How to Posture
Just writing these words makes me feel like a phony. But, I can’t bash postural stuff without giving an alternative.
Why do I bash it? I don’t like the hyper-vigilance that it creates in people. The false dichotomy of GOOD vs. BAD gives a weird incentive associated with maintaining it, and a feeling of failure when you don’t.
The body isn’t designed for constant muscle activation, and this is what generally happens for those diligent posture folk. They strive to keep XYZ muscle on at all times less they anger their alien overlords.
Luckily nature is smarter than us and muscles are positional. If you get into a specific position, your muscles have no choice but to activate.
This is really all it takes for “postural” muscles.
With this position, you don’t need to feel muscle activation between the scaps, but more under and on your sides. See below.
Tension here ensures the floor of the shoulder girdle is active, versus the over exaggeration of “squeezing the shoulder blades together” or “get your shoulders back.” That can lead to increasing the arch in the low back, or move your arms into relative extension (arms behind your body instead of at your sides).
Postural Exercises
Most postural exercises are designed to extend the thoracic spine and move the arms and legs, as increased thoracic spine flexion is considered “bad” posture. The trouble with the below (extreme) posture is it can put more stress on the neck and low back, and you’ll have trouble lifting your arms overhead
I laid out 10 of my favorite t-spine exercises in a thread. You can catch up on those here (Still have 2 days left). These are a progression. Ideally you can try them all, find a few you like, and do them regularly. The progression ends with lifting weight overhead since the best way to maintain and upright posture is do things someone with an upright posture does - carry stuff overhead. The same is true for a “I sit too much” posture - sit too much.
Simple Drills
A Drill is just moving your arms and legs (or head) while maintaining “good” posture. We are calling good posture neutral thoracic spine. Here are some things you can do throughout the day that are literally the opposite of the postures you find yourself in.
Cervical Retractions Level 1
Shoot for 10 reps ever 2-3 hours.
This is Level 2. It is kind of aggressive, and this should be pain free. Same rep scheme. Remember to check for left or right limitation, do 10x (may take 2-3 sets), and see if it improves the limitation.
The T’s (and W’s) just get some blood flow to the muscles of the upper back. Try to keep the chin tucked like the Level 1 Cervical Retractions. This means the arms will be slow and controlled, not flung with reckless abandon. Rep scheme is 20-25 reps, a SLOW eccentric/return to the start position every 5 reps.
This is something you can do to take a break from sitting.
The anterior hip can get stiff, so you can get the glutes engaged to help loosen them up. The glute is the antagonist of the hip flexors, so the hip flexors have to relax for the glutes to contract.
Summary
Remember, posture is societal, not biological. If we stood all day, we’d have the opposite “postural” deficits we have today. I’ve seen both extremes of postural stuff - neck pain from someone that slumped all day, and neck pain from someone that stood completely straight since that was beat into her head in her younger ballerina days. To manage your posture, 1) don’t freak out about it, 2) try as many postures as you can and 3) routinely do things people with the posture you want do (except #1).