Erin K Simpson DC

Modern-day hunter-gatherer tribes like the Hadza sit just as much as Americans do, yet they don’t deal with the same chronic pain and back issues. Therefore, the problem is not how long we sit, but rather 1) the way we sit and 2) our overall lack of movement.

In Functional Medicine, structural integrity is one of the seven core clinical imbalances we look at when assessing a patient’s health. If I see someone with bad posture, that tells me that other systems in the body may not be functioning optimally.

It’s never too late to work on your posture. The first step is increasing your postural awareness and knowing how to correct it. Posture-supporting exercises can help you practice good standing and sitting posture so that you can know what it feels like and work on incorporating it into your daily life.

Before I became a medical doctor, I was a yoga instructor. Yoga serves so many incredible benefits for our minds and bodies, but it’s also great to increase our postural awareness. One of my favorites is Mountain Pose or Tadasana. I love this pose because it helps me pay attention to all the intricate details in a good standing posture. Some other great poses for posture and building the muscles to support good posture are Tree Pose and Hero Pose.

Another simple posture-supporting exercise you can do is to get up and walk around every 20 to 30 minutes, especially if you’re sitting at a desk all day. Set a timer on your phone as a reminder to stand up, readjust, shake off any bad posture, and get your circulation moving. Staying in any position for too long can lead to neck and back pain, headaches, and discomfort.

Bonus: Finding a fantastic chiropractor to help support your structural integrity is huge. If you can afford it is one of the best investments you can make for your health. Two chiropractors that I love in the LA area are: and

Study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31505573/