Posture correction exercises

The most suitable posture correction exercise for ordinary people is never the standardized templates such as "7-day right-angle shoulder" and "10-minute improvement of pelvic anterior tilt" circulated on the Internet, but a combination of low-load resistance training that matches your personal posture problems, muscle compensation patterns, and daily habits. The core is to correct the force memory, rather than relying on muscle congestion to create a good-looking fake posture in the short term.

Last week, a girl who works as an e-commerce operator came to me and said that after three weeks of practicing swan neck training with Internet celebrities, her trapezius muscles became more and more swollen with practice. She also had stiff neck twice in a row, and it was so painful that it was difficult to even turn her head. When I evaluated her, I discovered that she had mild upper cross syndrome, and the forward protrusion of her neck was about 4 centimeters. As soon as the Internet celebrity started the exercise, she was asked to lower her shoulders and turn her neck significantly. She couldn't find the strength of the middle and lower trapezius muscles at all, so she relied on shrugging her trapezius muscles throughout the whole process. It was strange that it didn't hurt.

At present, there are actually two different ideas in the design logic of corrective exercises in the rehabilitation circle. There is no absolute right or wrong, but it is only suitable for different people. Structural rehabilitation therapists pay more attention to bone alignment and will ask for an X-ray of the whole spine to determine whether you have structural high and low shoulders, scoliosis, or functional deviations caused by long-term bad habits. If the bone problem exceeds the critical value, they will directly recommend intervention according to the doctor's instructions. You must not follow the general exercises on the Internet casually, as it can easily turn a small problem into a big trouble.

But functional rehabilitation practitioners don’t see it that way. They think that the majority of ordinary people's postural problems are "exposed" - it's weird to lower your head to check your phone every day and not stretch your neck forward. It's weird to sit with your legs crossed for a long time and your pelvis is not crooked. The millimeter-level deviation of the bones is not the core problem at all. The essence of corrective exercises is to help you correct your pelvis. The stiffened muscles can be loosened, the muscles that have been lazy for a long time can be activated, and the correct force memory can be re-established. Even if there is a slight deviation in the bones, as long as the muscle strength is balanced, the posture will naturally return to a comfortable state. There is no need to take pictures and make it so complicated at the beginning.

In the past 6 years of my rehabilitation, I have used both approaches. To be honest, for 90% of ordinary people who do not have pain, numbness or other pathological symptoms, there is no need to worry about which one to choose, as long as they avoid their own compensation minefields. A back-end programmer came to me to adjust his rounded shoulders and back. I initially arranged YTWL fly and chest stretching exercises for him according to the regular plan. He went home and practiced diligently for half a month, but there was no effect at all. Later, I deliberately followed him to his workstation and stayed there for half an hour before I found out the problem: In order to make it easier to type code, he placed the keyboard 5 centimeters higher than his elbows. His shoulders were resting on his shoulders the whole time he went to work for 8 hours. His pectoralis minor muscles were as tight as rocks. The 20 minutes of stretching at home could not withstand the 8 hours of continuous tightness during the day.

Later, I directly changed his corrective exercises. He didn’t even need to go home to practice the first movement, which was to stop every 40 minutes, put his back against the back of the chair, put his hands on his shoulders, slowly turn left and right to the limit, stop for 2 seconds, and do 5 times each. It was such an action that he didn’t even sweat. After two weeks of persistence, his rounded shoulders were mostly cured, and even the shoulders that hurt every day were relieved a lot.

Many people have misunderstandings about corrective exercises. They think that the more sore the muscles are after exercise, the better the effect. They even specifically look for exercises that make the whole body hurt the next day after exercise. It is really unnecessary. I met a young man before. In order to improve the anterior pelvic tilt, he did plank support for half an hour every day. He did it until his waist could no longer straighten. When he came for evaluation, it was discovered that he had no core strength. He relied on bending down to compensate for the plank support. It was only a mild anterior pelvic tilt, but after practicing for a month, the curvature of the lumbar spine became more exaggerated. In fact, for his situation, the first most useful action is to practice abdominal breathing while lying down. You don’t even need to lift your waist, just feel the feeling of your belly bulging and your waist pressed against the bed when you inhale. Practice for 5 minutes each time. After 3 days of practice, you can find the feeling of core strength while standing and sitting. It is 10 times more effective than practicing plank support blindly.

Oh, by the way, it doesn’t mean that the general corrective exercises on the Internet are completely useless. If you only have mild rounded shoulders and forward neck caused by sitting for a long time, and you don’t have any pain or discomfort, then it’s okay to choose a few movements and practice them. As long as you pay attention when practicing, if you feel uncomfortable, joint pain, or a certain muscle is particularly sore after practicing any movement, just stop. Don’t follow the blogger’s slogan of “persistence is victory”.

Finally, don’t believe in those gimmicks that say you’ll have cartoon shoulders and fairy back after just one week of practice. If your posture has been crooked for three to five years, and you can return it to a state where you can sit for a day without any back pain in three months, you’ve already made money. After all, when we practice corrective exercises, what we want is a good and comfortable body, not a fake posture that can only be stiff when taking pictures, right?