Factors affecting posture

This page is one of a series on understanding and improving your posture. Posture is the position the body adopts in response to the effects of gravity. It is the way you hold yourself in sitting, standing or lying down.

'Good' posture allows movement with the least amount of strain and damage. 'Good' posture is sometimes described as 'back straight, shoulders back and tummy in'. In many respects this posture is good, but posture is about more than sitting or standing as straight as possible. Normally your body adopts many different postures in order to do different tasks and moving into different positions during the day helps the body to remain flexible.

It is better to think of 'good' posture as a position in which you:

• feel safe and well balanced
• are able to do everyday tasks easily
• are doing the least amount of damage to your body

Posture only becomes 'bad' when it causes harm to your body or stops you doing everyday things. This may happen if you:

• hold one position for a long time
• feel unbalanced and have to use effort to stay upright
• find that stiff muscles make it easier to sit or stand in a bad posture, which makes the problem worse

MS symptoms that can cause poor posture

There are a number of MS symptoms that can make it harder to maintain a good position. These can come on gradually without you noticing. A physiotherapist will be able to assist you in assessing these issues in more detail and helping with your specific problems.