Pain is a reflection that your body is out of alignment and you need to adopt corrective measures. Follow these steps to bring it back in balance.

 Roll your shoulders back

Allowing the shoulders to come forward when you are typing or driving puts immense strain on the muscles of the back and neck. To correct this, try a shoulder roll exercise. Bring one shoulder a little forward, positioning it a little upwards and then bring it back before relaxing it downwards. Do not put in any effort to hold your shoulder there. Do the other side next.

• Keep the back of your neck long and your chin angled down

When you follow the poor posture guideline to ‘keep your chin up’, this shortens the back of the neck, pinching the nerve roots, ultimately causing dysfunction in your arms. To correct this, grasp the hair at the base of your skull, pulling it backwards and then upwards. Let your chin angle down towards your chest as you lengthen the back of your neck.

• Turn your head on its vertical axis

It’s common to compress the neck on the side the head turns to. This can result in damage to the delicate nerves, discs, and other structures in the neck. Draw an imaginary line between your eyes and follow that horizontal line as you pivot your head on its axis. This will result in smooth action without any gritty noises and damage to the neck structure.

• Untuck the pelvis

Tucking the pelvis pushes the imaginary tail between your legs, causing the lower back and upper body to get out of balance. Whether you are sitting or standing, do so in a way that positions the imaginary tail behind you. Do not tense the lower back while doing so but focus on releasing any unnatural tension in the belly and work on toning your buttock muscles to achieve a naturally tipped position for your pelvis.

• Take the sway out of your lower back by tucking the rib case

Arching the lower back is a common mistake to make up for hunching the upper body. To best address a swayback, gently nudge the lower front border of your rib cage downwards and then inwards. This will elongate your lower back in a healthy way.

• Sleep with an elongated back

Avoid curling into a ball or lying down with an arched back. As soon as you descend into your bed for the night, use your arms to gently introduce some additional length to your spine. Keep your attention on your back and avoid the common mistake of arching the back in an effort to lengthen the spine.

• Strengthen your foot muscles

Try interacting with the ground in ways that involve foot muscles. Gripping real or imaginary contours on the earth is a great way to strengthen your foot and toe muscles.

• Bend from the hips, not the back

It’s common for people to round their backs while bending. Instead, use your hips, keeping your back straight throughout the bend. Keeping your legs wide can help, as can imagining your tail going up in the air as you go down. Bend your knees as needed if your hamstrings are tight.

• Use your gluteal muscles when walking

Walking should be a series of forward propulsions, not a series of falls blocked by sticking out a foot. Imagine that you are pushing

the ground back behind you with each step.

• Gently land with every step

A soft landing reduces wear and tear on all your weight-bearing joints, while encouraging you to use proper muscles when walking.