How Your Bad Postural Habits Impact This Common Household Activity

I’m not a huge fan of house work and chores, but I know for a fact that they need to get done. Some of you reading this do more chores than you deem appropriate, but deep down it’s something you can’t escape. In this week’s article I want to examine a particular activity you might be performing in poor alignment and offer some methods you can use to correct it.

When was the last time you vacuumed? I confess, I prefer it to other chores and having a dog around the house means I tend to do it more often these days. I remember a time when I was vacuuming and I felt some discomfort in my neck and lower back after. As a Certified Posture Specialist, I’m trained to pay special attention to my body; I know the way it moves, how it feels when I do certain activities, and I can pinpoint where I went wrong.

After I was finished, I began thinking about what just happened. It hit me shortly after that I have some bad habits. I found out that I lurch my neck over and round my back whenever I vacuum. I can’t always stay in an upright standing position while I vacuum, because sometimes I need to bend or get low to get a closer look at where I’m pushing the nifty gadget, but I don’t always do this in good alignment.

It’s just a few seconds. It won’t bother me if I bend over or hang my neck, right?

That’s the problem. That’s part of why I developed the bad habit. The first thing I needed to change was my mindset. If you think that a few seconds won’t make a difference you’re wrong. It may seem like a short stint, but I was repeatedly doing this during the course of my time cleaning. What’s worse is I do this every time I vacuum. So, I’ve been repeatedly hanging my head over and arching my spine as I vacuum. I’ve also been known to grab and move things while I’m in the process of vacuuming, and I’m probably lifting these objects in poor alignment.

Ouch…

I don’t think I would have noticed all this If I wasn’t a posture specialist. I’m glad I could identify where I went wrong and make some changes. If you, or someone you know, vacuums on a regular basis for whatever reason, I implore you to pay attention to your body while you’re doing it. You may not feel any pain or discomfort now, but this consistent behavior could leave you sore, or worse, as time progresses.

I want to share some quick fixes with you. Here’s a video I put together for you about vacuuming in good posture:

I hope you learned a lot. I know I learned quite a bit in the filming of this and I’m going to remember these points while I engage my next vacuuming gig.

Do you want the power to identify and change your bad postural habits?

Check this out, I’m going to let you in on how I became so aware. Take a look at our Certified Posture Specialist program and tell me what you think. I’ve used it to help my peers and any clients I’ve worked with in the past. It’s helped me and I know it will help you identify problem areas. If I were you, I’d look into how this could be used to create some changes in my career and everyday life.