Posture corrector

For the vast majority of ordinary people, posture correctors are neither a "miraculous drug" that can solve rounded shoulders, hunched back, and forward head tilt with one click, nor are they completely useless IQ taxes - they are essentially a posture aid with clear boundaries of application. If used incorrectly, they can harm the body. If used correctly, they can indeed help you lower the threshold for posture adjustment.

A while ago, I met a young post-00s girl who works in operations. She was attracted by the advertisement of "Say goodbye to breasted hunchback in 7 days" while browsing short videos. She spent more than 300 to buy an internet celebrity braces style orthotic device. She wore it at work and after get off work. After two weeks, she took it off. Not to mention that she was back to her original shape as soon as she came in. She took trapezius creatine for almost a week and went to the rehabilitation department to take X-rays. The doctor said that she wore it for too long, and the muscles that should have exerted their own strength to maintain posture were "lying flat" throughout the process. Instead, she developed disuse weakness.

The current attitude of the sports rehabilitation circle towards this thing is actually quite divided. Many physical therapists who hold a negative attitude believe that the essence of postural problems is an imbalance of muscle strength. For example, the common rounded shoulders are caused by long-term tension in the front pectoral muscles, and the middle and lower trapezius and rhomboids in the back are not strong enough to support the shoulders. If you rely on external force to push the shoulders back, it is equivalent to doing the work for the muscles. After wearing it for a long time, the muscles will not remember how to actively exert force, which will aggravate the imbalance. Especially the hard steel plate type neck braces and lumbar braces, which are worn every day by ordinary healthy people. There are many cases of neck and waist muscle atrophy in a month or two.

But there are also many practitioners who feel that beating someone to death with a stick is too absolute. I know a team doctor who provides support for the provincial team. He said that orthotics are not meant to be worn all day long. The core function is to "posture reminder" - many people unknowingly stretch their necks forward and their backs become lumpy when working at their desks. They are not even aware of it. Wearing a lightweight orthosis will cause a slight tightness to remind you to return to your position as soon as your posture is tilted. Wear it for 20 to 30 minutes each time, two or three times a day, and cooperate with your own initiative to maintain the correct posture. On the contrary, it can build correct muscle memory faster. When he adjusts the height and low shoulders of the shooters on his team, he occasionally uses customized corrective straps to assist, especially during the recovery period after the adjustment, to prevent the athletes from subconsciously returning to the wrong posture that has been maintained for several years. “However, the ones used by the team are customized according to each person's muscle condition and bone structure, and the strength and support points have been adjusted. The one-size-fits-all models available online for 9 yuan and free shipping cannot be suitable for everyone. ”He had complained to me several times before, saying that many people came to him with low-quality braces bought online and asked him why they became more painful the more they were worn, and he didn’t know how to explain them.

I went through a lot of troubles in the past two years in order to round my shoulders. I bought three types of orthotics. The ordinary strap model that cost tens of dollars made my armpits red for several days, and the hard steel plate model caused pain in my thoracic spine. Finally, I stayed with the sensor model that only weighs more than 100 grams. I usually wear it for 20 minutes when I write, and it vibrates to remind me when I hunch my back, which is quite useful. To be honest, if you really want to buy it and try it out, give priority to the ones that are light in weight and have soft support. Don’t choose the hard ones. Unless it is a pathological correction model that the doctor specifically requires you to wear, it is really unnecessary for ordinary office workers. Also, don’t wear it for more than half an hour. I wore it all afternoon to catch up on a project. When I took it off, I felt that my whole back was not my own. It seemed that I didn’t even have the strength to stand up straight. It took almost two hours to recover.

But there is a prerequisite you must remember: if you have clear bone problems, such as scoliosis, lumbar disc herniation, or cervical spine curvature straightening, you must not blindly buy braces to wear. A fan told me before that he had a functional scoliosis of 15 degrees during a physical examination. He read online that it could be adjusted by wearing a correction belt. He bought one and wore it for three months. When he went for a review, it turned into 20 degrees. This is because the force point of the correction belt is wrong, which makes the spine more crooked. In this case, you must first go to the hospital to take a full spine X-ray so that the doctor can determine what type of problem you have. You must follow the doctor's instructions whether to use it, which kind to use, and how to use it. It is really easy to cause problems if you try blindly on your own.

To put it bluntly, these things are no different from the shock-absorbing running shoes you wear for running or the wristbands you wear for fitness. You can't expect to lose weight automatically by wearing a good pair of running shoes, nor can you expect to automatically grow right-angled shoulders and swan necks by wearing a pair of orthotics. If you really want to adjust your posture, practice shoulder-sinking and back-squeezing movements three times a week for 20 minutes each time. If you normally sit for half an hour, stand up and move around for two minutes. This is much more reliable than spending thousands to buy a cabinet of orthotics.