Does Posture Really Matter? - A New Perspective on Posture

Why are so many of us experiencing pain associated with posture these days? It seems that now more than ever, more of us are working from home, glued to a desk at work, or stuck driving crazy hours for work. It’s no secret that today’s world keeps us in forward-flexed “poor posture” with our tablets, phones, and computer work. Many people love to blame our devices for putting us in postures that cause neck and back pain. 

All of these factors may lead us to believe that our poor posture is the reason for their pain. I’m here to tell you that is not the truth. Even if we were to hang out in “good posture” all day long, we would still wind up with aches and pains. The reason for this is that our bodies don’t dislike or posture, they just dislike hanging out in any one posture for an extended period of time. Here’s an example to drive home this point:

Think of the last time you were stuck in the car on a long road trip or crammed in between strangers on a plane. At some point in our lives, we have all pulled over to the nearest gas station to get some steps in during a long drive. Our bodies can’t wait to hop up out of that seat for what we have been told is to “stretch” into that movement of extending our back and reaching our hands up over your head. In actuality, we have been sitting forward-flexed like little shrimps, and our bodies are CRAVING some extension to oppose the flexion we have been stuck in. Rather than the relief from this “poor posture” coming from situating ourselves in “good posture” that near instant relief comes from MOVING from one posture to the next.

In all reality, there’s nothing inherently bad about “poor posture,” and the pain associated with it is more likely from spending too much time in one position. Our bodies love to MOVE. So rather than trying to force yourself to hang out in good posture all day long, the best thing you can do for yourself is to take movement breaks throughout your day that incorporate movements in the opposing direction. 

I hope this clears up some of the massive misconceptions out there when it comes to posture! And no, seeing your chiropractor regularly 3x weekly for the rest of your life will ~not~ fix the “tech neck” hump in your upper back. You would be much better off finding a rehab chiropractor or physical therapist to help you learn movements opposing the posture that’s causing you pain and teach you how to adjust your lifestyle accordingly :)

If you’ve been seeking a clinic with a modern approach to all things movement, physiotherapy, and chiropractic, look no further. Motive is Norman’s one-stop-shop for chiropractic adjustments, physiotherapy, dry needling, cupping, scraping, and rehabilitative exercise all under the same roof. Our goal is to use these modalities to teach you to self manage posture pain, so you can throw away the silly posture braces and stop relying on chiropractic adjustments to “put you back together” each week!