“Don’t slouch!”
“Sit up straight!”
“Keep your feet on the floor!”
We often tell our kids these things, mostly so that they appear polite and well mannered. But it turns out many adults could take their own advice when it comes to posture. Or, more specifically, bad posture.
“One of the biggest enemies of good posture is habit. It’s easy to fall into bad habits in the way you sit, stand, and move,” explains Fadi Sweiss, MD, neurosurgeon.
Over time, all that slouching, hunching, and arching can start to impact your health.
How Can Posture Affect Your Health?
Posture refers to how you hold your spine while standing, moving, sitting, or lying down. Ideally, you want your spine straight and your head position neutral.
You’re not holding your spine neutral if you’re too rounded or too arched. This creates poor posture.
Poor posture can affect your health in a few different ways. One of the biggest problems poor posture can lead to is misalignment.
Misalignment in your bones, muscles, and joints can cause:
- Back and neck pain.
- Decreased flexibility.
- Joint pain.
- Poor balance.
- Poor digestion.
- Trouble breathing.
That back pain you feel first thing in the morning or neck pain you feel every night could very well have something to do with your posture.
Leaning, arching, craning, and straining can overstretch muscles or push them into unnatural positions.
Over time, that can add up to discomfort.
According to Dr. Sweiss, there are things you can do to fix your posture. First, you need to assess your posture.
How Can I Test My Posture?
How do you know if your spine is in alignment? How do you know if you have good posture or poor posture?
Ideally, the bones of your spine stack one on top of another. If you’ve ever done yoga or Pilates, you probably have some familiarity with this idea.
Here’s a quick exercise to help you feel how this alignment works.
- Standing up with bent or straight legs, slowly tuck your chin and roll down as far as you can.
- If you can touch your toes, do. But if you can’t, hang for a moment.
- Now, engage your stomach muscles to roll back up slowly, one vertebra at a time. Your head is the last thing to come up.
- Feel how your bones “roll” into place, one on top of another.
- When you’re standing straight again, push your shoulders down and back and pull your stomach in. Let your arms hang at your sides and keep your head level.
If you do this correctly, you can feel how your bones stack.
How Can I Improve My Posture?
If you’re new to focusing on posture, holding good posture throughout the day can feel exhausting. This is because your postural muscles are likely weak. You’re trying to use them in a way you haven’t before.
Like anything else, holding good posture requires practice. The more you practice, the easier it will get.
You can correct years of bad posture with focused attention. The caveat is that some people have specific health conditions that cause poor posture.
For example, connective tissue diseases, neuromuscular diseases, and conditions like scoliosis or kyphosis can cause musculoskeletal changes. Working with a physical therapist can help improve posture. But these conditions can make this more challenging.
If your poor posture stems more from bad habits, you can make some changes to improve it.
- Practice mindful attention. The first step in improving posture is bringing your attention to it. Throughout the day, notice the position of your spine, shoulders, arms, head, and neck. Try setting an alarm on your phone or watch to go off every 30 or 60 minutes.
- Ditch the high heels. High heels force your feet into an unnatural position. This makes you walk differently, creating a chain reaction of poor alignment. Opt for comfortable, low-heeled shoes.
- Take posture-focused core strength classes. Classes like yoga or Pilates can help teach you proper alignment. They help you build awareness of your body and posture, both in stillness and movement.
- Start strength training. Strength training with free weights, a bar, or machines can help strengthen those postural muscles. Weight training can help target your scapular muscles, your core muscles, and your glutes and hamstrings.
Don’t Forget About Good Posture When Sitting
When it comes to how you sit, it’s all about ergonomics. Ergonomics refers to things like:
- The height of your desk.
- The type of chair you have.
- The type of keyboard you have and what it sits on.
- The height and distance of any computer monitors.
- How you hold your phone when sitting on the couch.
- Your driver’s seat settings (or passenger seat).
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a helpful tool for getting your ergonomics right.
Some of the key things to keep in mind for good posture when sitting are:
- Sitting up straight (think tall).
- Keeping both feet flat on the ground.
- Aiming for 90-degree angles at your hips and knees.
- Pushing your shoulders back (versus hunching).
- Keeping your elbows close to your body.
- Keeping your back fully supported in the chair.
Taking standing and walking breaks is also a good idea if you’re sitting for any extended length of time.
Do You Have Text Neck?
Ours is a smartphone culture. But how you hold your phone actually impacts your posture. A 2021 Gait & Posture study found that using a smartphone can lead to an excessive forward curve of the upper spine.
Basically, a stooped posture.
Researchers also found an association between smartphone use and lumbar lordosis. Another name for this is swayback. It means your back has an arch, pushing your stomach forward.
To use your phone more safely so that it doesn’t create poor posture:
- Move your phone closer to your eyes so you don’t have to lean forward.
- Sit up straight when using your phone.
- Take breaks to stretch your neck and upper back.
“If you are experiencing back or neck pain, it’s always good to bring it up to your provider,” says Dr. Sweiss. “If he/she suspects your back or neck pain relates to poor posture, they can help get you to the appropriate specialist.”