How is your posture and how do you know if you have good or poor posture? To test your posture, you can simply check yourself at home. This involves standing with your head, shoulder blades and glutes against a wall, with heels 2-4 inches away. Ideally, a healthy posture maintains natural spinal curves, allowing the back of your head to touch the wall without tilting your chin up. To check for imbalances, you would have a forward head, elevated or rounded shoulders, uneven hips or front pelvic tilt.
If you are wondering, how does poor posture develop? It’s often caused by daily habits like slouching, prolonged sitting and looking down at screens, which weaken muscles and misalign your spine or a weak core. Poor posture is also linked to chronic musculoskeletal pain, spinal degeneration and reduced physical activity.
Having poor posture causes strain on muscles and joints, leading to neck, back and shoulder pain. You might notice more fatigue or that you have tight, sore muscles that interfere with your movement, balance and coordination.
But, on the other hand, having proper posture is directly related to strong core stability and that typically means your spine is normal. Good posture makes life easier and can help prevent pain, prevent pressure sores or induced mobility.
Your core muscles only work properly if your body is in a good posture or correct alignment. A strong core acts as an anchor for the spine, improving posture by reducing slouching, alleviating back pressure and fixing issues like a front pelvic tilt.
A few things to look at, if you have slouched, rounded shoulder posture, you may need to focus on strengthening the back muscles while releasing tight chest muscles.
Improving bad posture involves strengthening the core, back and shoulder muscles while stretching tight chest and hip muscles, alongside conscious daily habits. Key actions include keeping the spine neutral, shoulders relaxed and back. Check what posture type you may have, if none of these apply, then you have a healthy posture.
There are four types of poor posture:
• Forward Head (most common)
• Kyphosis
• Flatback
• Swayback
Good news is, you can correct and improve your posture if you are consistent. Depending on the severity of your imbalances, the mark is around up to 12 weeks to reverse or improve postural imbalances.
Here are several effective exercises to do to improve poor posture: planks, dead bugs, bird dogs, glute bridges and side planks, which strengthen the abdominal muscles, glutes and lower back to support an upright, neutral spine.
Ashley LaMorte is a nationally certified fitness instructor and has been in the fitness industry close to a decade. Over the years, she has gotten the opportunity to instruct group X boot camps at gyms and train private clients from all walks of life, all over the Bay Area. She now has her own mobile fitness business LaMorte Lift. Learn more at LaMorteLift.com.
