I must spend 5 hours plus, Monday to Friday sitting at my computer desk. It’s not ideal I know! Over the next three weeks, I’m going to be testing and talking about a great little gadget called UPRIGHT GO. It’s my very own personal posture trainer!

One of the first posts I wrote on this blog was back in 2012 and it was called ‘Stand Like A Soldier.’ My little girl is now five and she still stands with her belly sticking out. Although this isn’t great posture, she will eventually grow out of it.

The problem is, some people never grow out of it. I used to work with a guy who had terrible posture. He wasn’t in great shape to be honest but his posture highlighted the fact even more! Bad posture could lead to a number of health issues such as shoulder and upper back stiffness. When you’re hunched over a computer, your head tends to lean forward – this is poor posture. One other thing, you’ll have noticed just about everyone has a mobile phone in their hands these days. This is going to lead to problems further down the line and it’s been dubbed ‘text neck.’ It’s quite ironic that some of you may be reading this blog post on your mobile phones!

You normally don’t realise about these things until it’s too late. Here’s a funny story, which has just popped into my head. The kids were walking around balancing cushions on their heads the other day. My Sister-in-law joined in and managed to walk the length of the room perfectly. She later admitted she often walks around the house with something balanced on her head. Where as the thought of anyone walking around like this seems strange – and it is to me anyway! What my Sister-in-law is demonstrating is exactly what they used to do in etiquette lessons back in the day. If you were to draw an invisible vertical line down your side, from your ear, down to your shoulder, past the center of your hips, knee and ankle and it all lines up – this is an example of good posture.

Speaking of good examples, here’s a one all about the UPRIGHT GO…

So there’s a little introduction into good and bad posture and what it can ultimately lead too. So as I sit at a desk for hours a day, this is where UPRIGHT GO comes in. Provided in a lovely little carry case, included in the kit is a USB charging cable, manual, alcohol pads and adhesives. The setup was so straight forward too. I’m an Apple user so I just downloaded the UPRIGHT GO app and followed the onscreen instructions. Sex, height, weight and age were all entered along with roughly how many hours I sit at a desk for.

I placed the UPRIGHT GO at the top of my back using the sticky pads provided. A quick double-click on the device connects to the app and you can then calibrate it by standing or sitting straight. You can then begin your training or switch to tracking mode. I wore the UPRIGHT GO for 11 minutes walking around the house as normal. It buzzed every time I was starting to slouch! I corrected my body position immediately.

The first time I wore the UPRIGHT GO at my desk was quite alarming. I actually think it’s highlighted just how bad my computer chair is too! I tightened up a few screws and adjusted some of the positions, which has definitely helped. I then discovered just how much my head leans forward. This is due to the fact I’m looking at the keys on my keyboard as they appear blurry. As I type this, I’m reaching for my glasses! I’m not going to lie, I really struggled at first when I wore the UPRIGHT GO at my computer desk. I just about wore the battery down as it was buzzing so much. It didn’t take very long to correct myself though and then the buzzing reduced.

I’m really looking forward to wearing the UPRIGHT GO every day this week to see how I’m doing. I think it’s such a fantastic concept! Now available from Apple, the UPRIGHT GO retails at £79.95.

Thanks for reading,

*Disclaimer: This was a collaborative post with Upright Technologies and I was given the UPRIGHT GO in order to give an honest review. All words and opinions are my own.