Let’s Talk About the P Word.

Today we’re going to talk about the annoying P word.

Posture.

How many times has someone told you to sit up straight, don’t slouch, roll your shoulders back, loosen your low back, etc., etc.? Correcting posture has to be one of the more annoying aspects of our health–it’s bothersome and tedious. It also requires us to be fully present in our bodies, which is also sometimes uncomfortable.

While strength training helps to correct posture by targeting specific muscle imbalances, you can’t out-exercise poor daily positioning. It’s basically like driving a car with the wheels out of alignment. Yes, you can still drive, but eventually your car is going to start to experience problems, ultimately leading to damage.

This is one of the more common themes I work on with my clients, and even for myself, I’m constantly tweaking how I’m standing, sleeping, and moving.

Anecdotally, I was always dealing with hip issues. I’ve seen every type of provider to help figure out what was going on. I was strengthening all the “right muscles,” yet still running into challenges. It wasn’t until I corrected the way I slept that I truly eliminated my pain. I used to sleep on my stomach with one knee hiked up. It was constantly putting my hips in a compromised position and most likely twisting my pelvis. It makes sense why, even with all the strength training exercises I was doing, I was just out of alignment. When this happens, certain muscles overcompensate for the ones that can’t do their job–and there you have muscle imbalance.

Posture is also annoying because it takes time. It’s small tweaks every day to eventually train your body to hold itself in a new way. It’s taking note of how you’re standing at the sink, brushing your teeth, sitting at your desk, walking through the parking lot. These mindless tasks are actually so very important because we do them so much. If there is anything you remember about movement health, it’s that repetition is important and impactful.

Working on your posture in conjunction with strength training can make the whole process much easier; however, they have to happen synchronously.

The areas I see the most challenges with are the low back, hips, shoulders, upper back, and neck. Together, my clients and I work to analyze their strengths, weaknesses, and how they spend a majority of their day. From there, we make small tweaks to create a strong foundation and then build muscle on top of their new baseline.

If it feels safe to do so, I encourage you to pause and assess how you’re holding your body today. Set reminders to check in, especially when you’re doing focused work. That tends to be the time we lose our ability to maintain good form. Get a baseline, see providers, get help, and remember this is all an evolving process. Our health isn’t a one-time-only investment–it’s showing up for yourself every single day to support longevity.

Living well is a commitment, and sometimes a hard one at that. I promise the beginning is always the hardest, and it will get easier if you put in the work–good things take time.