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Long gone are the days of charm school yet there is still much value
about simple postural awareness in regards to health, vitality, and the
subsequent performance that can be gained by a more aligned body.
Posture is the quiet giant of health care, because how we carry
ourselves every minute of the day can have profound implications towards
our health, however, we often gloss over this detail in lieu of other
quick-fixes.
Dear Office Jockey: Those migraines might not be “hereditary” after all.
Posture is not clearly defined nor agreed upon with dozens of methods
out there talking about posture and how to achieve the golden ideal of
alignment. As a coach, i also understand the value of distilling complex
concepts into more simple and digestible ones. This article shall
attempt to help you define what posture is and how to apply it to your
movement practice.
Why should i care about posture in the first place?
Many aches and pains can be hypothesized to derive from postural
faults from improper sitting, standing, sleeping, walking, and moving.
Wouldn’t you love to save time on stretching, foam rolling, and decrease
overall body tension? Then starting to become aware of posture and how
you move is one of the most valuable components of your health. Also,
building better postural habits long-term can prevent degeneration in
your joints.
Posture-What is it?
Static-The body’s ideal neutral position where the
joints are aligned and the least amount of muscular work is used to
support the weight of the body while not moving. This includes standing,
sitting and lying. A common misunderstanding is that the muscles need
to be actively “engaged” or squeezed to maintain posture and, in a
perfectly aligned body, where the bones are stacked in an ideal
relationship to gravity, the muscles don’t need to do the work.
Unnecessary tension from muscular holding patterns is what leads to a
lot of aches, pains, and trigger points in the muscles.
Find the
“free” space in your static postural practice and you’ll save yourself a
lot of time on stretching, foam rolling, and overall tension in your
muscles. Hell, you might even recover faster between workouts.
*For static posture at rest, the most ideal alignment can be easily
evaluated by using 90 degree angles. Pete Egoscue does an excellent job
of teaching this to clients since we all should know what 90 degree
angles look like. It’s not rocket science. Barring any body deformities,
which are extremely rare, the body’s load joints should be stacked in
90 degree angles to one another–level shoulders stacked over hips, which
are stacked over knees, etc. Feet should be pointed straight ahead with
the knees pointing straight ahead. From the side view, you should be
able to drop a plumb line between the center of the joints from ears to
ankles.
The Egoscue Method’s “Function Freddie” displaying the 90 degree angle rule of posture
Dynamic-This includes tasks such as walking, bending
over, squatting, lifting, twisting, etc. A general guideline here is to
start with a neutral spine and understand that deviation outside of
neutral spine increases risk for injury-especially when loaded. I’m not
saying to stay in neutral all the time, however, one must understand
when to be in neutral and when one should deviate from neutral. When
loading the body with weight, it is most ideal to keep an aligned spine.
Breathing
Breathing is the keystone that holds the arch of a healthy, erect
posture. Without a functional diaphragm, the body develops patterns of
excessive tension and collapse. I like to think of the diaphragm as a
ballon that, with each inhalation, fills the torso with air, creating a
lifting and relaxing effect to the external muscles of the body. During
lifting tasks, creating adequate intra-abdominal pressure allows a firm
base for which the muscles of the trunk can contract against to create
spinal stiffness. This is essential for spine health and optimal
performance in lifting heavy weights. Some other great benefits to
diaphragmatic breathing include better digestion, circulation, and
relaxation. This is why Yogis focus so much on Prana (the breath) during
Asana (yoga posture) practice. Good breathing helps focus the mind
while also releasing tension and holding patterns in the muscles.
A common postural fault-Sticking Chest up and Squeezing shoulder blades together: I
know a big arch and strong shoulder blade retraction and depression
helps for bench pressing, but it adds excess tension to the spine and
shoulder blades which can lead to trigger points, neck pain, and tension
in the mid-back. This also positions the diaphragm at an oblique angle,
which doesn’t allow natural breath to travel downwards into the pelvis.
A better strategy is to separate gym movement from life movement.
Arch the back and squeeze those blades for a big bench, but relax the
back, lengthen the spine, and let the shoulders widen on your upper back
when you exit the gym.
Arnold says save your chest puffing for the stage or at the beach.
Can Exercise change posture?
Exercises and stretches to release tight tissue structures can aid in
bringing awareness to postural misalignment, as well as helping to melt
unwanted muscular tension/soft tissue adhesions. That aside,
what changes posture for the long-term is better movement habits cumulatively as well as engaging in a healthy self-concept.
Mindlessly doing stretches and exercises for posture with a disconnect
to one’s movement awareness is a waste of time. If this is the case or
you are not ready for the undertaking, then don’t bother. Use foam
rolling, stretching, massage, chiropractic, and whatever other means
necessary to return to a resting state of ease, but the pyramid of good
posture is built upon the foundation of good movement habits and
postural awareness over time.
Technology
I admit that i’m not a big product pusher, however i believe there
are some ergonomic products out there that can help with maintaining
ideal joint alignment during tough times or times that you know you’ll
be sitting for prolonged periods. Posture can be affected by fatigue and
when the mind or body gets tired, lack of sleep, illness, injury, or
depression can cause the body to slump and fall out of ideal alignment.
It is these times that we can use technology to our advantage to elicit
neutral joint position without too much effort. I would like to also
present a word of caution that tools such as sitting wedges and lumbar
rolls should be used as an assist to good movement and postural habits,
not as a crutch. We should be able to move, sit, stand, and sleep
without much assistance, however, knowing when to use technology at the
right time can help get out of a bad situation when the body needs to
heal.
1)
Cervical Pillow-Most
people have gnarly tightness in their necks (me included). Getting a
cervical pillow really helps to keep the neck in a neutral position
during sleep. I’ve also had clients that have decreased their snoring
volume or have eliminated it completely through a good cervical pillow. A
definite plus! I like the double core models that have inserts where
you can adjust the hardness based on whatever is most comfortable to
you. They also make anti-snoring pillows for those that sleep on their
sides with a little conduit to put your arm through so it doesn’t fall
asleep.
2)
Sitting Wedge-A
sitting wedge can be useful to maintain a neutral curve in the the
lower back when a chair is not ideal. This could be great for office
workers where one doesn’t have much choice about the chair they are
sitting in. Although more and more offices are getting ergonomic
evaluations for their employees, you can be proactive and convert your
grade-school desk chair into a more functional chair with a wedge.
3)
Mattress-An
excellent test i got from Kelly Starrett, Physical therapist based out
of San Francisco, is to lay on your matress face up. If within 1 minute
you have to shift or move a limb to avoid extension, your matress may
not be suited for you. Movement is the sub-conscious way for body to
avoid excess muscular or joint stresses. I know matresses are expensive,
but quality sleep is priceless.
4)
Airplane Cervical Pillow-With
flights being such a hassle, the neck can easily fall prey to
discomfort from misalignment for long periods of time. I like the memory
foam cervical pillows because they seem to have better support,
however, they aren’t as portable as the inflatable models.
5)
Bed Spectacles-When
sitting in bed it’s easy to prop your head and neck up in a kinked
position. This further adds to the forward head posture and rounded
upper back position that is so common in today’s society.
6)
Lumbar Support-Let’s
face it, a lot of chairs and seats are built by the lowest bidders. I
always mention flights because those are the hardest times to get up and
move around, let alone sit comfortably. This is when having the right
ergonomic support can help maintain a more neutral spine. I like this
inflatable lumbar roll because it is portable and can be inflated to the
right amount of comfort for you. Again, it’s important to not have to
depend on the lumbar roll all the time, but when long international
flights are on the agenda, bring out the heavy artillery. You can also
substitute in a pinch by using a rolled up towel, jacket, or blanket in
place of the lumbar roll if you forgot to bring it or happen to be
reading this blog post while on a flight.
Floor Sitting Practice
Unfortunately, sitting in chairs for most of our lives limits our
range of motion in the hips and spine. I wrote a blog post several
months back on
creative sitting,
which discusses the value of sitting on the floor. Especially as we get
older, we start to lose mobility in the hips and spine. This is often
the root cause of symptoms such as hip, knee, back and neck pain. Moving
postures frequently and spending some time on the floor in various
positions can help maintain or improve hip mobility, while also being a
more active way to sit. In countries where squatting to use the toilet
or sitting on the ground to eat is common (i.e.-asian countries), we see
very little knee, hip and back problems. Maybe we should take note and
start injecting a floor sitting practice in our daily tasks. Do work on
your computer on the floor, eat dinner picnic-style on the lawn outside
with your family/friends, etc.
Resources to further your Posture Education
Dynamic Alignment through Imagery by Eric Franklin (Best book on using imagery and developing a better self-concept for postural improvement)
Ageless Spine (Best book on how to improve activities of daily living like sitting, standing, bending, and walking)
Pain Free
by Pete Egoscue (More thoughts on the human condition as it relates to
posture as well as some postural exercises that may help with pain
symptoms as well as help guide you to a more relaxed neutral alignment)
