In this post, we will look at a few reasons why posture does indeed matter.
Definition Interlude
Before proceeding, we should clarify in detail what posture is. In its most general sense, posture is a set of consistent positional patterns. Posture is reflexive (an unconscious response to stimuli) and habitual, and the physiological and psychological mechanisms that affect posture are always at work. Posture should not be confused with position—position is the alignment/orientation of the joints and soft tissues at a given moment, whereas posture represents an aggregate of the positions that we consistently and habitually occupy.
In addition, posture is a sort of self-expression. It is how you hold and present yourself in your given surroundings; and, in the same way that driving a red '70 Corvette says something different about you than driving a beige '99 Hyundai Accent, posture is an outward expression (sometimes genuine and sometimes contrived) of who you are. I don't intend to delve deeply into the psychological and psychosocial elements of posture in this post, but it deserves mention.
As suggested in my first post, posture can also be broken down into either dynamic or static. As the names imply, static posture refers to posture while not moving—sitting, standing, kneeling, seated in the bottom of a squat, lying; and dynamic posture refers to posture while moving—everything from strolling in the park to performing a heavy back squat to underwater acrobatics. Dynamic posture refers to our consistent and habitual movement patterns, and static posture refers to patterns in our positioning while idle. (Note: The line distinguishing static from dynamic posture blurs a bit when we attempt to strictly apply these definitions to everyday life and (particularly) sport. For example, is the defensive tackle who is in his three point stance, wound up like a spring and poised to charge at the quarterback, exhibiting static posture? Or is the weightlifter holding the 340lb barbell that he just snatched overhead exhibiting static posture? Is the gymnast holding an Iron Cross on the rings exhibiting static posture? The subjects of these examples are indeed static in the technical sense, but these are generally not the situations being described by the term "static posture." Obviously load, position of lever arms, etc. come into play here, so there can be quite a bit of grey area. I point this out to remind us that rather than being a simple 'yes or no,' 'black or white' description, static and dynamic posture occupy more of a continuum.)
For further specificity, posture can also be broken down into loaded and unloaded. Again, the names tell most of the story. Loaded posture refers to posture while holding or supporting some external load—a ruck pack, a heavy barbell, a child, bags of groceries, etc.—and unloaded refers to posture with no external load. It's important to note that the term "unloaded" is not entirely accurate: unless you're hanging out on the International Space Station, you are always under load by your own bodyweight. Really, "unexternallyloaded" would be the most precise nomenclature, but that's too many syllables. So for now, just recall that loaded vs. unloaded is a matter of degrees of loading more so than absolute presence of loading.
Common Sense and Something About a Duck
In the ongoing conversation about whether posture merits our attention and the attention of the health and medical community, the thing that continues to come to my mind is the classic duck test: if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck.
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| Everyone's judging your rounded back, bro. 1 |
Let me explain. Every physical therapist, MD, trainer, and coach will agree that proper dynamic posture, and particularly dynamic loaded posture, is important in preventing pain/injury and optimizing function and performance. We should all know by now that deadlifting with a rounded lower back is dangerous and that athletes with patterns of valgus collapse in their knees are probably going to miss a season or three when they inevitably blow out their ACL. Yet many of these same health professionals argue that static posture is of no importance in preventing or treating pain and dysfunction.
Here's where our duck friend makes an entrance. If someone spends 95% of their waking hours sitting or standing with their head hanging out in front of their body, their upper back rounded, shoulders forward in the sockets and internally rotated, and with severe anterior pelvic tilt, how do you think their positioning will be when they help a friend move a couch? Or when they spend 8 hours installing new siding on their house? Or when they perform a heavy squat or deadlift? Or when they go head-to-head with a 320lb lineman on the field? You get the idea. Of course there is a chance that their proprioception will kick into high gear and they will suddenly assume a perfect, stable, and safe position for their dynamic or dynamic loaded effort—there are always exceptions, and athletes in particular are great at finding ways to work around their postural and movement deficiencies—but this is a compromise and a self-imposed burden and risk. You wouldn't willing wear stilettos on a 10 mile hike through mountainous terrain, and you shouldn't willingly teach your body to spend all of its time in suboptimal positions.
In the end, if someone sits with poor posture, stands with poor posture, and walks with poor posture, they're probably going to run, jump, lift, throw, and so on from suboptimal positions as well. I saw this first-hand working with high school athletes. Day after day, the same kids who sat in the classroom and at the lunch tables with rounded and internally rotated shoulders defaulted to benching with their shoulders forward and elbows flaring out to their ears. The same kids who sat and walked in an overextended position all day defaulted to performing the classic "stripper squat," shooting their butt back and breaking into hyperextension at the lumbar spine, and would complain of low back and hip pain. The same kids who sat, stood, and walked with turned in knees and turned out feet would squat, deadlift, sprint, and jump the same way—with valgus knees, collapsed ankles, and feet turned out. Ducks tend to be ducks, no matter the circumstances—if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably not going to run like a bengal tiger.
Running Like You Stand There are a number of reasons for this carryover from static posture into dynamic posture.
First and foremost, posture is habitual. It is an ingrained motor pattern, and it is constantly "at work," whether you're conscious of it or not. Posture involves physiological adaptation of the nervous system as well as adaptation in the soft tissues. The human body is an extreme adapting machine, and when you spend 95% of your waking hours in a particular position, your body is going to adapt to that position.
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In the same way that you become proficient at squatting by doing a lot of squatting (think of the 10,000 rep or the 10,000 hour concept—the idea that it takes thousands of reps or hours to gain mastery), you become proficient at being in a crappy position by completing a huge number of "reps" of crappy positioning; and you become proficient at being in a good position by completing a huge number of "reps" of good positioning. This is part of why it's so challenging to improve poor posture. The body has adapted, through tens of thousands of cycles, to be incredibly comfortable in and proficient at maintaining that positioning. For most people, it is a motor pattern that has been formed and reinforced through years and years of repetition. Yes, we can consciously adjust our positioning when prompted (everyone's grandmother has reminded them a few times to "stop your slouching and sit up straight!"); but as soon as our conscious attention wanders on to something else, we slowly return to our default, habitual posture.
Default Settings
As an example, let's look at the classic slouchy standing posture. The upper back is rounded forward (hyperkyphosis), the head juts out in front of the body, the shoulders are rounded forward and internally rotated, and the lower back is often in some degree of hyperextension from anterior pelvic tilt. When this position becomes a habitual posture after years of reinforcement, the central nervous system adapts to make this your body's default setting. The central nervous system recognizes, "okay, this is the position I spend most of my time in, so I should get really good at being in this position." This means that when it comes time to move from static to dynamic—say, to quickly run to grab your toddler before he puts your cellphone in the microwave—your body will be inclined to revert to this default position.
The body also undergoes physical adaptations in the soft tissues. Have you ever noticed that your hips feel tight and achy after being packed in like a sardine, sitting idle on a 4-hour flight? That "tightness" is fairly easy to undo with some walking around and some light stretching and movement. Now imagine spending 12 hours per day (and this is being generous for most people's lifestyles) in that position for 10 years. That's 43,800 hours. Probably not going to be able to just walk that one off.
To understand the soft-tissue adaptations that occur, we can take a look at another example: the common slumped over a computer/book/cellphone posture. With the accumulation of thousands of hours in this position, the tissues in the front of your neck will become adaptively short, the tissues in the upper back and back of the neck will become overstretched and overworked, the tissues in the front of your shoulder and chest will become tight, the shoulder capsule will adapt to keep the head of the humerus forward in the socket and internally rotated, and the tissues of the back of the shoulder will be stretched out. Assuming most of your time is spent sitting rather than standing or moving around, the tissues at the front of your hip will also become adaptively short, further locking the hips into anterior pelvic tilt when standing/walking/running/squatting, and your lower back will adapt to be inactive and flexed. This all means that when it does come time to move something heavy or run or jump, even if you are intensely aware of your dynamic posture and of optimal body mechanics and positioning, your body will physically have a harder time getting into these good positions. Your body will have adapted to be really good at hanging out with a rounded upper back with shoulders and head pitched forward, and it will fight to stay in this crappy default position that it has become so good at.
Ultimately, this tells us a few things about your ability to be a pain-free, optimally functioning human being. First, the cascading effects of poor posture put you at risk for injury. When your default static posture has an effect on your default dynamic posture (and it does), we can play a little game of connect-the-dots and see that static posture is a factor in preventing pain and dysfunction and optimizing performance. It also tells us that, being creatures of habit, it is in our best interest to enforce habits that are safe and effective both on and off "the field." Most of us manage to go an entire lifetime without spending a day fighting for our lives on the battlefield or competing in high level professional sports; but everyone's life puts them on "the field" at some point—it could be rushing your family from a burning home, running from a predator, playing an intense game of freeze tag with your kids at the park, or competing and pushing yourself for a PR in the gym—and we owe it to ourselves and each other to be prepared to function optimally and, to the best of our ability, walk away from the field unscathed.
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In the next post, we will discuss a number of surprising ways that posture can effect your life, from how well you breathe to how cool you look.
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Stay swole.
Photo Credits:
1 USS Bataan (LHD 5)_140420-M-HZ646-055 via photopin (license)↩
2 048 via photopin (license)↩
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