Why Posture Matters

There is a debate in the movement world about whether or not posture matters. It goes something like this.

-Clinical studies show that people with "good posture" often have pain and people with “poor posture” often do not have pain.

-There is no "normal" posture because we're all different, so teaching about posture isn't really something we can do.

-There is no evidence that improving posture helps anything

Okay... I guess? These same practitioners then tend to teach people "appropriate ways" to bend or sit into and out of chairs, or offer cues about how to pick up something “correctly”, so what gives? Obviously, they care about SOMETHING related to posture, so what is it?

In the Pilates world (and within some PT schools and amongst trainers), posture was taught for years by using a plumb line and figuring out alignment 3-dimensionally from a standing position only.

This is where I think the "postural education system" fails - it tends to stop at standing posture analysis. Good practitioners might look at a standing posture and then teach exercises to negate the asymmetries they see. While that’s helpful, it’s still not the best solution as postural patterns are more dynamic and might change under load or with movement. So, how does studying “posture” apply to everyday movements?

Postural patterns are the same as functional movements. These movements are patterns that are exhibited when walking, running, cycling, bending, lifting, working. These movements are important and can be improved with postural training.

If I started walking around all of the time with my head leaning to one side, I would notice that my neck muscles would tighten and other imbalances would occur. Pain would surely follow. So, improving my "postural pattern" would help.

If I slump all day long at my computer, my back muscles will weaken, so improving muscular strength in my back muscles will improve my seated posture.

I could go on but you get it.

In short, posture is not exhibited only when standing and it is not something that is rigid and held.

If the definition of posture that you’ve heard is to stand in a rigid position pulling the belly button to spine and shoulders down and back while maintaining "neutral", then by all means, LET THAT GO. That cuing will probably not prevent injury.

Our hope is for a more dynamic definition of posture. Every movement we create has a “posture” and understanding ways to move into and out of dynamic and static positions IS how we move.