When we talk about having good posture, we mean the head and spine being balanced in relation to gravity. Having correct posture is not just about looks, it's important for the body to function properly. Think of your body as a chain, if one part isn't working, the whole connection is thrown off. At one end of your chain is your feet and the other end, you head, more specifically, your teeth. Long term misalignment of one part of your body can make you more prone to injury and discomfort. Your spine and core is built to hold your body upright and essentially to stabilize all body movement.
In this blog post I will be covering common postural problems causes and solutions but let me start off by going into a bit more detail about the spine and core.
Our spine is a collection of many bones stacked up with cartilage in between, The 'S' shaped spine was no accident, it has curves for a reason. They allow our body to maintain balance and move in many different directions, while distributing weight evenly. However, the spine does have help with this stabilization and that's when the core comes in.
The core, often mistaken as another name for our abdominals, is the collection of muscles surrounding the spine. Core muscles include rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, Gluteal muscles, multifidus, pelvic floor muscles, erector spinae, internal and external oblique and many more. In simple terms, the core are the muscles in our trunk area.
Before we look analyse different postural problems, lets take go into how to tell wether you have a postural problem.
The best way to tell if your posture is good, is to stand with your back against a wall and take a picture or get someone else to. When you look at this picture you should be able to see whether you body is inline (Head should be against the wall when body is for example). P.S. It always helps to get a second opinion, whether that is from a friend or a google search away (trustworthy websites only).
Now, lets look into some common postural problems;
- Lumbar lordosis
As mentioned before, our core strength plays a very important role in posture. If your core muscles are 'stretched' in a certain area, other areas will overcompensate and this leads to common postural habits. For example, lumbar lordosis is often caused by lack of abdominal activation (or can cause this - but lets save that for another day). The lack of activation in the abdominals often leads to the lower back overcompensating which leads to what we call lumbar (curvature of spine in the lower back region) lordosis (excessive inward curvature of the spine).
This can cause a range of different problems, from lower back issues (spinal/musculature) and sciatica - irritation of the sciatic nerve (nerve that runs through the glutes down the leg to the foot).
Lack of activation can be caused by many things and the main thing is habit. Habits play a great role in our lives especially when it comes to posture. So being conscious of our habits everyday
from when we are standing to sitting or to picking stuff up is very important.
So how do we fix this?
I very much support the idea that posture is all about habit, however, there are of course exercises and stretches to help fix postural problems, especially long term postural problems, as they are harder to fix purely with habitual changes. As lumbar lordosis normally comes with anterior tilt of the pelvis, one great routine to do is tilts of the pelvis. Going from an extreme anterior tilt of the pelvis to an extreme posterior tilt of the pelvis. This movement will help you better find your neutral pelvic position and will lead to an easier postural transisition.
A second thing I recommend doing is strengthening the core muscles, and no, this doesn't mean doing 200 crunches a day. As I mentioned before, the core isn't just the abdominals, although they are important, Strengthening the core means everything from the abdominals to the pelvic floor.
How do we strengthen all of these muscles?
Below i'm going to list some great exercises to cover different areas of the trunk;
- Pavlov press (great for training the trunk through anti rotation)
- Superman on stability ball
- Hollow hold
- Planks
All the exercises above not only strengthen individual muscles of the trunk but also train the trunk as one, because training the muscles to work together, which is what they should be doing in day to day life is as important.
A third thing I recommend doing is stretching the surrounding muscles. I am a big advocate for stretching everyday, you might know this is you have read my 'The importance of static stretching' blog post and if you haven't I will put the link HERE for you to go and have a read :)
Muscles like the glutes and the quads can pull on the pelvis and cause the anterior tilt, so stretching it can help reverse the tilt and definitely treat the symptoms at the same time.
Below I will list some great stretches;
- Standing quad stretch
- Seated hamstring stretch 1, 2 & 3
- Pigeon stretch (Glutes)
- Pretzel stretch (Glutes)
- Calve stretch
6. Open legs adductor stretch.
Remember, you should be performing developmental stretches (30 second hold +) in order to increase he flexibility of the muscle. Again, this is all covered in my previous blog post.
The aim is to perform all 3 of these routines minimum 4 times a week (do not all have to be the same day). Start of with a few reps/rounds and build it up. Remember consistency is key, very cliche but very important rule that I stick by. After a few months and probably even a few weeks, you will notice a difference.
- Thoracic kyphosis
Thoracic kyphosis, commonly known as a 'hunchback' can be caused by many things. One main cause of thoracic kyphosis is the imbalance of muscles. Tight pectoral muscles and under trained, lengthened trapezius and rhomboid muscles (mid to upper back muscles) can cause the body to go into a hunched position. Now the cause of this imbalance can be many things including, the job role, A desk job can mean hunched over a computer, constantly typing and staring at a screen, which can lead to many problems for the body. Another cause could be imbalance in your training regime, too many chest days and not enough back days? Too much anterior deltoid and not enough posterior deltoid?
So how do we fix this?
Firstly, stretching the chest: to name a few parallel arm chest stretch (pec minor and major), TRX chest stretch and partner assisted chest stretch.
Secondly, strengthen the back*: to name a few great back exercises: lat pull down, rows on bench, superman, TRX row, bat wing. For more information on how to strengthen check out my blog post 'Important muscles that are often neglected'.
Finally, stretching at work: to name a few, shoulder circles, overhead reaches, behind the back chest stretch, torso twist, touch your toes for your hamstrings, head rolls for your neck, ear to shoulder for the traps. I am going to create a separate blog post and Instagram/Facebook post with more great stretches and pictures/videos to go with it. (I will provide the link when its up).
*One point i would like to make is that the strengthening part of the exercise won't play that big a part in the correction, its more the form of the exercises you are performing. this is because you are actively keeping your back straight and shoulders back (or should be).
- Rounded shoulders
Rounded shoulders is similar and often mistaken for thoracic kyphosis. It is not rare to see both of these postural problems together as the regions they affect are close and so one can easily affect the other. Due to tight anterior deltoids and pec minor and lengthened rear deltoids the shoulders round over, causing a curved look. Similar to thoracic kyphosis it is often caused by being in a seated position for much of the day, as well as bad posture itself.
How do we fix this?
Firstly, we could stretch the chest muscles: Standing chest stretch, wall pec minor stretch, wall pec major stretch and PNF chest stretch are my favourite stretches for the chest. You want to aim to stretch the chest minimum once a day. Basically, the more often you stretch, the better and quicker you will see results. Again, make sure you hold them stretches for 30+ secs to develop the muscles flexibility (which is what we need to do).
Secondly, we could strengthen the posterior deltiods with exercises like prone flys (can be performed on or off a bench, with dumbbells or cable), face pulls, banded pulls or flapping (the latter two for those who have no access to weights). I would recommend performing these exercises minimum twice a week and 3-5 sets with 15-20 reps. If you are a beginner start off low for everything and build it up as you go along. In regards to what weight to use, it will depend on you. The muscles that are used for these exercises are not large muscles anyway, so you won't be using a heavy weight, but again, if you are unsure, start off light (1 or 2 kg is what I mean by light) and build it up. If you have any questions please leave a comment below.
Finally, I have touched up on habit being a major part of posture and rounded shoulders could be made worse with lack of effort and so it can be made better with conscious effort.
- Forward neck
Forward neck sometimes called forward head posture is yet another postural problem often caused by technology, but this time it can include being on your phone (text neck) or the computer. Again it can come hand in hand with thoracic kyphosis or rounded shoulders as mentioned before. This postural problem, although it doesn't seem bad when not an extreme version can be seen as the worst one and can cause many other problems if left untreated including neck pain, headaches and nerve impingement. This is because the average head weights about 10-11 pounds (4.5-5 kg) and that is a lot of pressure on the neck that is not properly supported by the spine, trunk and legs ETC.
Please see the image below for 'forward neck posture test'!
How do we fix this?
My main solution for this is habit and a great way to support this is by performing 'chin tucks'. This will help you find your neutral neck position.
Another solution is stretching the upper traps and the neck (neck flexion and suboccipital release). Try these out and let me know what you think, I find that even people without forward neck find these stretches very relieving.
For both of these solutions, once a day is my minimum recommendation. The more the better, but start off with once so its sustainable and consistent and build it up as you go along.
Please be aware that any supports you use, whether recommended by a doctor or not is SHORT TERM and should not be used long term as it can lead to you relying on the product and can cause further problems. This includes, mouth guards for clenches such as myself, orthotic insoles for those with flat feet or any new expensive strappy product designed to keep your body in the right position. Remember that your body is strong and resilient and you can train it (to an extent of course). We are creatures of habit, so our habits make up our life.
That's all or now, any questions please leave a comment of your thoughts and questions, and feel free to share. Thank you for reading. For now, any questions please leave a comment of your thoughts and questions, and feel free to share. Thank you for reading.