A Physio's perspective: My #1 posture tip to help you now
Working from home got you looking like me?
With most of the human population sitting at home these days, I thought it would appropriate to take some time to write about posture. It is one of the questions I get asked the most in my practice so it definitely has some significance.
“Hey Jon. I have terrible posture and I want to fix it. Can you help me?”
I hear this phrase a lot at my Physiotherapy Office in Markham and unfortunately, I would agree that most of us have 'terrible' Postures. But what does that mean? What is ‘terrible’ and what can I do to help you?
Static versus Dynamic
When most people talk about their posture, they actually mean their static posture (what they look like when they are not moving). We would normally think that a bad posture would include forward head and slouching. Good posture would include standing straight up like a soldier or police officer on duty. However, I would argue strongly that posture is actually more meaningful when we look at it dynamically.
When I say dynamic, what I really mean is an assessment of you when you are moving. It is a much better representation of how your body functions and can tell us a lot more about your body.
So yes, when people sit all day, I would agree that we all have ‘terrible’ Postures.
Is Posture associated with Pain?
The answer to this question might surprise you. It may seem like an obvious ‘yes Jon’. But, it isn’t that simple. First of all, all of our anatomies are quite unique. Secondly, I often see people with ‘bad’ posture have no pain and people with ‘good’ posture have large amounts of pain. How can that be?
Take this as a small example. If we look at neck pain, there are conflicting results from studies. This first study from Hong Kong found that the more forward (slouched) your head was (static measurement), the more likely you were to have pain (1). However, if we look at this more recent Australian study, we see that there was no correlation (2).
So, what can we do?
How can I help you?
The bottom line is that we all need to sit less and move more. That is my biggest tip to any of my patients who are experiencing pain. Change your positions frequently! You don't need to sit like a 2x4 all day.
Practically, many of us have trouble doing this. Recently with COVID-19 keep us working from home, many of us are actually working more than we normally do. As a result, we are sitting more. My advice, as a Physiotherapist, is to set a 30-minute timer on your phone. Come up with small tasks that can be done within that session and break up your day with exercise and movement. Not only will you get more done, you'll feel better doing it as well.
A comprehensive Physiotherapy assessment can also help you improve your posture. My goal isn’t to improve your static ‘look’ (although it definitely does help). But rather to help you analyze any structural weaknesses and biomechanical vulnerabilities that may contribute to your pain. Once COVID-19 settles down, come on in and we can tackle your pain together.
Thank you for reading this! I hope that you got something out of reading this. One way you can support me is by sharing this post with friends and family. It does take some time for me to prepare material like this so any support is greatly appreciated.
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Sources:
(1) Yip, Chris Ho Ting, Thomas Tai Wing Chiu, and Anthony Tung Kuen Poon. "The relationship between head posture and severity and disability of patients with neck pain." Manual therapy 13.2 (2008): 148-154.
(2) Richards, Karen V., et al. "Neck posture clusters and their association with biopsychosocial factors and neck pain in Australian adolescents." (2016): 1576-1587.
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