Why Practicing Good Posture Is Especially Important Right Now
I've never had good posture. Ever. Not to place the blame on other people, but good posture was just never a theme in my household or at my schools. My whole life, I've sat with my elbows rested on tables and desks and my shoulders hunching forward. I always assumed my little posture problem would come back to bite me in the butt one day — but I didn't expect that day to come as soon as my early 20s.
When I was 22, I took back-to-back flights between New York City and Dallas to see family for a weekend. When I got off my returning flight, my back felt off — like someone was pushing a sharp object into the lowest part of my spine. Assuming it was just a muscle knot caused by sitting on two cramped airplanes in less than three days, I ignored it. I just went home and asked a close friend for a backrub and I thought would fix the problem. My back hasn't been the same since, nor has the rest of my body.
For the following three years, my lower back was in a constant state of pain. Earlier this year, an orthopedic doctor told me that this pain is caused by tears that have formed in the two lowest discs of my spine. These tears weren't caused entirely by my poor posture — she said they were likely caused by excessive weightlifting or contact sports — but slouching certainly didn't help, either. I received two steroid injections in that area, which reduced the pain significantly but weren't a permanent fix by any means. Since then, the healing process has been entirely my responsibility.
At the recommendation of my doctor, I immediately began physical therapy to help strengthen the muscles around my spine. And although my poor posture wasn't the primary cause of my injury, fixing it would be a huge part of my recovery. At first, it was almost too easy. My doctor provided me with a back brace that forces me to sit up straight, and I'd wear it to the office every day because that's where I slouch the most. But then I started working from home due to the COVID-19 outbreak, things became a lot more challenging (to say the least).
I started seeing my physical therapist via Zoom, which didn't seem like an inconvenience until I considered all her exercise equipment and sports-massage tools I would no longer have access to. I don't have room for a desk in my small apartment, nor any work-friendly chair that allows me to sit straight for a full workday. Instead, I must work from my couch or my bed — both of which are too soft for practicing good posture. And because of that, warding off my back pain is more difficult than it has ever been.
I know for a fact that I'm not the only one having this little posture problem right now. You might not have back pain that's as severe as mine, but if you slouch for too long at a time, you can end up causing yourself a whole lot of discomfort. So I asked experts to answer the biggest questions you might have about good posture, why you need it, and how you can maintain it at home.
Why is good posture important?
According to Charles Kim, a physiatrist and pain-management specialist, good posture allows the body to move fluidly without putting added stress on joints. "Short-term effects of poor posture can include acute pain and aches," he explains. "Long-term effects could lead to faster and premature degeneration ('wear-and-tear') of parts that could lead to chronic pain." Orthopedic surgeon Charla Fischer adds that neck pain from poor posture can lead to headaches.
In my case, poor posture likely contributed greatly to lower back pain. "When the spine is not in a proper posture, the shock-absorbing discs can lead to faster degeneration, which can lead to cracks or fissures in them, which can then lead to a herniation," says Kim. "Joints can also wear and tear faster, leading to early osteoarthritis." Needless to say, it's fortunate my doctor caught my spine's tears when she did because apparently, my problem could get so much worse if I'm not careful.
What does good posture look like?
Sejal Vyas, the physical therapist who's helping me fix my back, says that good posture is a matter of proper skeletal alignment. "From a side view, good posture would look like this: head directly over shoulders, shoulders slightly back, lower back with a slight inward curve, knees straight but not locked, and weight evenly distributed through the whole foot," she says. "In sitting, ears would be over the shoulders, shoulders against the back of a chair, hips in the back of a chair, knees slightly below the hips, and feet firmly on the floor."
Vyas has a plethora of tips and exercises that encourage better posture (more on those later), but all in all, she says it's all about "having good habits that happen without thinking."
Why is it so hard to have good posture?
Achieving and keeping good posture if you've never really worked at it is easier said than done — and there are plenty of reasons for that, according to Vyas. "When we think about how life happens, we realize that everything we do happens in front of us: looking at our phones, sitting at our desks for work, meeting with friends, and watching our favorite shows," she explains. "Good posture is challenging to maintain because it requires accurate body awareness, muscle strength and flexibility, and good body mechanics both with movement and at rest — most people have difficulty keeping track of all of these points while performing their regular daily activities."
And being at home all the time — even when we're working — only adds more difficulty to this process. "Now, being at home, we may be crouching more or sitting on a non-ergonomic chair, couch, or bed, leading to poor posture," Kim says. "In addition, many people have significantly lessened their daily walking distances in public since the quarantines... this leads to overall deconditioning, weight gain, and decreased bone strength."
Social distancing and work-from-home measures, Kim says, have in turn caused an uptick in patients who've become "deconditioned" and have lost strength in their supportive muscles, tendons, and ligaments. There are, thankfully, many simple things you can to prevent that from happening and to improve your posture overall.
What can I do to get better posture?
As Fischer points out, quarantine is a perfect time to dedicate yourself to better posture. "The best way to prevent [back and neck pain] is to have a work area that is ergonomic," she says. If you have a desk job, think about what your set-up at the office looks like — you've probably got a firm seat with a back and a desk that you can comfortably rest your elbows and wrists on. If you don't have your own desk and work chair at home, try to emulate that set-up as much as possible with what's available to you. I have a large windowsill that I sometimes use as a standing desk, plus I bought a small folding table that forces me to sit up straight when working on my couch.
Taking a break every now and then can also help, according to Fischer. "You can set a timer on your phone to remind yourself to take a stretch break — or just relax your shoulders down and unclench the jaw," she advises. Kim points out that if you're moving around less than usual in quarantine, it can lead to muscle degeneration, which in turn leads to less support for the spine. Even just taking a walk outside (while maintaining a safe distance) and doing basic physical activities can help keep supportive muscles active. Or, as he puts it: "If you don’t use it, you lose it."
During our physical therapy sessions, Vyas advises me to stretch every morning when I wake up, once during the afternoon, and right before I go to bed to warn off back pain. I make a goal to go on a 10-20 minute walk every day, too.
And here's the part you might not like hearing: If you're too used to slouching, learning good posture requires a little bit of working out, according to both Vyas and Fischer. You don't need to go training for a marathon or anything extreme, but there are key parts of your body that you can strengthen to offer more support to your back, neck, and shoulders.
Vyas offers three simple exercises for the upper back and shoulders. First, there's the upper trapezius stretch, which you might already do some time to time without realizing. It simply involves tipping your left ear to your left shoulder to stretch the opposite side of your neck (and repeating on the other side, obviously). Second, she recommends scapular wall slides. In this exercise, you stand flush against a wall, reach your arms straight outwards and bend your elbows at 90-degree angles — your body should look like a football goal post. With your whole body remaining against the wall, lift your arms upward and straighten them out in a shoulder-press motion. Lastly, Vyas suggests doing a standing pectoral stretch. This one's rather simple: While standing up straight, reach your arms straight forward, meeting at eye level. Then, reach them as far backward as possible until you feel the stretch in your chest and upper back.
If you want to take things a step further or want extra safeguards against back pain, Fischer recommends abdominal exercises. "I recommend looking up yoga, pilates, barre classes, or really any class with strength and core in the description," she says. "These classes often use body weight as resistance, so there can be little equipment to buy."
If you still have back pain like mine that persists — good posture or not — check with your health care provider to see if any doctors specializing in pain management or orthopedics are doing virtual consultations. Just keep in mind that you can't magically have perfect posture overnight. "Improving posture is a long term project and should be taken slowly and methodically for long-lasting results," Vyas says. "Don't worry if it takes longer than five days; posture is a long term challenge"
More on quarantine wellness:
Now, hear Mae Whitman's experiences of chronic pain:
Don't forget to follow Allure on Instagram and Twitter.
Originally Appeared on Allure
