Hunched up shoulders, tight hips and an achy back sound all too familiar? I’m with you. But that's why, since WFH became my norm, I’ve been scouring the internet to uncover how to permanently improve posture, reduce back pain (hello lower back pain exercises) and give my flexibility a much-needed upgrade. Enter: Eleanor Burt's AKA Posture Ellie's seven-day posture challenge.
Before I get stuck in, it’s worth highlighting a few things. Firstly, poor posture doesn’t just affect our musculoskeletal system. As researchers in this 2022 study found, holding a stance that deviates from a neutral trunk position for just three consecutive minutes can affect the cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems resulting in "decreased stroke volume (the amount of oxygenated blood pumped from the heart in one beat), increased heart rate and relative activation of sympathetic tone" (so essentially, your nervous system is under more stress). Pretty eye-opening stuff.
