In the past few months, I’ve heard many of my students complain of poor posture. What is interesting to me about this complaint is that many students know they have bad posture but they aren’t actively doing anything to fix it.

My guess is, they don’t know how to properly fix bad posture.

Why poor posture is a real problem

Poor posture can lead to chronic pain over time. If you slouch forward all day long you may start to experience pain in your shoulders and neck. If you slouch in your chair and fail to sit up straight you may start to experience chronic low back pain.

Going to yoga class can be a great way to relieve symptoms of chronic pain but if you continue to return to poor posture habits day-in and day-out the chronic pain will never truly go away for good.

No matter how much a chiropractor adjusts your spine, no matter how much a massage therapist kneads tight muscles, and no matter how many painkillers you take throughout the day, if you don’t change your daily posture habits you’ll never break free of this chronic pain cycle.

Quick fixes don’t work

You could ask for a new chair at work, or even a standing desk. A doctor may be able to recommend a particular kind of brace to hold you upright. But at the end of the day, if you don’t take responsibility for your own posture nothing will change until you do.

The good news is, you have everything you need to make a change in your own posture. You don’t need to buy drugs. You don’t even need to get a new office chair (although that may help). You don’t need to spend any money. You just need to learn how to align your shoulders, pelvis, and spine in a neutral position.

Anatomy lesson for better posture

Everyone’s anatomy is different. I can’t tell you exactly what you need to do to fix your posture (or if you even need to fix it in the first place), without looking at how you sit and stand on a daily basis.

I can teach you the general principles and hint at what you may need to do to get back to neutral.

Today’s video is all about what it takes to fix your posture. It’s anatomy heavy, but if big, strange terms scare you away just know that you never have to memorize the names as long as you understand the big picture. Luckily, I think the big picture is pretty easy to understand.

In this video you’ll learn to locate your ischial tuberosities, sacrum, xyphoid process (what a great scrabble word for “x”!), and your pubic symphysis. Like I said, I care less about you knowing the names and more about you understanding the general concept. The video will help because it gives you a visual.

If you have specific questions about your posture or your unique situation, reach out to me via email. I always love to hear from my readers 🙂

Namaste!