“Posture is how your body is positioned, you don’t have the perfect posture.” -Teddy Willsey

 

How important is your posture? Is standing tall with your shoulders pulled back and chest up ideal? That’s been claimed to be the best posture over the years. We hear this idea echoed when our friends or family say, “don’t hunch over, sit up straight.” How about sitting in general? Some individuals have said sitting is the new smoking. Is that true or is it fear mongering?

 

The Truth About Posture

We don’t have a sitting problem, we have a lack of movement problem. Sure, we sit more today than we ever have in history, but we also move less. We work desk jobs that require us to sit for hours on end, sit while we drive our cars to work, then plop on the couch when we get home to watch TV. So, we vilify sitting, and that makes sense. After all, we sit more now and have new issues that seem to be caused by sitting. As physical therapist Dr. Jacob Harden has said, “Your posture is not your problem…the time you spend in it is.”

Time is a form of load just like adding weight to an exercise. Since gravity is always doing its thing and exerting a force down on us, we are always under load in some way. So, if we spend extended periods of time in the exact same position there is a low level of force being exerted on our muscles, ligaments, etc. By simply moving our position/changing our posture, we unload those tissues. So, move more. If you work at a desk job 9-5 then you may not have a choice when it comes to sitting less (yes, standing desks are a thing but we can run into the same issue of staying in the same position for long periods). What you do have a choice over though, is moving more.

 

 

There’s no exact formula for this though, and there doesn’t have to be. Maybe you utilize the pomodoro technique of working for 25 minutes with a 5-minute break, in which those 5 minutes are spent moving. I’ll do that at times when I go to a coffee shop to get work done since I’ll be there for a few hours. Whether you choose an interval like the one above or simply bring more awareness to how long you sit, the key is to not linger in the same position for hours on end. Just move around some, whether it’s going for a walk, doing some light stretches/mobility work, etc.

 

It’s Not Just Black or White

There is no “good” or “bad” posture though, because what matters is the context in which that posture is used, or for how long that position is held. We teach three postures/positions at BSP NOVA which are: Macho Man (extension), Sad Dog (Flexion), and Tall and Tight (neutral). Sometimes this seems like it would mean tall and tight is good, and sad dog and macho man are bad, but that’s missing the mark. None of these are inherently bad or good since it depends on the context they are used in. For example, we teach our members the importance of a tall and tight posture when they perform most exercises in the gym. Goblet squatting? Tall and tight. Deadlifting? Tall and tight. But picking up a pencil? Just pick it up however you please.

Where things get a little wonky is when we take the idea of “perfect posture,” as if that’s even a thing, and extrapolate that out to mean we should always be in this position. That we should always be in tall and tight. To restate, time is a load. Even being in a tall and tight position. which most of us were taught to be the best posture, is not good to hold for hours on end. If it was then we’d always want to move like in the video below.

 

 

Now, the above video is an exaggeration, but that’s to make a point. It’s totally okay to go into a sad dog position when picking up a pencil. It’s okay to go into macho man when reaching for something on the top shelf of your kitchen. Humans are resilient, and we should treat ourselves as much.

Chris Merritt echoed this sentiment well a while back (and I mean a while, because it took a lot of Facebook stalking to find this again :0) when he said, “Treat yourself like glass, and you’ll shatter like glass.” We may have good intentions telling people to “sit up straight,” or when we say, “don’t hunch over,” but those phrases incite fear. It implies those postures are bad when they’re just different.

Posture also doesn’t guarantee pain. Just because we are in macho man or sad dog doesn’t mean it will cause us to feel pain.  But, for whatever reason, sometimes we’re sensitive to sad dog or macho man. If that’s the case then yes, it would be best to avoid using those postures for a bit while we desensitize our system to that pain. But, barring other serious reasons or issues all 3 postures are useful depending on the context.

 

“So, is there a perfect posture?”

Nope. Is sitting the new smoking? Nope, vaping is the new smoking. Just move more and avoid sitting in the exact same position for hours on end. All postures matter given different contexts. Lifting a heavy weight? Stay tall and tight to keep it right. Picking up a pair of fancy socks you dropped on the floor? Sad dog like you’ve never sad dogged. As Dr. Teddy Willsey said, “Your best position is the next one.” So, move more. Move mindfully. Move often.