At northlondonosteopaths alan nevies and his colleagues try to spread the latest most up to date ways of moving well and living a life free of pain and malfunction in the musculo-skeletal anatomy. So it might be surprising to hear that the subject of this blog post is to celebrate the benefits of standing up straight as a serious weapon in the war against pain and stiffness. In the Times 7/5/22, Peta Bee describes how Vinh Pham, is helping the Hollywood crew with their back and muscle aches and joint problems. The key to moving and feeling well is to change positions regularly, because any one position that is held for too long will cause a build up of tension in the muscles and joints which will translate into pain. His recommendation is to avoid sitting in one position for more than 30 minutes. Once an hour we should stand to pull our shoulders back and down towards the spine to prevent hunching. The golden rule is simply to change position as often as possible, bending, swinging, stretching whenever we can. Other advice includes shortening your stride when you run, sitting at an angle of 110 degrees while driving and take regular breaks on long drives, don’t carry (heavy) shoulder bags, work on glutes and hamstrings, and exercise your feet, use a foam roller regularly and twist and rotate hips, spine and shoulders before playing sport. Alan Nevies and his colleagues at northlondonosteopaths are happy to meet you and guide you through any or all of these options to show you the best way of doing these movements properly to prevent pain and stiffness.