Stand Up Straight! (It’s More Complex Than You Think)

Do you remember your school teachers telling you to “sit up straight?” You probably have a pretty vivid memory of the sharp voice and stern look that accompanied that directive. Just reading those words now might make you squeeze your shoulder blades and stick out your chest.

But when you do that classic move, you’re actually not straightening your body in a way that best uses all your muscle groups. Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius once urged his fellow man to “stand straight, not straightened.” In his original writings, this phrase  was a call to be guided by your own inner will instead of being propped up by others’ opinions. In physical therapy terms, a person should hold himself up with multiple internal cohesive structures working together, not external forces. Let’s take a look at how we can apply that wisdom to our physical bodies.

What’s so bad about not sitting up straight? You’ve probably experienced the neck and back pain that comes from sitting or standing hunched over. Posture also affects your breathing—try to take a deep breath with your back arched forward to test it out. Over the long term, poor posture can even have a negative impact on your organs by distorting their natural placement. 

But there’s an outside force you have to fight to improve your posture: our friend gravity. And while everyone has specific muscles they tend to engage to fight gravity, the key is to use your whole muscular system to fight gravity. Overworking a single muscle in an effort to sit and stand straight can cause as much pain as giving into poor posture!

One item to note: it’s not just desk workers who have poor posture! Even very active people can find themselves with neck and back pain from not using their muscles to fight gravity properly.

As I alluded to earlier, it’s not just the shoulders that make for good posture. Your pelvic muscles, abdominals, chest, shoulders, and neck all work together. It’s generally best to “start from the bottom” when retraining your body, and this exercise will help you check in with your hips and pelvis and train your lower abdominals.

Alignment of the hips and shoulders, as seen in the middle illustration, is indicative of proper posture.

Check on Your Posture

First, imagine a laser on your hips. Where is it pointing when you tilt your pelvis forward? Backward? What about when you’re at rest? 

Then, stand with your back against a wall. Tilt your pelvis to try to decrease the space between the small of your back and the wall while imagining the laser pointing higher and higher. Slowly return to a neutral position, noting how your muscles react to the changing position of your pelvis. Keep your shoulder blades pulled toward your spine, but do not let the shoulders dictate what your lower back or neck do. Coordinate with your breathing and set a timer for 2 minutes. 

These movements will be subtle, and they can help you understand which muscles you are overutilizing and underutilizing when you straighten your spine.

Bad posture can lead to poor balance and poor breathing techniques. If you’d like to check in on your posture and ways to improve it with professional advice, book an appointment today.