Shoulder Brace: Improve Sitting Posture & Reduce Body Aches

Are you constantly slouching due to your bad seating position in the office? Are you a new mama who spends lots of her time breastfeeding in a seated position? Or perhaps you are in a war with yourself about whether to let your baby sleep in a nursery room or you want to hold them a little more in your hands so they could fall asleep faster?

Whatever your case may be, slouching is the number one enemy to your posture and overall health. Although you can change some of your bad habits by making your office desk  more ergonomic, and by breastfeeding your baby in a lying position, there are other things you could do as well to ensure you improve your posture.

Maintaining Proper Posture

The key to having a good posture lies in the position of your spine. The human body spine has three natural curves, at the neck, at the mid back and at the low back. So, it goes without saying that if you want to have a correct posture, you should maintain these in the right position. Both, your dynamic (the posture when you’re moving, walking, running, etc.) and static (the posture when you’re not moving, sitting, standing, sleeping) posture should be balanced, otherwise, you’ll deal with lots of health problems.

woman with back pain sitting on office chair
Source: renewptnorthshore.com

When dealing with poor posture, your flexibility can be decreased, your joints and balance may get affected, the musculoskeletal system may get misaligned and you may feel a lot of pain in the neck, back and shoulders. Been there, done that. While I’m not a breastfeeding mama, I work in an office or to be more precise, I sit in front of a computer eight hours per day. And well, that took its toll on my body. Out of all these health-related problems, my biggest one was the constant pain in my neck and back, until I discovered the cure. Besides doing some regular exercises, the things that helped me improve my posture were my shoulder brace and ergonomic office chair.

What Is a Shoulder Brace?

My posture brace changed my life. The purpose of a posture shoulder brace is to correct those hunched, rounded shoulders, and mine did a great job. This lightweight product is specially designed to correct your posture without putting huge pressure on your back and shoulders. Available in different sizes with padding on the right places, there is a truly large assortment of shoulder braces Australia retailers offer.

girl with a shoulder brace
Source: badbacks.com.au

How Do Shoulder Braces Work?

By slightly pulling your shoulders backwards, your posture corrector maintains the curves of your spine in a natural position without causing you any pain. When buying a shoulder brace Australia orthopedists recommend looking for one that encourages muscle activation, one that is comfortable to wear, is easy to put on and off, and targets the area that needs the most support. Since my problem was mainly in my back and the upper body, I chose a posture corrector that targeted the upper body. You can also get a shoulder brace that is designed to support only the neck or your lower back.

An important thing you should take into account is the brace’s maintenance. It’s of vital importance for you to choose one that can be machine washed since you are supposed to wear it on a daily basis. In order to do this, you should choose one that is made of a quality and soft material, so you could wear it under your clothes when working.

How Long to Wear Shoulder Brace?

There is no definite answer to this as it will mainly depend on you. Although manufacturers claim that you can achieve the needed results by wearing a shoulder brace for at least 10 minutes per day, this can depend from one person to another. You can wear it even for several hours if you want. I wore mine almost every day at work and I saw results within just a couple of weeks.

ergonomic office chair for home office
Source: hiconsumption.com

Ergonomic Chair

Besides arranging my office desk and investing in an ergonomic laptop stand and ergonomic mouse, I also changed my chair. Instead of buying any chair, I’ve decided to invest in office chair ergonomic model. When it comes to good office chair ergonomic ones can help improve your posture and deliver the needed comfort. Adjustable, helpful and stylish are the three words that can describe today’s ergonomic chairs.

Featuring a headrest and backrest support, these chairs support the spine’s natural curves without adding pressure to it. Thanks to them, you can say goodbye to the constant neck, shoulder and back pains and be more productive. Ergonomic chairs have a soft sitting surface with the proper seat depth that provides better support to the hips and buttocks. Regarding material, they can be made of leather or quality mesh. Mesh models are the more popular option mainly because of their superior breathability.