Correcting a curved spine/poor posture

Correcting a curved spine/poor posture

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Discussion

Frimley111R

Original Poster:

15,531 posts

233 months

Friday 18th November 2011
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Being born a petrolhead, part of my youth (early-mid teens) was spent with r/c cars and I spent many hours sitting on a stool in the garage, bent over working on my cars.

As a result I developed a curve in my spine or two to be exact. I'm now round shouldered and the lower part of my spine bends in more than it should.

I have no idea how to stop this or rectify it short of learing to lie flat on my back on the floor every night with a couple of books on top of me.

Any ideas?

marksx

5,052 posts

189 months

Friday 18th November 2011
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I saw a physio a while ago, due to neck pain etc. Straight away he nailed it on my bad posture. 26 year of slouching and sitting like a teenager resulted in me naturally resting like this:



He basically said the best (only?) way to cure it is with regular focused exercises. Also, taking up something like yoga/pilates to help strengthen the core muscles.

There is no quick fix. You can buy vests etc that pull you straight but they only make you rely on the vest and not fixing yourself.

It's a long, drawn out and uncomfortable process. But ultimately worth it.

Meoricin

2,880 posts

168 months

Friday 18th November 2011
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Deadlifts/Squats fixed my bad posture. When I started lifting I had similar issues - the strengthening of the muscles pulls everything back into place where it should be. Concentrate on proper form, and after a few months you'll start to notice you stand up/sit up straighter, and don't slouch as much.

tj2002

525 posts

192 months

Friday 18th November 2011
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Meoricin said:
Deadlifts/Squats fixed my bad posture. When I started lifting I had similar issues - the strengthening of the muscles pulls everything back into place where it should be. Concentrate on proper form, and after a few months you'll start to notice you stand up/sit up straighter, and don't slouch as much.
Definately this. But proper form is crucial. My posture is/was terrible but has improved noticebly since I started lifting. Still have to remember to sit up straight when I'm at work or playing the xbox though, habits are hard to break!

didelydoo

5,528 posts

209 months

Friday 18th November 2011
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I'm in the process of correcting hyperlordosis from bad posture/lack of stretching and lots of heavy lifting. It had started to cause lower back pain, and I couldn't figure out what it was- 2 weeks of stretching and it's already noticeably different- tight hip flexors were the cause, deep lunges (among other stretches) the cure.

996 sps

6,165 posts

215 months

Sunday 20th November 2011
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Avoid the deadlifts and squats until you've had an assessment from physio or sports rehaber, may be a case of flexibility and learning to build up local muscle groups rather than global.


ClaphamGT3

11,269 posts

242 months

Sunday 20th November 2011
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Alexander Technique is the way forward.

I'm normally rabidly cynical about this sort of stuff but I spent about 3 months working with a practitioner about 10 years ago for back pain and posture after recovering from a big bike crash. It worked absolute wonders

Flip Martian

19,500 posts

189 months

Sunday 20th November 2011
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A good pilates teacher would help but avoid the classes where they do it to dance music etc in health clubs. Someone with a good knowledge of human anatomy, like my Somatics instructor would be the ideal (if you're anywhere near Milton Keynes - http://bodyiqu.com/iqu/home.html).

RJB_666

1,677 posts

194 months

Sunday 20th November 2011
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I've got the exact same issue. I think mine stemmed from when I injured my back and kept weight training with other muscle groups. I noticed a bit late and I'm now in the process of trying to sort it. So I train my upper back and rear deltoids more as well as core. There's an exercise called face pulls which are supposed to be helpfull.

LambdaSensor

28 posts

153 months

Sunday 25th December 2011
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There's a very good program for back problems of many kinds, including curvature problems at losethebackpain.com.

cervelo

53 posts

180 months

Monday 26th December 2011
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there is a new product out there called postureplast, www.postureplast.co.uk which is very effective and greatly reviewed by the medical profession.
Pilates is not an effective method of improving posture, and when done should be one on one initially or from a chartered physiotherapist, certainly not in a gym class in groups of more then 6.

marksx

5,052 posts

189 months

Monday 26th December 2011
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My physio told me stay away from products like that, as they are a 'cheat'. So to speak.

cervelo

53 posts

180 months

Monday 26th December 2011
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what your physio was referring to would be a traditional lumbar support belt or postural device, in which case they are correct, as all clinical evidence and medical guidelines say not use belts, tens machines, laser therapy and they do no recommend heat either. the postureplast is a taping method and one of the standard treatment modalities in physiotherapy and sport medicine

mattikake

5,057 posts

198 months

Tuesday 27th December 2011
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Frimley111R, if you want to take a trip up to MK, with a 'squat test' I can diagnose and pinpoint your poor posture in seconds. Usually I'd charge £35 p/h but I'll trade for a burn round MK in your car! wink 111R has to be one of my favourite cars.

Seriously, it's easy to spot and fix posture issues, but there is no quick fix. The problem may not be entirely related to your back, it could also be exacerbated by the sitting position causing your calf to shorten - this has a tendancy to pull on your hamstrings shortening them, which pull in your glutes, shortening them, which then pull on your erector spinae muscle group in your lower back, shortening them - which then in turn pulls on your mid to upper back, shortening these muscles... the net result is you're hunched over. i.e. it's not *just* about hunching over as you sit, but can also be due to simply sitting in itself.

The fix is to work your upper back all the way down to your lower legs. Some parts need strengthening, some need stretching. The same also goes for your front. (where your lower back is overly strong then the opposite happens to your abs which become lengthened and too weak)

Pilates is a great start. You need to start light if you've never properly worked on muscle building and flexibility before, especially given some muscles have atrophied, then after a few months you can try something more serious like deadlifting. There is a science and a method to postural correction. It's easier to fix than you may think.