New Year - New Look At Posture by G

Farewell and goodbye to a crazy 2020! We are excited for the potential that 2021 brings. This New Year may be far from normal but I bet a lot of you have still set intentions, resolutions and goals as usual. I, myself, have been reflecting on my priorities, as well as those of my clients. When I take stock I realize there is one goal that comes from clients repeatedly; they would all like to have better posture.

A BIT ABOUT POSTURE

Many of my clients tell me they want to improve their posture. They have been battling aches, pains or injuries, and they are convinced that better posture is the solution. The problem is that what we colloquially consider good posture - standing tall, wide open shoulders, and looking presentable - isn’t necessarily the most functional way of carrying our bodies. Far from it.

Gudbjorg at 14 - During the year of back brace and intense back pain

I was always told I had very good posture. If you were to ask anyone that knew me as a young teenager what my posture was like, they would tell you it was impeccable, I stood tall with open shoulders, and looked every bit like someone who was a serious ballet student. At the time, I had just grown to about the same height as my mother but everyone was convinced I was quite a bit taller. Once they realized I wasn’t they would exclaim, “Well, it’s because your posture is so darn good so you just look taller!” But that was exactly my problem. My posture was too “good”. In reality I was in constant pain. I recently came across X-rays that were taken of my spine when I was 15. As soon as I looked at them I thought ‘Of course I was in pain! My spine is totally straight!’ That is exactly why I spent the year prior to the X-rays being taken in a back brace and going through periods of barely being able to walk to school.

X-rays that were taken in June, 1998 - The red line traces what a normal, healthy spine should look like, yellow line traces Gudbjorg’s spine at the time (age 16)

Part of the problem is that most of us consider posture as something that is static. In reality, our posture is a living, breathing thing. And it moves with us to support our movement through life. As I looked through photos to attach to this post I came across one that was taken the summer after I turned 16 (about 3 months after the X rays were taken). It’s a photo where I’m “hugging” a bear statue and I realized my spine looked to be incapable of doing the smallest side bend. Instead I was leaning sideways from my hips and just had a bend in my neck. My “good posture” meant my spine was incessantly straight and had sections that were completely immobile. As a result I moved through life with rigidity and tension and in a great deal of pain.

THE CURVES ARE REALLY IMPORTANT

It turns out the curves of the spine are REALLY important. The hood of a car is designed to fold on impact in order to absorb as much of the energy of the shock as possible and protect its passengers (this blew my mind when I found this out as a child - why would you design the car to get destroyed in a crash?!). Just like a car’s hood, the spine is designed to have curves and movable parts at every single section in order to absorb the shock created by the mere fact that we walk upright. It’s quite elegant how the curves weave forward and backward to not only absorb shock but perfectly balance the weight of the pelvis, rib cage and head. If you start to consciously straighten the spine you end up with two problems. One has to do with less effective movement, and the other has to do with additional tension patterns.

So today I want to give you a couple of thoughts about posture and how our perceptions often hurt us.

1) Less Efficient Movement

G during the summer of 1998 - Notice the lean and stiffness in torso!

Most people think good posture means looking “tall” and “presentable”, but they give no thought to how the different parts of the body work together. As a simplified example: often this means that in order to have a “wide, open chest”. Most people don’t actually open their shoulders but instead straighten the upper part of the spine (the thoracic spine to be precise). This results in a straighter spine, and a chunk of the spine that is painfully immobile. Remember, the curves, and all the moving parts at EVERY segment of the spine are what act as shock absorbers. The curves also balance the weight of different structures of the body - as soon as you start flattening one curve, your weight will be distributed less effectively down the body, or you’ll start compensating for the shift in other parts of the body.

2) Tension = Pain

The idea of “good” posture forces us to think about posture as an external idea or a mold to how to place our body. Every time we place our body in a position that is far off from our natural posture you cause added tension - and tension always leads to pain.

EXERCISES

This past year all our zoom meetings and constant screen interactions have made me mildly obsessed with restoring mobility and curves both for myself and my clients. Even though you may not be able to get to the studio here are a couple of tricks for you to do at home! Any of these restorative exercises make me feel better instantaneously. They give me relief on the days I have an achy back or shoulders, and they often help me to think straight when I’m just staring at my screen. I’ve included different prop options for each exercise, as well as how you can utilize household items.

1) Segmentation of the Spine

The concept is simple - using a prop of your choice you work through different segments of the spine to gently restore mobility in all sections. You can use a foam roller, a squishy 9” ball, a smaller soft-ish ball (weighted or not weighted), or a rolled up towel or blanket.

2) Neck Stretch

The head is really heavy so how the neck functions is quite important. The curve of the neck both absorbs shock and balances against the weight of the head. We used to see a lot of the classical computer posture: forward head, and abnormal and exaggerated curvatures of the neck. Now we have more issues with lap tops, phones and tablets, that all force us to look down. This has led to slight forward tilt of the head and neck straightening. Neck tightness has been further compounded by our constant digital interactions. When we interact in person we naturally change our head position to look around a room and vary our focal points to different distances (the deep upper neck muscles are closely linked to our eye focal muscles). In our Zoom world we continually stare at the same point with no change in direction or distance - no wonder we are struggling with upper back and neck problems.

3) Spine Twist

Our movements are primarily focused in a plane going directly forward with a distinct lack of sideways and twisting motions. I’ve included this twist mostly because it is one of my favorite things to do for myself, but it’s also compliments to the front/back exercises from above.

Move Frequently, In Many Different Directions!

I will leave you with a quote from Irene Dowd - an anatomy goddess known widely among the movement and body work world. “There is no such thing as good posture or bad posture. There is only more expensive and less expensive posture.” Her argument is that if you are able to stand upright you are just fine - but your posture may be more energy intensive than it needs to be, which can cause unnecessary aches and pain, and that may prove expensive in the long run.

My general rule of thumb is move your spine frequently and in as many different directions as possible. Our muscles and fascia wrap around the body in a complicated three dimensional weave, and your body will be happiest if you allow your movements to honor those three dimensional ideas. So feel free to play around - make small changes to your favorite exercises (change the angle slightly, vary the weight and so on), or change up your stretches by emphasizing pushing through slightly different points (like transferring the push through big toe to pinky toe, and back again in a hamstring stretch, or emphasizing inner heel vs. outer heel in a hip flexor stretch). The possibilities are endless - have fun with it!

I hope you will have a chance to move into the new year with curiosity, an open mind and kindness towards yourself. I wish you many happy movement moments and a very happy new year!