Posture & learning

Physical therapy

﻿Hi, my name is Sophie Brazier, I'm a children's physio-therapist. Thank you for joining me today. We're going to be continuing talking about posture, but more specifically, we will be looking at, how your posture can affect your learning, and then we will look at some tips from us physios, and then we will end with an activity, looking at postural importance, and how improving your posture, and making those small changes, can improve your concentration, which will then help your learning. Before we begin, I just need you to get a few things, to help you with the activity. You'll need to do the activity, in sitting on a chair with a back, and also if you have a rolled up towel, that will go behind your back, that would be great. You might need some help from a parent or carer, to get those things. So if you want to do that now, then we can make a start. I would just like to give you a little message, from our team. We, as therapists, have tried to think, of the best way, to continue to support, children, young people, and their families. So you may be watching this, as a child by yourself, or you might be with a parent or carer. We will be exploring topic areas, that we regularly provide, advice and support on, across all ages and abilities. In each lesson, we will aim to give you some ideas and activities, that can be carried out, either at home or in school. You may already have specific programmes, that you're using, or advice that has been given to you, by your child's school or therapist. So please make sure, that you're using any information I'm giving you, alongside anything you already have, and if you do have any questions, or would like help tailoring this to their needs, then please make sure you get in contact, with your local therapy service. So how can posture affect learning? So there's some points here that I'm just going to go through. So comfortable position, you might think, "Oh yes, I'll get in a nice, comfortable position on the sofa, so that I can learn." But here it's more about alignment, are you keeping those natural curves? Is that position comfortable? So not making yourself sit in these, bolt upright positions, where you're not going to be comfortable, and then you're not going to be engaging in learning. So the word comfortable, can be a little bit misleading, but it has to be a good posture, but also a comfortable posture, that you can maintain. And if you are in a good posture, and you're on a comfortable posture, you're more likely, to be less fidgety, and less distracted, so then your concentration, will be able to be on your learning. And if you're comfortable, and your muscles are working well, and your muscles, aren't having to work overtime, to keep you in that position, then you'll have more energy. So if you've got more energy, you'll be more engaged, to be able to learn, so you'll be more motivated. And this is quite an important one, less headaches. I think we maybe take for granted sometimes, if we're sitting at a laptop, or sitting at a desk, and sitting in one position, it can really affect all these muscles here, so not only the muscles in your back, but you have lots of muscles around your neck, and at the back of your head, that help keep your head in a nice position. So if we're staying in those sustained postures, we're not keeping active, we might be at risk of getting more headaches. So if we're getting more headaches, we're going to not really be wanting to learn, and we're going to miss that time. So if we can get those good postures, change those positions, and keep active, then we'll be having less headaches, hopefully no headaches, and then we'll be able to learn better. And the last point there is that, it can really have some mental health benefits. So that's how your mind's feeling, so if your posture is feeling good, if your body is feeling good, you're in a good position to learn, then your head space, is going to be feeling good too, which at the bottom there, ultimately means, that we're able to focus better on the task, so we've got a good focus for learning. And here's some advice from physio. So really think that start off in a comfortable position to learn. So remember, it's not a comfortable position, curled up on the sofa, for a few hours, it's that comfortable, aligned, natural curves, am I ready to learn? Have I got all the support I need? Think about the area, and the environment you're working in, is it really cluttered? Do I have to be reaching over to get things? And the third point there, consider the seating options. So this might be, if you're just sat for a short amount of time, you're able to do it on a chair, that doesn't need very much support. If you perhaps need, a little bit more support, with your posture, you might have a chair at school, that gives you that support, or you perhaps might have a caution chair, that offers you support, that has been assessed for you, by a therapist. So there's lots of different options there, is just thinking, before you begin the activity, how comfortable am I? Is my seat comfortable? And the fourth point there, check the eye level and adjust if needed. So when you are working, if you've got a laptop, try and think about your screen, being at the same height as your eyes, so that you're not having, to lean down like this. You need to think about, all the parts of your body, when you're working, and the fifth point there, take regular movement breaks, so this is about staying active, so you don't have to be getting up and down every few seconds, and fidgeting and moving around. It's about planning and thinking, okay, I've got this task, I've got this lesson to do, I've got this amount of work to do, I'm going to stay in this position, and then I'm going to get up, and have a little walk, or I'm going to get up, and go and get a drink, or you might do some activities, or some stretches, or exercises in sitting. You might just get up, and have a stand. So there's no set ideas for movement breaks, but that's ideal, to build them into your day, so that you're not always in one position, and the last point here, is really the most important, posture is everybody's responsibility, so everybody can work together to help, but you are the person, see depending on your age, and that you can take some responsibility of your posture, which ultimately is a really good thing. So, when we're talking about, making changes to your posture, you're not needing to make these drastic changes, all in one day, or all in a couple of hours, it's about making those small changes gradually. So making changes to your posture, checking in and doing a posture check. So, in lessons that are going to be coming up, we will be talking about a posture check, and this will just go through in different positions, in sitting, in standing, and in the lying position. Just looking at the different checks, you can do, just to have a little think, about your body awareness, which if you have those two things, your posture check, and thinking more about your body, and its awareness, then you will start, to bring in those small changes, and when you bring in those small changes, it becomes more of a habit, and then you won't need to think about it, it will become automatic, and then the posture awareness, will just come as part of your daily routine. So, let's move on to points to remember. So important things to think about, if it's less effort for your body, so this isn't just having, a lie down on the sofa where it's less effort for your body, and you're relaxing. I'm meaning, if you're in a comfortable, aligned position, your muscles aren't going to have to be working extra, extra hard, to keep you in those positions. So then you've got more effort, to concentrate on the task, or more focused on the task. So then you're able to concentrate better. So then you will be more productive. So the last point there, small changes can make a big difference. So even if you just take one point today, that you're going to go away, and think about and work on, and then all those small changes, over a period of a week, or a couple of weeks, will make a big change for you, and your posture. You're now going to try an activity, for postural importance, and the video that's going to follow, will be me demonstrating the activity. So when you finish watching it, if you pause it, then you can complete the task, and then you can be thinking about this question, which position were you able to concentrate on reading more easily in? So just have a think, when you've got the towel behind your back, does it feel different? Does your posture feel different? And then when the video is finished, we'll meet up again. I'm just going to demonstrate an activity, for your sitting posture, and it's just to give you an example, of how a good posture, can affect your learning, or your concentration. So to begin with, you need to have your chair with the back, your rolled up towel, and I rolled mine to about that thickness, and about that width, that's going to go behind my back, and you will need a book or a magazine. So to start off with, I'd like you to just get in the chair, and sit in a good aligned position. So you want to have your bottom back in the chair, you want to have your shoulders relaxed, and your back supported, by the back of the chair, and your feet flat on the floor. So, the first thing I'd like you to try, is being in that aligned position, with your neck and head, so ideally you probably want your magazine or book, at your eye level, where you might have a table out, in front of you, or a support where you can read, and I'd like you, to stay there for two minutes, and just see how you feel in that position. Then the second thing, I'd like you to do, is to try the same thing, but you're going to have, the rolled up towel, into the lower part of your back. So into the small of your back, where you have a natural curve. So for me, it sits about there. So you'll see, where the coloured bits of the towel is against my black t-shirt, and that's just supporting the curve in my spine, and then I'd like you to do the same thing. So read your book or magazine, for about two minutes, and I'd like you to think about, how you were able to concentrate, in those two positions. Did you notice a difference, when you had the towel in? Were you able to concentrate better, when you had a prompt behind your back? Or did you feel no difference? So go away and have a think about those, and pause the video now, so that you can go, and try that yourself. Great, I hope you enjoyed the activity. I went through in the video, how to break it down a little bit further. So there's just some points on the screen here, so you might want to pause the video again, to just have a look at the four points. So were are you comfortable in each position? Could you stay in each position for each task, for a period of time? And what about the effort needed in each of the position, with the towel, or without the towel? And could you concentrate on the reading? So that's the end of our lesson today, on posture and how it can affect learning. Thank you very much for joining me. I hope you found that useful, and I've got some tips, and ideas to try, Please join me next time, the lessons four, where we will be talking about lying posture. I hope you have a good day, take care, and I'll see you very soon. Bye.

Posture & learning

Posture & learning

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