Until recently, proper posture was largely the province of dancers, debutantes, and finishing school students. Conjuring images of children walking the hallways with books stacked neatly on their heads, posture was hardly a significant day-to-day concern for the vast majority of adults. To the extent that it was considered by adults at all, it was largely thought about in the context of appearance and presentation.

To be sure, the aesthetic and presentational benefits of sitting and standing up straight are no less important today than they have ever been. In fact, in an exceptionally competitive economy where it is incumbent upon every serious worker to attain every possible edge, appearances may matter more now than they have in years. However, for the first time, in recent years, an even more significant and urgent reason to focus on posture has emerged.

Safety and the Modern Workplace

While today's computer-intensive, streamlined workplaces--where few of us need even leave our desks to be productive all day long--may seem the pinnacle of progress, there is a sinister downside. Ironically, efforts to reduce physical labor in the workplace to a bare minimum have created an entirely new set of physical problems. Those problems, of course, are the significant physical risks of sitting in one position and working on a computer for hours on end.

Sitting still and typing all day don't seem like hard work? You may be surprised. While the low-level pressure applied to our joints and muscles while we sit in place and type may not seem significant, or even noticeable, the cumulative effects can be devastating. From carpal tunnel syndrome to chronic and recurring neck, back, and shoulder pain, today's most critical workplace safety risks may well come from having reduced the need for physical labor to levels that are too low.

The Solution: Posture Improvement and Ergonomics

Fortunately, a new set of solutions to this peculiarly modern problem has recently emerged. Thanks to the innovation and dedication of a handful of today's top exercise physiologists and workplace ergonomics experts, anyone can now take simple steps to ensure a tension- and pain-free future. The unique techniques and exercises that these experts have introduced are designed to correct improper body mechanics in a way that will benefit the deskbound in both the short term and the long term.

Best of all, the most innovative of these techniques and posture exercises can be integrated into even the busiest work day. That means that in a few minutes, at your desk or on break, you can take simple steps that will help protect you around the clock. Who said that protecting your health needed to be difficult?

Sit Up Straight and Take Notice

The time to sit up straight and take notice of this increasingly serious set of health risks is right now. After all, perhaps the most pernicious element of these modern workplace dangers is that they are all too easy to ignore until it is too late. Fortunately, if you know where to look, you can set yourself on a healthier, more tension-free path in almost no time at all.

If you are one of the millions of adults who ignored your parents' admonitions to "sit up straight" as a child, consider this your second chance. No longer kid's play, attention to proper posture just might represent the difference between a relaxed, unhindered physical future and one suffused with chronic or recurring pain. With choices so stark, failure to take posture seriously today represents far more than poor form.