Posture Correction Tutorial

First check whether it is a structural problem or a functional problem, then perform targeted muscle group release + weak muscle group activation, and finally integrate the correct force exertion mode into your daily life. There is no universal solution that suits everyone. It is useful to match your own living habits and the root of the problem.

I worked as an Internet operator for the first three years, and it was normal for me to sit at my desk for 10 hours a day. When I was busy, my head stretched out like a quail pecking at rice. After get off work, I could slump on the sofa and check my mobile phone for two hours. Later, I gradually discovered that not only did my shoulders look strong when I wore a T-shirt, but it would also make a clicking sound when I turned my head occasionally. In severe cases, my shoulders and necks hurt so much that it was difficult to even lift my arms to put on clothes. At first, I followed popular tutorials on the Internet and practiced the swan arm for half a month. The more I practiced, the stronger my trapezius muscles became, and the uneven shoulders became more obvious. I went to the rehabilitation department of the hospital to take a picture and found out that this was a purely functional problem. The left pectoralis minor muscle was tight and the right middle and lower trapezius muscles were weak. I practiced raising my hands as soon as I started, and the trapezius muscles were all compensated. It would be weird if I didn't practice it.

Nowadays, there are a lot of opinions on the Internet about posture correction. In fact, there are two types of views at the core: one is the structural school, which believes that the essence of posture problems is bone misalignment, which can only be solved by bone setting, wearing braces, and adjusting the bone structure.； The other group is the functional group, which believes that the bones of most people are fine, but that the imbalance of muscle tension pulls the bones crookedly. As long as the tense muscles are loosened and the weak muscles are strengthened, the posture will naturally return to normal. I specifically asked the doctor who was doing my rehabilitation. Both of these statements are actually correct, but they are suitable for different groups of people.

If your X-ray has revealed scoliosis of more than 20 degrees, or a congenital leg bone length difference of more than 1cm, or a clear bone structure problem, don't think that it can be solved by practicing exercises. Wear a brace when it is time to wear a brace, and see a professional orthopedist to adjust it. I had a riding friend who fell off a bicycle before and the tibia of his left leg was 0.8cm shorter. After half a year of core training, he still swayed when walking. Later, he put on custom-made insoles and it was much better in half a month. But if you are like me and have rounded shoulders, forward head extension, slight forward pelvic tilt, and high and low shoulders due to bad habits such as sitting for a long time, crossing your legs, and looking down at your mobile phone, then functional training is much more cost-effective.

In fact, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to take a whole-spine X-ray. You can do a preliminary check at home: take off your shoes and stand barefoot on the flat ground. Don’t deliberately raise your chest and abdomen. Just maintain your most relaxed posture for 30 seconds. Ask a friend to take you a front and side photo. From the side, look to see if the tip of the ear is in a vertical line with the acromion, and whether the acromion is in a vertical line with the hip bone.； From the front, you can basically tell the general problem by looking at whether the shoulders on both sides are the same height, whether the waistband is high on one side and low on the other, and whether the face is large or small.

The biggest pitfall I encountered before was that "the more painful it is, the more effective it is." I initially rolled the foam roller on the outer thighs and pectoralis minor muscles until they were bruised and purple, thinking it was effective. However, the doctor said that as long as there is a slight soreness, it will be fine. Gritting in pain will only make the muscles more tense. For example, for those with round shoulders, don’t open your shoulders hard. First, find a foam roller or mineral water bottle and place it on the side of your chest near the armpit, which is where the pectoralis minor muscle is. Shake it slowly for 30 seconds. Then switch to the other side and try raising your arm again. It will be much easier. Some people also say that relaxation is useless and you must first practice strength. This is true. If your muscle mass is particularly low and there is no muscle to support you after relaxation, you will tighten it again soon, so you must activate it immediately after relaxation.

Take the head extension as an example. Don't do random rice-shaped exercises. Shaking too hard can easily injure the cervical spine. Just do the mandibular retraction: Sit upright and imagine someone pressing your chin with a finger. You can slowly retract your chin. When you retract it, you can feel the muscles on the back of your neck tightening. Hold for 5 seconds and then relax. A set of 15 times can be done when you are fishing at work. I now do a set every half an hour while typing on the keyboard, and it no longer hurts so much that I have to wear plaster every day.

The most easily overlooked thing is actually daily habits. You spend an hour doing corrections, turn your head and sit with your legs crossed for 8 hours, and use your mobile phone to make your neck curl up. No matter how much you practice, it is useless. In order to correct the problem of crossing my legs, I deliberately placed a 10cm high footstool under the table. My feet can be placed just flat, so naturally I don’t want to cross them anymore. I also deliberately raised the phone to the level of my eyes when I was browsing the phone. At first, my arms were sore when I held it up, but after I got used to it, I no longer get shoulder and neck pain after using the phone for half an hour.

There are also the negative-heeled shoes and hunchback correction belts that are very noisy nowadays. I have tried them all myself. When you first put on the heel-bearing shoes, you will unconsciously shift your center of gravity back, and the forward pelvic tilt will feel much better. However, after wearing them for a week, your ankles will hurt a lot. Doctors say that long-term wearing of the heel-bearing shoes will change the stress pattern of the ankles, which will easily injure the joints. If you don't do core exercises, you will immediately return to the original shape after taking off the shoes. The same goes for the hunchback correction belt. When you first put it on, it can really straighten you, but if you wear it for a long time, your core muscles will become lazy, and it will make your hunchback worse after you take it off. Now I only wear it for half an hour occasionally when I need to work on projects for a long time, but never wear it on ordinary days.

In fact, I now feel that there is no need for ordinary people to be trapped by "posture anxiety" on the Internet. It is not necessary to be a model and shoot for magazines, and there is no need to pursue a completely straight assembly line posture. As long as you don't feel pain or discomfort when you move, and your shoulders are a little high or low, or your waist is relaxed and slumped when standing, it is not a problem at all. Now I don’t deliberately spend an hour a day practicing corrective exercises. I just do two sets of chin tucks when I’m fishing at work, roll a foam roller for 5 minutes when I get home from work, and consciously put my feet flat when sitting. Now my shoulders and neck no longer hurt, and my shoulders no longer look strong when I wear clothes.

To put it bluntly, there is no standard answer to posture correction. The one that suits you is the best.