectly straight, but with a slight arch in your lower back.
• Try lifting slowly to really keep control over your hips, knees and back.
• If you need to make corners while lifting, use your feet to turn, that way you won’t risk twisting your back.
• Keep whatever you’re lifting at the height of your belly button, close to your body.
• Arrived at the destination? Place the load slowly on the ground with the same movements you used as getting it of the floor. Squat down with your knees and hips only.

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Now you have the proper tools to keep a good posture while lifting. We’ll leave you with one last piece of advice. In your attempt to impress everyone in the room, you might lift too heavy. That’s a large pitfall to still end up with sore lower back muscles at the end of the day even though you kept good posture.

Let us know in the comments below or on twitter what works for you on a day of heavy lifting!

If you’re really serious about improving you posture: These articles are first published here.