Sit up straight! (Seriously…try it. Right now. Sit up straight. Just do it for me)

This is one of the thousands of cues that you will hear parents tell their kids before they give up to the unrelenting nature of gravity and seemingly uncaring slouching of their children. Poor posture however, is by no means limited to just indifferent teenagers. As physiotherapists, we deal with a myriad of issues that directly relate to posture, and its importance in rehabilitation. I read a great article a few years back that noted that while the human head weighs approximately 8-10 pounds, when leaning forward at a 45 degree angle the stress at the base of the neck is equivalent to 50 pounds of force (significantly higher forces at higher angles). And that’s only 45 degrees! Think about that next time you are scrolling through your facebook/Instagram feed hunched over like Golum just found his precious ring.

Whether we are dealing with an upper extremity nerve injury stemming from bad posture, post MVA whiplash, low back pain, TMJ dysfunction, or headaches (to name a few) or are looking to get stronger in the gym, look more confident for that new job, or get taller to get on that special ride at Disneyland, all are directly affected by poor posture.

So why the heck don’t we all just sit up and stay that way? If you were one of the few people that tried to sit up from my prompt at the start of this, are you now? (Ever notice how when you say the word posture, people in the room sit up?- or maybe that’s just a byproduct of my profession….)
If I asked you to lift your arm out to shoulder height and keep it there all day, could you? If this is not something that you have been working up to, is this a realistic expectation (or just painful)? Do learn-to-run programs start with having someone just go and do the marathon, or do they work up to it and train for it?

In my experience, people approach posture as a all or nothing task. As in, Sit Up Straight. If they are not up straight, that is a FAIL. What if we took the approach of NOT being in the problem position being the focus, and any consistent amount of time working TOWARDS proper is a WIN.

The truth is, people are not meant to sit for prolonged periods, especially focused on a screen that pulls our attention away from the many signals that our body says to our brain about load, stress or even pain- FAIL. People are meant to MOVE their muscles. So, when people ask me what the ideal posture is for sitting, it is easy to spout off the rules of sitting ergonomics- but the reality is that anything upright that is not passively resting on your joints for prolonged periods is a WIN. Are standing desks the answer? Only if you change your positions frequently and use your hip/core muscles appropriately…not standing locked out on one hip, looking like the teenager with too much attitude. OMG Becky!

So what can we do?

Yes, it is important to try and sit tall. When sitting, this can be accomplished by trying to get off your tailbone, and sit…on your sit bones (shocking). This will bring your pelvis into a more neutral position. It’s also important to try and be as tall through the back of your head as possible- think of someone pulling the hair on the back of your head up to the sky. Lastly, think about gently squeezing your shoulder blades together, or sticking your sternum out a bit, looking proud.

If the goal is to succeed, there is no point trying to hold this all day, as previously mentioned. Focus on doing lots of a little- like doing interval training for your posture. This is accomplished by finding a cue that you do ON A REGULAR BASIS. Examples of this are:

• Every time a commercial comes on TV while watching shows, posture up for duration of commercials (no fast forwarding!)
• Every time you are at red light/stop sign, posture up for duration of car being still (no blowing through lights/signs!)
• Every time you get a text message, posture up for duration of messaging (no cutting off friendships)
  • Note: Good text posture can be achieved by resting elbows ON your ribs to hold you upright. No more setting phone in lap, causing your head to creep overtop causing the slouch.

That’s it. Start there. And succeed. Get a WIN and posture up.