There’s no such thing as perfect posture, everyone comes in different shapes and sizes, what is good for one person (posture wise) might not be for someone else. I think of poor posture as more of a symptom, rather than a condition that needs to be fixed.
What I mean by this is, for example, are people who are trying to lose weight. In my opinion, some ask the wrong question, which is “how can I lose weight”, instead of asking, “why am I overweight in the first place”.
I know this might sound pedantic but I think it’s important in changing our fundamental mindset when approaching issues like this. Being overweight, in most cases, is a symptom of a poor lifestyle and eating habits. Unless you change these habits you will likely always suffer from weight issues.
Going back to posture, I think we (including us Osteopaths and other manual therapists) focus on trying to obtain good posture without looking at the fundamental reasons why someone has poor posture in the first place.
Our posture is a result of a cumulation of many many factors; there is no simple stretch, exercise, posture corrector (another subject for another article) that is the cure for poor posture.
So how do we obtain better posture?
Key Aspects
- Ergonomics and Daily Habits
- Manual Therapy
- Stretching and Mobility Exercises
- Activation and Strengthening Exercises.
I will elaborate on these briefly.
Ergonomics and Daily Habits
Limit poor ergonomics and daily habits and that will help to limit postural strain. Ask your employer to get an ergonomic specialist to look at your desk/chair/screen or you can read online setup guides that can limit this problem.
Most of us sit all day, therefore this can have a huge impact, especially when considering the cumulative effect of being sat poorly over months and years.
Unfortunately, even with good ergonomics in place, sometimes issues with posture can arise as the body doesn’t like being sat still for prolonged periods. Hence, another reason to get out moving after work.
Manual Therapy
Manual therapy can be a good way to release chronically tight muscle by using stretching, massage, and a variety of other techniques.
Also, your Osteopath can give you tips on what aspects of your daily routine or certain muscle weaknesses might be adversely affecting your posture the most. Therefore, you can focus on these to get some good initial results.
Manual Therapy can also be another good way to manage chronic tension periodically if you have a very sedentary job, as it helps prevent tension from building up.
Stretching and Mobility Exercises
These are exercises that work specifically on tight muscles and general mobility exercises that improve functional movement (movements that you would do day-to-day). There are many ways and types of stretches. Your Osteopath can always advise which ones are suitable for you.
Activation and Strengthening Exercises
In my opinion, this is the most important aspect if you are trying to obtain better posture. As we sit all day, certain muscles “switch off” due to a lack of activation. A nice way to think about it, if you’re right-handed, you are stronger or can perform movements better than using your left side.
This is due to always preferring to do the movement with your dominant side, increasing your brain’s connection with the muscles. Sitting at a desk over long periods can lead to certain muscles not activating as well which can lead to poor posture. There is no easy or “simple fix solution” to get these muscles to activate more. You just have to activate them!
You can do this in a variety of ways. I like to advise my patients to do activities that they enjoy (swimming, lifting weight, etc.), therefore they are likely to continue that activity long-term. Doing more exercise will generally help with the strength component of your muscles; once again this won’t happen overnight and you need to be consistent to improve.
Conclusion
I don’t like to tell people they have bad posture. This isn’t about body shaming people, this doesn’t help. There are practitioners out there that will say your posture is “terrible” therefore you need X amount of treatments to get this fixed. After these treatments, does this mean your posture is fixed forever? No!
Our posture like our body weight is forever fluctuating day-to-day. We are always somewhere along a posture spectrum and this is not something you can fix.
Therefore look at your posture as an indicator and follow the steps mentioned in this article and hopefully, they will maintain good posture for you over the long term.
Otherwise don’t worry about it, get out and be more active and improved posture will come on its own.
If you have any questions about posture or other issues that I’ve mentioned in this article, you can always contact me at andy@heavitree-osteopaths.co.uk and I will do my best to answer them.
April 22, 2021. Andrew Horide, Osteopath