I was experiencing some neck pain, and went online in search of some at-home remedies. Of the remedies, posture was one of them which got me thinking: “Does posture really matter that much?”.
So will fixing my posture help with my neck pain and grant me numerous other benefits i see on these blogs?
Adding to what others said: there is a saying “your next position is your best position”. You should switch posture frequently during the day. Sitting in front of a PC whole day does not make it easy unfortunately. You should just try to switch consciously, walk around a bit, stuff like that.
holy fuck yes
Ultimately, it depends on the source of the neck pain. But, also it is something free you can do that can only help.
Also too much stress can cause neck and/or shoulder pain. (Which posture can at least help a little)
No, back pain is a woke hoax
Phew! Guess i was worried for nothing. Fuck the left!
I’ve had DOGSHIT posture my whole life. Don’t really care about it. Otherwise very fit, active, and healthy.
Now I have a bulging disk and a schmorl hernia in my spine. When that shit starts hurting, it’s genuinely paralyzing. Worse than breaking a bone, and the spine does not heal from that naturally.
I don’t think you have to build a lifestyle around stretching, yoga, proper posture, and mobility exercises, but dear god do some little things to keep your knees, spine, and neck in working order
Yes. Good posture promotes a healthy spine. If you’re putting pressure on your spine discs in weird ways 24/7 for years, you are more likely to have herniated discs and other muscularskeletal issues when you are older.
Yes. And also, you should be doing stretching exercises.
As a 42 year old with regular recurring back issues, YES. Correct it while you’re young. It’s often too late when the issues begin to manifest.
Good posture also helps you breathe better, which can help you feel more energized and concentrate better. Your diaphragm doesn’t work right when you sit hunched over, so your breath gets more shallow.
If you ever need to talk a lot for work or some other reason, good posture is essential so your voice sounds good and doesn’t get tired too easily.
And it helps strengthen your core, which is good for balance and other things.
It might not fix the neck pain depending on why you’re experiencing the pain. You should definitely give a shit about your posture though. Your spine is responsible for keeping your whole upper body upright (along with your abdominal muscles and some others). Neglecting and mistreating that is not a good idea long term.
I guess i can see the logic. I think at this point, bad posture just feels like a natural and normal thing since 90% of people also have it.
That’s why you see jokes about old people and their backs or memes that are like “Welcome to your 30s. Here’s some advil for your pain. Have a nice day.”
Bad posture is also a symptom of a greater muscle imbalance or weakness, not necessarily something you should focus on changing on it’s own.
I had very bad posture, but once I started going to the gym and strength training and built a more balanced base of strength, my posture improved greatly on it’s own. At least I have noticed significant difference.
Hunched shoulders can be corrected somewhat just by exercising the back with pulling exercises like lat pulldowns, pullups, and rows.
Lower back issues can be helped by training dead lifts, good form for that exercise is extremely important though.
Of course you should also include some yoga and stretching in your routine too, that has numerous benefits. I would recommend getting a personal trainer if you’ve never been to the gym before to teach you to do exercises correctly until you’re comfortable on your own.
My hot take is that short-term posture doesn’t matter all that much. If you have bad posture but you get up every 20 minutes and stretch/do chores/exercise for 5-10 minutes, you probably erase the original issues.
My one-two punch, if you’re looking for advice: make sure you use a chair that makes good posture easy, with your keyboard+mouse & monitor height well separated on your desk (if computing’s the main thing you’re doing as you work). And then make sure you’re getting a lot of activity throughout the day. Spans of 2, 3, 4, etc. hours just sitting at your desk will be really bad for you, no matter how good your posture is.
I guess what I’m saying is if you can either focus a lot on posture or focus a lot on physical activity routines, prioritize the latter. But both are certainly important.
I spend most of my day staring at a computer, and i have an atrocious posture while doing it. Do back cracks count as stretching?
I spend too much time at my pc or driving so get lower back pain. I recently found this workout that’s really good. It’s challenging but really works well! I sometimes have to ease back a little, especially on the last part, but it still helps.
Apologies, I can’t remember how/where to get alternative YT links.
No they don’t.
You’re better off taking a few minutes to really relax your muscles in your neck and back. Start by breathing in as deep as you can into your belly, then in the same breath, switch to your lungs, and breathe in as deeply as you possibly can until it hurts, and then exhale. Do that for a minute and then when you think you can’t possibly breathe in any deeper, breathe in deeper still.
If you do this for a few minutes and feel crazy muscle spasms in your neck and back, you need to start taking a lot more deep, relaxing breaths.
Only in that direction.
I don’t have the time to Google atm but there’s a growing body of experts shifting to the “it doesn’t actually matter”. Here’s a podcast about it but there are definitely more sources to find: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/lifematters/the-myth-of-good-posture/13864470
I saw another comment in the thread about ensuring you get movement in – that’s what my PT hammered into me.
Everyone talking about pain so I’ll add this: A person is shitloads more attractive with a straight posture. Shoulders back, head high y’all. Fake it until it’s a habit if you must.
chronic pain is not as much fun as they ought you to believe - turns out it’s not that easy to amputate some section of your back