Straighten up and fly right

June 7, 2017 9:00 AM

My posture is terrible. How can I fix it?

My posture is terrible. If I'm not paying strict attention, my shoulders just naturally slump forward. If my mother and grandmother are any indication, this is only going to get worse as I get older. How can I fix it?

Do posture sensor devices work, and are they easy to use? I'm thinking of the Luma Lift. But I don't want to pay 80 bucks for something I'm going to toss in a drawer because it doesn't work or is a pain in the ass. Any others you would recommend?

What about exercise? I see the Alexander Technique recommended but it sounds expensive. Are there normal exercises that help?

Any other tips?

posted by Serene Empress Dork to Health & Fitness (27 answers total)

Yoga can help. Or music lessons. I have ramrod straight posture because I grew up playing piano and clarinet.
posted by something something at 9:03 AM on June 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Horseback riding lessons (when I was a teen) really helped my posture. Head up, heels down!

Also, I once read something in a magazine interview with Gwyneth Paltrow (I know, I know) that I found useful. She suggested visualizing a string attached to the top of your head, and that the string is being pulled upward. Basically you imagine that you're being pulled upright. La Goop might be on to something.
posted by orrnyereg at 9:08 AM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Alexander is expensive, but has been worth it for me, but I use my body professionally so my need might be higher? YMMV.

Here's an exercise based in Alexander that I've been told to do on my own: get a medium-sized book and lie on the floor with it under your head. Your knees should be bent, feet on the floor, to make a 90-ish-degree angle. Arms at your sides. Lie like that and breathe for fifteen minutes, focusing on slowly releasing your muscles. This performs a bit of a reset of your system and might make it easier to get a sense for what "normal" is supposed to feel like.
posted by fast ein Maedchen at 9:10 AM on June 7, 2017 [7 favorites]

There are some helpful answers in this old AskMe thread.
posted by goatdog at 9:11 AM on June 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: The basic T-Tapp routine has done wonders for my posture. You should watch some of the "try before you buy" clips because the instructor isn't for everyone, but if you think you'd stick with it, that would be an affordable option.

I don't have any experience with posture sensors, but I doubt that they'd work because it's not just about teaching you not to slump, it's about strengthening the muscles that make it *comfortable* not to slump.
posted by Kriesa at 9:16 AM on June 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I have terrible posture all my life. My family tried all ways to fix me. Negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, you name it.

This situation lasted until I started doing weights. In my case, it was Les Mills Body Pump classes where you lift light weights to cheesy music and instructor.

And whaddaya know? My posture instantly straightened, with zero effort. I feel so much stronger. My back muscles have strengthened to lift themselves up, and my core holds stronger. I'm not doing anything crazy like power lifting or Crossfit, I'm just doing small weights (less than 15lbs) and simple exercises like squats, dumbell rows, lunges, reverse fly, overhead presses.

I wish someone had told me way early on in life that my terrible posture was not due to lack of willpower, or laziness (I have terrible memories of my childhood in this particular aspect.) I wasn't lazy; I was just lacking in a couple of basic back exercises.

TLDR: Get a personal trainer. Or just join a gym. Body Pump is nice and nonthreatening.
posted by moiraine at 9:19 AM on June 7, 2017 [18 favorites]

Came in to also suggest Alexander lessons, you can probably find someone who is training to be an instructor and get a reduced rate.

This is a video of the technique to give you an idea of what is involved.
posted by nanook at 9:33 AM on June 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Is weightlifting an option for you? I had miserable back and posture problems until I started lifting weights (specifically: heavy weights with low, careful reps) and I can't even begin to describe the difference it has made. Strengthening my back and core made "standing up straight" from something I have to put effort into into something that feels natural. Slumping over the way I used to is now the "unnatural" position for me.

Regarding all the Posture Devices and so on: I've seen a bunch of them and I'm going to say that a minority of them are designed by people who have any sort of expertise to make such a thing. Most of them are fly-by-night tech companies that are the modern-day equivalent of shitty, harmful backbraces designed by quack doctors. I'm not sure about the one you're specifying, but look carefully at who designed it and whether you have any reason to trust them on it. If they're not even a chiropractor (the lowest of low bars for this sort of thing) don't bother wasting your money.
posted by griphus at 9:41 AM on June 7, 2017 [7 favorites]

Best answer: Along the lines of both Alexander and exercise/strengthening, a really good yoga class can be life-changing. But, a mediocre yoga class won't make any difference at all really. What's great is when a teacher really spends some time working on "mountain" pose, and talking about how shoulders and core and tailbone all are working together, spend some time positioning the spine and feeling how the arms and shoulders drape down off the central core position.

Basically, good posture comes in three phases:
1. Learning what good posture is, what it feels like, how to recognize it, and both the too-slouched and too-effortful variations of bad posture, and how to fix them.
2. Building core muscles, both back and front, that make holding a good-posture position effortless.
3. Remembering to do posture checks, increasing your implementation of good posture practices.

These steps aren't strictly chronological, but #3 can't come first. The widgets (eg LumaLift) help with item #3, but unless you've done #1 you'll only train yourself in how to keep the device happy (which there are probably shortcuts to satisfy without being right for your body), and unless you've done #2, there's only so long you can keep it up.
posted by aimedwander at 9:48 AM on June 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

Best answer: Doing a lot of pushups made a surprising difference for me. You may not be comfortable doing pushups, but I think plank works the same core muscles without requiring as much upper body strength.
posted by LizardBreath at 9:48 AM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'd agree with the suggestions for weight lifting. If you have access to a gym, I'll go one further and recommend a specific exercise called the face pull, which has helped my similarly bad posture and shoulder slump.
posted by infinitywaltz at 9:57 AM on June 7, 2017 [5 favorites]

Best answer: My trainer said that the muscles responsible for holding your shoulders back are between your shoulder blades: the tough part is that for every exercise for these muscles, there is a way to use your upper trapezius instead, so you have to be really careful to use very light weights and keep it out of your neck.
posted by batter_my_heart at 10:23 AM on June 7, 2017 [7 favorites]

The Gokhale method did this for me. I read the book and then attended a foundation course. I love Esther Gokale's approach to posture, as something to be attained naturally from daily life and not from chores/exercises.
posted by mirileh at 10:27 AM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

This youtube yoga program has the focus on standing alignment and strength, it's free, and I started noticing posture improvements after the first two weeks but I also supplemented the flow with some extra upper body work, because there wasn't enough shoulder work in here for me: Yoga with Tim
posted by slow graffiti at 10:28 AM on June 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Egoscue Method physical therapy was transformative for my posture. You could start with either of these books: The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion; Pain Free.
posted by Lexica at 10:39 AM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

If you're a person who wears bras, a proper bra fitting (and a more supportive style) can help with posture.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:45 AM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Coming here to also say getting a really good fitting bra is part of this process. I also benefited a lot from a standing desk.
posted by jessamyn at 11:11 AM on June 7, 2017 [1 favorite]

Do you like dancing? My posture really improved when I was taking bellydance classes just for fun, but I'm sure any dance would help. You become a lot more aware of your body in space and proper posture.
posted by Orca at 11:13 AM on June 7, 2017 [4 favorites]

I got a Lift for Christmas and wore it for about...... three days. It just annoyed me and standing up straighter made my back hurt. I think once I'm through being pregnant this time, I'll look into some of the methods listed above as I suspect targeted exercises are likely the answer.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 11:41 AM on June 7, 2017

Best answer: LumoLift.

I have one and I have found it really does help. It has a strong magnet built into it, so you hold it over the top of your shirt and the matching strong magnet attaches behind the cloth. It does not impede. Depending on which bra I'm wearing I sometimes have to position it a little differently.

You establish your 'hey lookitme, I'm sitting up nice!' posture, then press the LumoLift and it vibrates three times. You program it to let you know when your posture has slipped out of that sweet spot- I have mine programmed for 15 seconds. It'll keep vibrating intermittently until I get back into my initial posture.

The information is synced online, so then it's available to review historic information. It also records steps taken, and although I've never tested accuracy I have no reason to doubt it does it right. I never had issues getting the Bluetooth to connect to my old Samsung Galaxy S5, but when the phone was replaced with a Pixel XL I do find the Bluetooth issue more troublesome.

It charges on its own little base unit with a USB, clicks in and charges quickly.

note: I had in general found it frustrating to reach their customer service department. I'd sent repeated emails to their 'contact us here' e-addy with no responses and no other apparent contact info. Eventually I made a comment on their Facebook wall and they did apologize and invited me to give them a call. So, for whatever that's worth.
posted by mcbeth at 1:00 PM on June 7, 2017 [2 favorites]

Adult ballet or barre classes would do the trick. I have good posture from a childhood of ballet lessons!
posted by jrobin276 at 1:03 PM on June 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

People have good general suggestions but I'll add this: Please get tested for scoliosis, especially if you have any pain from your bad posture, even if you're an adult. I went years thinking I should just correct my shitty posture on my own and found it really difficult and it turns out that's because of my weird spine.
posted by colorblock sock at 1:35 PM on June 7, 2017 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: So many great suggestions, thank you all!
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 1:36 PM on June 7, 2017

Best answer: I would STRONGLY suggest you get assessed and perhaps treated by a very competent PT before you try to treat yourself - you likely need strengthening and postural reeducation and there are very specific things you can do that will help but you need someone to look at you. You may also have chronic tight spots in your muscles that impede your ability to stand straight - what you describe sounds similar to problems I've had, and I found I needed extensive work (massage and myofacial work plus exercises) on my chest, ribs, and shoulders to allow my shoulders to be properly located. I also discovered (again, through a thorough assessment by a professional) that my rib cage was misaligned which was pulling things out of joint, including causing mild scoliosis. The torso is complex and where you feel pain and see problems may not be the root cause of the issue. Anything along your spine could ultimately need some work, even if you see the issue showing up at the shoulders.
posted by john_snow at 6:46 AM on June 8, 2017 [2 favorites]

If you have insurance? Physical therapists work on this all the time.
posted by talldean at 8:10 AM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]

Good stuff in this AskMe thread.
posted by mabelstreet at 8:58 AM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Seconding the power of dance, bellydance in particular because it really strengthens all of your abs, including your lower, upper, side abs, etc. (Yes, I am aware it's all one muscle, but you get the point.) It's not unusual to spend an entire class working on hip isolations of various types, without realizing you're working your abs until you try to get out of bed the next morning. I know you're talking mostly about your shoulders, and don't worry, belly classes will work those too.
posted by Jaie at 12:48 AM on June 11, 2017 [1 favorite]