Posture Correction
Discussion
Following on from this post in the fated (faked?) Gym Advice and Tips thread...
What advice can you folks give for correcting poor posture?
I've the typical desk job slouch, with a forward rotated pelvis, rounded shoulders and forward neck.
My lower back virtually constantly has a low-level ache.
Thanks.
Jefferson Steelflex said:
marksx said:
I'm hijacking the thread here, how do you fix this? My posture is terrible, thanks to many years of slouching, desk jobs and general laziness.
Start a new thread, there's plenty of us on here with experience of this who can help. I've the typical desk job slouch, with a forward rotated pelvis, rounded shoulders and forward neck.
My lower back virtually constantly has a low-level ache.
Thanks.
These chairs force you in to sitting with a much better posture, however I find if I get it set at the right height for me it's too high for a standard desk
https://www.rainbowzebra.co.uk/posture-kneeling-st...
My former boss's work was was often split between his desktop and his laptop, so he had a folding table fitted to the wall behind his desk at a height where he could stand to work on the laptop, and reckoned spending a few hours a day working while standing did wonders for him.
If you're relatively tall, getting your desk jacked up a bit can make a big improvement. I've got mine a couple of inches taller than standard meaning with the chair at a suitable height for my legs I don't need to slouch or hunch to reach the desk.
https://www.rainbowzebra.co.uk/posture-kneeling-st...
My former boss's work was was often split between his desktop and his laptop, so he had a folding table fitted to the wall behind his desk at a height where he could stand to work on the laptop, and reckoned spending a few hours a day working while standing did wonders for him.
If you're relatively tall, getting your desk jacked up a bit can make a big improvement. I've got mine a couple of inches taller than standard meaning with the chair at a suitable height for my legs I don't need to slouch or hunch to reach the desk.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IeKnHtGysBc
Get yourself a foam roller and try these.
Really help my tight upper back and rounded shoulders.
Get yourself a foam roller and try these.
Really help my tight upper back and rounded shoulders.
I did wonder when this was going to come up.
Having been a desk jockey for years and years, I ended up with a pretty rounded look, which led in the end to shoulder problems that minfested itself in the form of pain in parts of my right arm.
There are a few things that you need to do, starting with correcting your seating position at work (or whatever it is that has caused or contributed to the posture issue), so everything is at the right height and your chair is providing support in the right places.
Second, you need to work on the areas which you say are causing you issues:
Shoulders and back - exercises for the traps, rhomboids and rotator cuff will work the joints around the shoulder and pull it back into position. Combine this with some good stretching of the chest and back muscles, particularly working on pulling your shoulders back. There's a good video on YouTube from a guy called Jeff, going under the moniker Athlean X where he shows how to stretch the shoulders back against a resistance band which I have done and is really good.
If you're in the office, you need to also regularly take a few minutes to pull your shoulder blades together just to work the muscles and stretch. You know when your shoulders and chest are correctly aligned when you have your hands by your sides and your thumbs face forward. The more they point inwards, the more your shoulders are in internal rotation which is the action that causes the hunched over look. Anyone that benches heavy will know this look (unless they really work their back as well).
Don't forget the neck either - you should be able to look right up, right down, left and right and all pints in between - keeping your shoulders back at all times. If you can't , then work it slowly.
Hips - Sitting down is not good for long periods. Get up out of your chair and walk around for 10 minutes every hour or so. At lunchtime, take a walk out for bit. When at home or the gym, working the hip flexors is actually quite easy, concentrate on glute bridges, side steps with a resistance band and hip stretches to start with. Again there are some great videos on hip stretching (and stretching in general) on YouTube which I followed for a few months and ended up being able to almost do the splits.
You would have got into some habits over the years which will now feel strange to try and resolve. It will take time but a little bit of stretching and muscle work should see you right in a matter of weeks.
If it were me, I spend a few quid on a physio just to get the analysis done of where the key issues are, most are around £35 - £40 a session and they'll point you in the right direction so you see big gains nice and early. Good luck.
Having been a desk jockey for years and years, I ended up with a pretty rounded look, which led in the end to shoulder problems that minfested itself in the form of pain in parts of my right arm.
There are a few things that you need to do, starting with correcting your seating position at work (or whatever it is that has caused or contributed to the posture issue), so everything is at the right height and your chair is providing support in the right places.
Second, you need to work on the areas which you say are causing you issues:
Shoulders and back - exercises for the traps, rhomboids and rotator cuff will work the joints around the shoulder and pull it back into position. Combine this with some good stretching of the chest and back muscles, particularly working on pulling your shoulders back. There's a good video on YouTube from a guy called Jeff, going under the moniker Athlean X where he shows how to stretch the shoulders back against a resistance band which I have done and is really good.
If you're in the office, you need to also regularly take a few minutes to pull your shoulder blades together just to work the muscles and stretch. You know when your shoulders and chest are correctly aligned when you have your hands by your sides and your thumbs face forward. The more they point inwards, the more your shoulders are in internal rotation which is the action that causes the hunched over look. Anyone that benches heavy will know this look (unless they really work their back as well).
Don't forget the neck either - you should be able to look right up, right down, left and right and all pints in between - keeping your shoulders back at all times. If you can't , then work it slowly.
Hips - Sitting down is not good for long periods. Get up out of your chair and walk around for 10 minutes every hour or so. At lunchtime, take a walk out for bit. When at home or the gym, working the hip flexors is actually quite easy, concentrate on glute bridges, side steps with a resistance band and hip stretches to start with. Again there are some great videos on hip stretching (and stretching in general) on YouTube which I followed for a few months and ended up being able to almost do the splits.
You would have got into some habits over the years which will now feel strange to try and resolve. It will take time but a little bit of stretching and muscle work should see you right in a matter of weeks.
If it were me, I spend a few quid on a physio just to get the analysis done of where the key issues are, most are around £35 - £40 a session and they'll point you in the right direction so you see big gains nice and early. Good luck.
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