Posture correction exercise

Posture correction exercises can clearly improve functional postural problems caused by muscle imbalances and incorrect movement patterns, but are ineffective in treating bone structural deformations and pathological postural problems. There is no universal solution that applies to everyone. Corresponding methods need to be selected based on the root causes of individual problems.

When catching the subway in the morning and looking down at the mobile phone, the neck is stretched forward almost touching the screen. When sitting in the office while typing on the keyboard, the shoulders are unconsciously raised into small peaks. After get off work, one slumps down on the sofa and the whole body is curled up - these are almost the daily standard of contemporary people. Shoulders, head protrusion, and false hip width come to their doorstep. Many people’s first reaction is to search for a bunch of videos on “7 Days to Improve Wealth Package” and “10 Days to Correct XO Legs” and follow them. However, after practicing for half a month, either there is no effect, or the pain in the shoulders, neck and knees becomes more severe.

Speaking of which, I have to mention two mainstream ideas in the current posture correction circle. No one is right or wrong, but they are applicable to different groups of people. The logic of "strength compensation" that is relatively popular in the domestic fitness circle is: rounded shoulders mean that the chest muscles are too tight and the back muscles are too weak. As long as the tight muscles are stretched and the weak muscles are strengthened, the posture will naturally be correct. ； In recent years, the popular neuromodulation school in foreign countries does not think so. They believe that most people's daily bad posture is essentially a problem with the brain's default movement mode - you have been used to sitting with your chest in your arms for more than ten years, and your brain has long judged this posture as a "safe and labor-saving normal posture." Even if you strengthen your back muscles through strength training, you will still shrink back unconsciously when you are distracted from work, which is completely useless. The core thing to do is to re-establish the correct posture memory for the brain.

I came across an interesting case before. A sophomore girl came to me to do a U-turn and reach forward. I arranged sternocleidomastoid stretching and lower trapezius muscle training according to traditional methods. She practiced three times a week for three weeks, and there was almost no change when I took comparison photos. Later, when we sat down and chatted, I found out that she always tilted her body when doing homework and bit pens with her left tiger teeth. She also tended to put her weight on her left foot when walking. The entire power chain of her trunk was crooked. Simply doing shoulder and neck exercises was treating the symptoms but not the root cause. Later, I didn’t let her do too much strength training. I only bought her two colored post-it notes and put them on the edge of the computer and desk to remind her to sit up straight. I also did ten minutes of walking weight awareness exercises every day, requiring her to consciously put the weight evenly on the soles of her feet with every step. After two weeks, I took a comparison photo and found that the problem of forward head improvement had improved by 70%.

Many people may not know that there are actually two types of posture problems. You must first figure out which category you belong to before taking action. If you have tibial varus caused by calcium deficiency in childhood, structural scoliosis in the spine, or abnormal posture caused by joint disease, don't rely on exercise to correct it. See an orthopedic or rehabilitation doctor honestly. Practicing blindly can easily aggravate the injury. Only functional problems that are caused by long-term bad habits, have no organic disease, usually have an unsightly appearance or occasionally cause muscle soreness, are suitable for exercise adjustment.

I have really seen too many people follow the unified tutorials on the Internet. It is obviously the fake hip width caused by buckling in the knees. After half a month of hip training, they have accumulated fluid in their knees. If you just have rounded shoulders and tight shoulders and necks after sitting for a long time, and you have no pain or limited movement, then you can choose any method. Pull your chest for 30 seconds every time you sit for a long time, and do 15 YTWL flyes before going to bed. If you insist on it for two months, you will definitely see changes. ； If you practice for a month or two without any effect, or even get more and more painful the more you practice, don’t focus on strength. Find a rehabilitation practitioner who understands neuromodulation to help you adjust your daily movement patterns. It may be more effective than practicing blindly for half a year on your own.

After all, posture correction exercises are essentially to help you regain your body's original sense of strength. There is really no need to pursue the perfect standards of "one shoulder" and "right-angled waist" advertised by marketing. As long as you don't have inexplicable pain and have unrestricted movements, even if your shoulders are a bit rounded and your head is stretched forward, there is no need to mess around. After all, comfort is much more important than looking good, right?