"Sit up straight!" "Don't slouch!" I'm sure we've all heard those admonishing words more than once from our mother when we were growing up. And most of us begrudgingly complied with her command having no concept of the anatomical and biomechanical rationale behind her persistent prodding. In fact she probably wasn't aware of all the implications of poor posture herself! But somehow, some way your mother always seemed to know best. Posture is Important!

What is good posture anyway and why is it so important? Basically, posture refers to the body's alignment and positioning with respect to the ever-present force of gravity. Whether we are standing, sitting or lying down gravity exerts a force on our joints, ligaments and muscles. Good posture entails distributing the force of gravity through our body so no one structure is overstressed.

The sitting position is where most of us get into trouble with poor postural habits. Sitting is the most stressful posture for your lower back. Most lower back pain results from the cumulative stress that poor posture places on your body. In addition to this, when we sit, we sit on our Coccyx (tailbone).

When a person sits there are pressures on both bones and flesh. The bone points are your ischial tuberosities (a.k.a, "sit bones") protrusions off the base of your pelvis. The fleshy parts include your buttocks and thighs and the soft tissue between your legs.

The soft tissue between your legs is where all the blood vessels, lymph and nerves that supply your genitalia - male or female - are routed. Pressure here can constrict blood vessels or deaden nerves. When you sit, these sensitive tissues are pressed between the pelvic bones and the chair, and pressure radiates to the pelvic floor through the pelvic outlet. The longer the pressure is maintained, the greater the risk of damage.

You can test the sensitivity of your circulation by pressing a vein on the back of your hand with a finger. Only a minimal amount of pressure is needed to block blood flow in the vein. It is not difficult to imagine the huge number of blood vessels and nerves that can be blocked when the weight of the upper body squashes them as you sit on a chair.

The PerfectSit® is a unique new patent pending product that is the world’s first one piece custom molded, integral lumbar and coccyx support system. It was designed to help you maintain the natural s-curve of your spine with lumbar support as well as incorporate full split seat technology to lessen the pressure on the coccyx.

Sit Better…Feel Better!