Posture

jogdish

Hi,
I am in almost constant soreness, tight neck on one side, leading to tight/cramped shoulders, persistent sore muscles down one side of my body. It's no so bad I need medication, but still just make every day that much harder.

I visited a physio, he did his thing, and instant relief and he told me, it was all down to poor posture built up over years, coupled with under developed muscles(since they are never used, since I have crap posture). Everything he said seemed logical, so I tend to believe him as there was no, you need to come back so many times stuff.

So my question, How do I fix my bad posture? Every time I try to make a conscious effort, it never feels "right" and by the end of the day/week my neck is worse off. I have my desk/monitors/seat all done as advised. I am literally never comfortable sitting down. My only "comfy" position is head down, shoulders rounded forward, neck tilted up.

Is there some, simple effective thing I can do to help correct the posture, I know nothing will get fixed fast, but just something that I can do ? Any advice? I am trying yoga, but I honestly do not yet see any benefit.

jogdish

jogdish wrote: »

So my question, How do I fix my bad posture? Every time I try to make a conscious effort, it never feels "right" .

It's not going to feel "right" because you have wrong so ingrained into you that wrong feels right.
If you adjust your posture you're going to feel like a total weirdo with your neck and head at weird angles for weeks. But to everyone who isn't you, you'll look normal/better.
You need to keep doing it anyway and eventually it will feel right.

Honestly though the physio should have given you at least some guidance on what correct posture should be??
This website might help in the meantime

http://posturedirect.com/how-to-fix-rounded-shoulders/

freemenfitness

There is a lot that can be done sitting at a desk usually leads to two most common issues tight hip flexors and tight tspine working to loosen those usually helps but can really vary from person to person.

Strengthening your entire spine and using good posture to do things will help hugely. The simple things to do that will help are very regular mobility exercises, foam rolling etc and then strength work such as deadlifts, RDL.

Finding a good trainer or physio who can give you a list of mobility work and or exercises to help will benefit hugely too. Yoga can help but as it is not targeting your exact issue it may take a long time to have effect. This article has plenty of info on what can go wrong and things you can work on to fix it. https://gmb.io/spine/

Worth noting too if your sitting in bad posture all day 5 days a week and mostly like when your relaxing at home then your fighting a real uphill battle no matter how much work you do outside of work if your sitting in bad posture all day it will affect you. For example the further your head travels forward your neck can go from holding about 12lbs of force out to 40+ which will have all sorts of effect up and down your body. I hope that helps you.

size5

jogdish wrote: »

Hi,
I am in almost constant soreness, tight neck on one side, leading to tight/cramped shoulders, persistent sore muscles down one side of my body. It's no so bad I need medication, but still just make every day that much harder.

I visited a physio, he did his thing, and instant relief and he told me, it was all down to poor posture built up over years, coupled with under developed muscles(since they are never used, since I have crap posture). Everything he said seemed logical, so I tend to believe him as there was no, you need to come back so many times stuff.

So my question, How do I fix my bad posture? Every time I try to make a conscious effort, it never feels "right" and by the end of the day/week my neck is worse off. I have my desk/monitors/seat all done as advised. I am literally never comfortable sitting down. My only "comfy" position is head down, shoulders rounded forward, neck tilted up.

Is there some, simple effective thing I can do to help correct the posture, I know nothing will get fixed fast, but just something that I can do ? Any advice? I am trying yoga, but I honestly do not yet see any benefit.

To me your physio stopped that pain/discomfort BUT not the cause of it. With regard to correcting you posture you have to be consistent and patient with whatever exercises stretches you are given.

(1) If you are sitting down take frequent breaks;e.g. stand up desks available?

(2) youtube office based stretches for some simple stretches

(3) Yoga/pilates work with a PT for a number of weeks and get educated;

but remember you need to be consistent with the path you choose because if you are sitting in bad posture for 8 hours a day but only doing 20 mins of"posture exercises" 3 times a week this will not be enough to correct the posture.

best of luck

Zillah

Deadlifts. I don't think I ever had very bad posture but more than one friend specifically commented that my posture was great after doing deadlifts for a while.

Straighenup

Working with a physio or other physical therapist is a good start, they can help you to regain a more natural posture, however your posture is your responsibility, you cant expect to get results from physio/gym exercises/other therapies if you then slouch at work or at home or even in the car. Its unlikely your posture problems happened overnight, so dont expect them to go away in a week or two, it doesn't have to take months either, there are many therapies that are based around getting and maintaining good posture, Google is your friend here.

Transform

do all this fix my damn shoulders

really really unlikely its just your shoulders only so make sure you do this also and take the tests, if you're miles off then you need lots of soft tissue work and structured mobility work.