5 Tips for Fixing Your Posture After Plastic Surgery

Ever wondered why everyone stresses the importance of “sitting up straight?” From an early age, parents and teachers tell us that keeping our body in proper alignment is important. Turns out, they’re actually right. Great posture not only makes you look several pounds lighter, creates the illusion of your abs being more sculpted, helps you to look more self-confident, and allows you to appear a few inches taller, but it also has numerous benefits for your physical and mental health. Practicing keeping your back straight while sitting or standing is known to reduce lower back pain, lower the frequency of tension headaches, boost your energy levels, improve your mood, and increase your lung capacity. For many patients, plastic surgery procedures such as breast reductions or tummy tuck surgery, which our St. Louis practice performs regularly, have the added benefit of enhancing their posture.

Heavy breasts or weakened stomach muscles could be a factor contributing to your poor alignment in the first place. We all want to look amazing and flaunt our toned-up body after surgery, but sitting or standing in a different way might feel awkward at first. It may even take a while to get accustomed to a “new” way of standing. Not to mention, sometimes it’s comfortable to slouch or lean back, so it’s tempting to do so.

Here are five simple ways to enhance your posture, whether you’ve had a body contouring procedure or not:

1. Be aware of your posture throughout the day, both during activities and when at rest. Being conscious of posture can make you more aware of when it is good and when it is bad.

2. Stand up tall, lengthen your spine like you’re pressed back against a wall, and make sure to keep your shoulders back, belly tucked in, and knees straight.

3. Get some exercise to strengthen your core muscles. Many ways of staying active will be beneficial, but yoga and tai chi are particularly helpful.

4. Keep surfaces that you work or eat on at a comfortable height, so you don’t have to be slouched over to engage with what you’re doing.

5. Lift your smartphone up so that you aren’t constantly straining your neck to stare at it if you’re using it all the time.

For more advice on what’s involved in having a tummy tuck or another type of plastic surgery procedure, talk to our West County Plastic Surgeons of Washington University team. We’ll answer any questions you have relating to breast or body procedures. Give us a call at (314) 996-8800, or submit a contact form to request a consultation.