Why Do We Have Bad Posture? And How to Fix It
In the digital age we currently live in more and more people are experiencing bad posture that results in pain, discomfort or seriously decreased mobility.
The culprits of this have been known for decades. You always hear “desk jobs, or jobs that require you to be in odd positions for hours on end day in a day out contribute to and promote poor posture.”
It’s not just that.
The accelerated pace at which humans have increased their use of mobile phones has contributed massively to poor posture adaptations as well. Just think of all the people walking around (or sitting around) with their head and neck flexed downwards for extended periods of time. Just imagine what has changed in 20 years. 2002 - 2022. Mobile phones have become a personal in pocket computer which is friggin amazing, but comes with some potential downsides when it comes to posture.
In the few decades since we noticed a trend in negative posture, not much has changed. Sure, since the mid 2000s some corporations have increased wellness programs at the workplace which is great. And the option of seated to standing desks are available and they do help a bit. But year over year the problem still seems to be getting worse instead of better.
The Truth Behind Bad Posture
No posture is actually a bad posture! The human body is meant to move and exist in many different (and weird) positions. The problem is when those positions are maintained for far too long and other positions are neglected.
One of the main issues and reasons for chronic poor posture is that certain muscles get tight and under/overactive for prolonged periods of time. This means there is a lack of signaling in your nervous system that results in less recruitment (or too much) of one muscle and vice versa of another muscle. The age old saying “If you don’t use it, you lose it” is very accurate in this scenario. The reason behind this is likely due to the fact that the human body tries to adapt to any physical stressor. If you work a muscle more your body will get signals to repair it or grow it (supercompensation). The body adapts to stressors that it encounters regularly.
Take sitting for example:
Regularly being in a seated position with a slouch and rounded shoulders tells your brain it’s normal to have hip flexors in a very short and tight position, gluteal muscles not activating enough, pecs to become short and tight and rotator cuff muscles not needed to work too much. Then the deconditioning of those muscles begins. When this happens, those muscle also become less active in any other position that they should be working.
The result is overuse of compensating muscles or joints which leads to pain or injury.
What Can You Do To Fix or Improve Your Bad Posture?
Don’t worry, if you really focus on addressing these issues through proper stretches and exercises you can reverse many of these postural issues.
The key is to perform movements with a full range of motion in a controlled manner. We have to retrain your nervous system into using the proper muscles that we mentioned before. We also have to work them our to build more endurance and strength so that they are used more often throughout the day or while doing everyday tasks.
There are also different types of “bad posture” and that’s why we haven’t gotten super into each type in this article. However, we do have articles on low back pain that helps people with tight hips (bad pelvic posture) and an article that helps with poor upper body posture such as Upper Cross Syndrome and Forward Head Postures.
Below are a list of exercises and stretches that can you improve your posture so you feel better, stronger and stand tall and proud. It is a YouTube playlist so feel free to scroll through all the videos and add them into your routine.
If you’re looking to improve your posture we can help you in real life! Feel free to message us and inquire about personal training. Email info@clearcut-fitness.com