Mental Attitude also conveys a person’s thought, mood or feeling. Very often attitude of mind and body are closely related. A stressed mind could cause a faulty attitude of the body and a faulty attitude of the body could create stress in the mind. It is even possible to guess person’s mental attitude by looking at the posture of the body. This has been termed as body language. Good attitude can make you happier and bad attitude can create a host of medical and orthopedic problems.

How do attitudes develop?
Attitudes probably develop very early in childhood where the toddler starts imitating a parent or a role model and develops a certain style of standing or walking which grows into a habit. Several attitudes develop during growth where the adolescent imitates a pop star or TV personality. Some teenagers slouch just to look cool. A teenage girl conscious of her growing breasts, slouches her shoulders to conceal or underplay her maturity. Some boys develop a swagger and others may stick out their chest to highlight their manhood. Attitudes develop subconsciously and get incorporated in one’s personality. Faulty attitudes create tensions in certain groups of muscles, which could result in permanent imbalance in muscles.

Can faulty attitudes cause harm?
Many orthopedic disorders are associated with poor attitude. Back and neck problems head the list. Knee pains, muscle soreness, fatigue and even headaches are commonly seen. Faulty posture results in alteration of biomechanics in the various joints in the body. Faulty posture causes muscle imbalance and abnormal transfer of body weight, which can have disastrous consequences. A slouch can cause contraction of the flexor muscles and stretching of the extensor muscles of the back. Over the years this can develop into a permanent bony deformity and cause chronic backache. Persons using a faulty pillow while sleeping can invite problems of the cervical spine with spasms and stiffness of various muscles of the neck. Persons engaged in sitting for prolonged periods on chairs, which are too low for them, cause excessive flexion of the knee joint and subsequent knee pains. Orthopedic conditions like spondylosis and knee osteoarthritis can be traced back to poor attitudes of the body. Poor attitude of the face where one frowns constantly can cause excruciating headaches due continuous muscle tightness.

Attitude and body language:
There are some people who send positive vibes with their body posture. I have seen several public speakers that capture the attention of the audience even before they have started speaking. A person who stands tall and relaxed with an open expression on the face and a graceful gait gets the onlooker to like him immediately. This is positive body language. On the other hand the body can convey subtle messages which could be interpreted by the onlooker as poor self-confidence, shyness, nervousness and several other negative vibes. Here the person may not be lacking in confidence really but his posture will make the onlooker imagine it.

What is correct attitude?
A person has correct posture if he stands, sits, sleeps keeping his muscles without much tension and joints at optimum position. The body should be relaxed and the spine should not be deviated abnormally.

Good standing attitude:
While dealing with correct standing posture, let us start from the width of the stance. To stand comfortably the width of your stance should be as much as the breadth of your shoulders. This provides you balance and distributes your body weight evenly. The position of your lower back while standing is important. Very often one tends to create excessive extension of the lower spine. This posture makes the tummy jut out more and puts excessive stresses on the back. Prolonged standing with the spine extended can reduce the efficiency of the abdominal muscles and weaken them. A good idea is to tuck in the tummy and the spine will straighten out. The chest should be in the same line as the pelvis when viewed from the side. This reduces the chances of slouching. The shoulders should not droop but should be as square as possible. Head is to be held high without any deviations in the neck. The ideal standing posture creates maximum distance between the head and the toes and avoids any lateral deviations. The body should be as relaxed as possible without slouching. A good idea to practice correct standing is to stand with your back touching the wall. If you can touch the back of your head, your lower back and your heels to the wall you are doing great.

Good sitting attitude:
To develop a good sitting attitude one has to choose a chair correctly. Height and occupation are two important factors to be considered while choosing a chair. A good chair for a six footer may not suit a person who is 5 foot 5. A person who is on a computer needs a chair different from the one who is a telephone operator. Today job specific chairs are available. While choosing a chair see that the height of the chair reaches just below your knees. When you sit with your shoulders relaxed, your elbows should rest comfortably on the arm rests. See that your lower back is well supported and most of thighs are supported by the seat. You should not be flexing your knees too much or struggling to reach the ground. The lower back should not slide away from the backrest and your shoulders should not droop to reach the armrests. Remember that many of us spend over 8 hours on a chair and it is worthwhile spending some time on selecting the right chair for you.

Good sleeping attitude:
For good sleeping posture the pillow and the mattress should be ideal. Both should be firm giving your body good support without allowing your body sink in them. The pillow should ideally be placed from the shoulder blades to the top of the head. This ensures that the neck is neither flexed nor extended excessively. The pillow should be thick enough to provide the natural curve of the cervical spine comfortable support. If you habitually sleep on your side then the pillows should be as thick as the distance between your ear and the tip of your shoulder to ensure that your cervical spine is bent sideways. As far as good sleeping posture is concerned it should be supine. To give rest to your lower back you could place a small pillow under your knees, so that they are flexed and the lumbar spine is rested. Unfortunately the sleeping posture is not within our control once sleep sets in, but let there be a good beginning at least.

How to walk right:
The key word to correct walking is to WALK TALL. There are two aspects of correct walking. One is the body posture and the second is the foot mechanics while walking. The body posture should be as erect as possible while walking. As with standing, the walk should also avoid any deviations of the torso. Get the feeling of elongating the body while walking. Hold your head high, keep shoulders wide, tuck your tummy in, and swing your arms naturally without any tension. When you stride you should get the feeling that your feet are taking elongating your entire lower extremity and making your stride long. The foot mechanics are very important while walking. The heel should strike the ground first, then the rest of the foot bears the weight of the body and finally the front of the foot propels you forwards. If these little things are kept in mind one can develop a graceful and healthy way of walking.

How to lift things without killing your back:
Dynamic attitude deals with performing actions correctly with minimal risks to your musculo-skeletal system. One of the frequent activities, which could cause damage to your back is lifting things up from ground level. Whether you are lifting a one-year-old child or a suitcase you have to be careful while executing the action.

Two golden rules while lifting:

1. Squat at your knees, rather than bend your back.
2. Hold the object close to your body.

SQUAT and do not BEND: The quadriceps muscles, which help you lift weights while squatting are stronger than your back muscles. The knees are more adept at lifting weights than your delicate spinal joints. These facts make squatting to lift far safer and effective than bending your back. Every time you have to lift something up remember to bend at your knees rather than your back.
Hold objects close to you: Unless your are lifting something very hot it is better to lift objects close to your body. This reduces the load moment on your spinal joints. It is easier to lift a child close to you rather than with your arms extended. Remember to bend your elbows while lifting objects. This will automatically ensure that the load is close to the axis of your body.
The trick in having correct attitude is to develop the AA formula.
The Awareness and Action formula. Once you are aware of your posture it is very easy to correct it. By repeatedly correcting the attitude one can form a habit of keeping the body in the right posture all the time. So All the best with your attitude. May you stand, sit and sleep well.