Practice Good Posture

• A healthy spine has three curves: the cervical spine (neck), upper back (thoracic) and lumbar (low back). Flattening any of these curves forces the other two to flatten out and greatly decrease the shock absorption they provide.
  
  Stand with your back to the wall and notice if your spinal curves at the neck, upper back or low back have flattened. Change your stance to restore the curves.
  
  

Use Your Core

• Everyone must be able to sit, stand, lift boxes or reach for objects on a high shelf. To do so repeatedly requires sound ergonomic principles to protect the spine from injury. For example, to lift a heavy box, move from the core: Crouch and use the core abdominal muscles and leg muscles to lift. Avoid hunching over a box with straight legs and using the low back to lift it. This weakens the quadratus muscles above the hips and can injure the low back.
  
  

Avoid Exaggerating Curves

• The most vulnerable areas of the spine are the neck and low back. If you have ever been in a car accident and gotten whiplash, you may remember how painful it was in the neck and low back. These areas are where most people are most flexible. While it is important to maintain spinal curves, avoid exaggerating them. For example, sitting in front of a computer with the head leaning forward and the upper back rounded can turn into dowager's hump, a painful hunchback. Instead, bend at the waist and flatten the chest as you lean your entire body from the waist to the head forward, keeping the abs engaged.