Posture correction

[Traffic]

Hi,

I work long hours at a desk (albeit an adjustable one) however I am getting more and more little back and neck complaints, heading deep into my forties I feel it's now or never for me to correct my posture and make it better. Looking in the mirror I can see I am a bit hunched these days and when at home, in the evenings I often sit a little hunched on the edge of the sofa when not lying down.

I have seen various posture correction devices, but I'd imagine many of them are useless or even harmful so I was wondering if there is a good go-to that is respected that people can recommend?

Thanks

[Bluevanman]

https://youtu.be/Ci5hPz9T1gw

[Kev_Mk3]

handy thanks

[Ashfordian]

Some sort of bar hang exercise, preferably from a bar, but a door frame works. Main thing is to activate the upper back muscles and un-weight the feet, even if you do not take the feet off the ground. More advanced would be moving to the pull-up/chin-up but this is not required just to fix posture.

Australian Row/Pull up also does similar in strengthening the required back muscles.

[d_a_n1979]

Traffic said:

Hi,

I work long hours at a desk (albeit an adjustable one) however I am getting more and more little back and neck complaints, heading deep into my forties I feel it's now or never for me to correct my posture and make it better. Looking in the mirror I can see I am a bit hunched these days and when at home, in the evenings I often sit a little hunched on the edge of the sofa when not lying down.

I have seen various posture correction devices, but I'd imagine many of them are useless or even harmful so I was wondering if there is a good go-to that is respected that people can recommend?

Thanks

Like you I'm sat in my office a lot (I do move between the office and living room, but still sat down). However when I'm on calls I tend to walk around

I am a weightlifter (ex competitive powerlifter, stone lifter etc) and have always done pull ups, chin ups, hangs etc and they help, a LOT - they don't just decompress your spine, but they aid with shoulder mobility & shoulder joint health, neck mobility and neck health etc and would highly recommend them

I know not everyone has a chin up bar/power cube spugged away in their garage to use; but if you go to a gym or have room for one (there are freestanding ones that you can buy and they can be left outside easy enough, or in a garage/room etc) then I'd deffo look at that option

There's a shed load of vids on YT, well worth watching and you can take from them what you will

[wyson]

Personal trainer might help. Mine was always correcting my posture through exercise and stretching.

[popeyewhite]

wyson said:

Personal trainer might help. Mine was always correcting my posture through exercise and stretching.

Yeah OP, see a decent PT or physio. Just make sure there's no serious muscle imbalance before you go hanging off a bar - in itself a very good exercise btw.

[Traffic]

Will try and follow some of these.

Was there a conclusion on the posture correction devices?

[M1AGM]

Traffic said:

Will try and follow some of these.

Was there a conclusion on the posture correction devices?

The problem with devices that do posture correction is that they merely hold your neck/back in the correct position for a period of time with no muscles being activated. This then leads to relapse when you remove the device because the muscles are not being trained to hold that position. The only way to improve posture long term is to train the body/muscles to support your skeleton in the correct form, which is by physical therapy/exercise. Door/bar hangs are surprisingly effective at ‘unrounding’ shoulders as well as unloading the spine if done correctly, as is stretching (when warmed up) and taking regular breaks from your desk by just walking around.

[Herr Schnell]

Took a course with an Alexander Technique instructor about twenty years ago and found it remarkable in the way it improved my posture and movement. Still sit and move that way now. Highly recommend it.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/alexander-technique/