When most people hear the term posture, they remember being told
to stand or sit up straight when they were kids. This article is
not an effort to have you stand rigidly, just a look at how we
hold our bodies and what it can tell us. Posture comes from the
Latin word ponere, meaning to place. It’s defined as “the
position of the body; way of holding the body.” The important
thing to realize about postural problems is that over the years
they can lessen your quality of life to some extent—and, if
ignored, are likely to worsen as you age.Whatever postural
problem may exist, it affects more of your body than you may
realize. Since all your soft tissue is inter-connected (your
muscles, tendons, ligaments, connective tissue, etc.), a problem
in one area of your body can (and in time, probably will) affect
the area next to it. For instance, the muscles on one side of
your lower back can tighten, causing your body to adjust by
twisting slightly. This can begin to affect your upper
back/shoulder area and/or your hip