7 very common posture issues, and how to correct them

(Last Updated On: March 28, 2016)

This is meant to be a non-technical post, as it is a prelude to a couple new manuals of mine. (More at the bottom.) If you want more nuance on these types of things, feel free to look around the site. 

1) Forward head posture

In a forward head posture the head is out too far in front of the shoulders. Ideally, the ears and shoulders would be in the same line, 

But here the ears are well out in front of the shoulders: 

Possible associated issues

Headaches & the Neck

Because the muscles which tilt the head back are working so much more than the muscles which tilt the head down -think chin up versus chin down- headaches can arise in the back of the neck (where many muscles are working too much) as well as neck pain.  

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2) Low shoulder(s)

In this issue the shoulders are hanging too low. For a frame of reference, looking from the front we want the shoulder to be roughly a tad above the collarbone:

In a low shoulder, the shoulder often hangs a bit below the collarbone. The collarbone is slanted down rather than up:

Both shoulders in this case:

Often, you can really just eyeball this.

Possible associated issues

Neck discomfort

Because the shoulders are pulling down on the neck, the neck can become overstretched. This is where people often feel that “stiffness” on the side of their neck. Because they feel tight, they’ll often do a stretch like this:

However, that stretch is actually feeding into the issue. As we’ve gone over, this part of the neck is actually already being stretched too much. The last thing we want to do is stretch it more.

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Shoulder pain / issues bringing arms up

Because the shoulders are hanging so low, it’s common to have trouble lifting the arms up. Think of the shoulders as having to start from behind. Rather than beginning at the starting line, where they should be:

They’re beginning from behind the starting line:

What happens when you have to do more work than you should? You get annoyed. What happens when you have to do this all the time? You get pissed off. Think of the shoulders as progressively getting pissier.

 

3) Rounded upper back / Hunchback (kyphosis)

Rather than the upper back being fairly straight, it is excessive rounded over.

Possible associated issues

Shoulders

When the upper back is rounded the shoulders don’t have as much room to move as they would like. Try this: stand up nice and tall and lift your arms up.

Now, round your shoulders like a hunchback and try to lift your arms again:

1) You can’t lift your arms as high and 2) The hunchback version does not feel comfortable. What happens when you do this over a long period of time? Those shoulders go from, “I could use a little more room here, but it’s not too bad” to “OH MY GOD WE CAN’T BREATHE!”

Neck

A hunchback posture goes hand in hand with our forward head posture above. When the upper back rounds, the head moves forward. When the upper back is straight(er), the neck tends to be straight(er).

It’s very hard to correct one without focus on the other.

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4) Lower back into extension (~lordosis)

The lower back is either in extension, per above, or it’s getting pushed that direction.

Possible associated issues

Lower back pain

Whether the lower back is already in too much extension (lordosis), or it’s heading that direction, the consequence is often the same: The lower back gets pissed off from always doing the same motion.

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5) Extended hips

There are a couple ways to think about this. The hips are getting pushed too far forward, the feet and knees are behind the hips, the center of the body is getting pushed forward.

Possible associated issues

Hip

Because the top portion of the thigh is traveling much further forward than the rest of the thigh, the top portion can become irritated. Think pain in the front of your hip / groin area, which can consist of aching, clicking, pinching or catching sensations. This is because the head of the femur is being pushed into the joint capsule, amongst other things. The body doesn’t like when things jam against each other when they shouldn’t.

Lower back

This coincides with our comments on the lower back. The two segments are located so close together, it’s hard for one not to be affected by the other. When the hips are getting pushed forward, the lower back is getting pushed forward, or vice versa.

You can also think of it in terms of how gravity is acting on your lower back. This is a little tool I learned from Tom Myers. Push down on someone whose hips are in extension and you can see the repercussions:

See how the lower back goes flaring into extension? Where as if those hips are better aligned under the person’s body, the lower back, and the rest of the body, can receive the load better:

 

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6) Turned in knee(s)

The knees point inside of the feet. This may manifest in both legs, only one, or both but more pronounced on one side.

 

Possible associated issues

Knee pain

If you’ve ever twisted your knee, you know full well how much the knee does not like to be torqued. Think of this posture as that: Constant torquing of the knee. The knee is constantly being turned one direction on one side, and another direction on the other.

Ever see someone tear their knee up? Like an ACL or meniscus tear?

It’s very often the person’s knee gets hit / gives out inwards. The knee likes to hinge. It likes to go forward and backward. It does not like to go side to side or rotate.

Hip pain

Because the femur is part of the knee,

This posture has implications at the hip. When the knee is always rotating inward, it’s because the upper leg is turning in and the lower leg is turning out. Where does the upper leg start? Way up at the hip. While the hip can deal with rotational forces much better than the knee, too much rotation in one direction can piss it off as well.

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7) Feet turned out

We can think of this as the feet are either turned out, as above:

Or the feet are turned out relative to the knees. Even if the feet are straight, if the knees are turned inside the feet -such as in the previously mentioned issue- then the feet, relative to the knees, are pointing outward.

Possible associated issues

Feet

This is that whole over-pronation business you’ve probably heard about before. An imbalance arises at the feet, where the muscles which pull the foot out become dominant over those which pull the foot in.

Because these muscles start at the bottom of the foot, the arch, you’ll often see people whose feet turn out with flat feet / no arches.

Knee and Hip

This coincides with our comments on the knee and hip; that of excessively turning in. Watch the person’s right leg here. Notice when the knee and hip turn in the right foot has a tendency to cave in as well.

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This is that whole kinetic chain / everything’s connected you may have heard about. It’s very hard to correct an issue at one joint without concern over the joints above and below it.

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Summarizing

Our list of issues:

• Forward head posture (cervical extension)
• Rounded upper back (thoracic flexion)
• Lower back extension
• Hip extension
• Knees turned in (femoral internal rotation)
• Feet turned out (tibial external rotation / overpronated)

One way we could think about correcting this is we need more of the opposite of the above:

• Bring our head back (cervical flexion)
• Straighten our upper back (thoracic extension)
• Avoidance of the lower back getting pushed forward
• Hip flexion
• Turn our knees out (femoral lateral rotation)
• Turn our feet in (tibial internal rotation)

We want to go from this:

To this:

Within that, having a certain posture isn’t the end all, be all to this. The crucial component of posture or standing or sitting a certain way, is it’s often an indication of how you most often move. If in your resting posture you have a forward head posture, you likely perform quite a few movements with a forward head posture.

Conversely, having a certain posture can make you more likely to move a certain way. If you do something like sit all day with a forward head posture, then you’re more likely to have this positioning when performing certain movements.

Posture matters, but movement is what matters most.

To see some common movement issues, check out 7 very common movement issues.

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Resources to help correct the above

I get a lot of questions regarding changing posture. Sometimes it’s because a person really feels their particular posture exacerbates a pain they have, other times it’s merely aesthetics. I have a few manual to help.

One of which, tailored for this post, is 7 Ways To Improve Your Posture And Movement Throughout The Day. This manual contains seven different changes you can make to your daily life. It moves from head to toe, giving a cue to correct each particular issue, and, using a ton of pictures, details some common scenarios to be on the lookout for.

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The next one is 7 Exercises To Improve Your Posture And Movement. Click here for more info, and or click here to see some of the most common movement flaws.

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There is also my sleep manual, which is very much aimed at the above issues. For more details check here.

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The sleep manual is a pdf, whereas the other two are password protected. For those, after purchasing you’ll see a “Complete Purchase” button. Click that and you’ll be redirected to a page with a password and link. Click the link; enter the password; you’re good to go.

You will also receive an email receipt for your purchase, and, just in case, another email containing the aforementioned password and link. (This email may take a minute or two to come through after the receipt.)

Your email is not automatically added to any list or anything like that. You have to voluntarily opt-in in order to be added to my list, so don’t worry about it.

If you need anything, my email is b-reddy@hotmail.com

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