How your posture has gone downhill – and how to get it back
Mom was onto something when she told you to “stand up straight.” Good posture is not only more attractive, it’s healthier too. Unfortunately, our collective posture as humans has taken a hit in recent years.
Twenty to 40 percent of people over the age of 60 suffer from hyperkyphosis (a forward curved spine), according to the National Institutes of Health. Fifty-five percent of people over the age of 70 suffer from it. But seniors aren’t the only ones who experience this. Since the advent of computers and cell phones, the condition is showing up in younger people, as well.
“In the last five to 10 years, because laptops and cell phones have become a much more significant part of our job, posture in general has become worse,” said physical therapist Stephanie Gradone, DPT, ATRIC, at Orleans Rehabilitation Center. “We’re seeing young people with back and neck pain because of poor posture more frequently than ever before. We’re talking 14- and 15-year-olds all the way through college-age kids.”
Because of that, posture is something Gradone discusses with almost all her patients.
What Can Be Done?
There are three levels of posture problems: postural deficit, postural dysfunction and postural deformity. The best time to address posture problems is when they first begin as a deficit, because it’s very hard to reverse postural deformity, she said.
One of the first things Gradone works on with posture patients is chest openers. When you look down at a screen with rounded shoulders, the muscles and tendons of the pectoral muscles tend to get tight. She has patients do pectoral corner or doorway stretches. She also has them lie on a noodle with their arms out to the side like the letter T. As they advance, she switches the noodle for a foam roller.
She also does a lot of twisting and rotation exercises. There’s an exercise called the “open book” where you are lying on your side on a bed with your knees bent and your hands together. You take your top hand and rotate with your head and neck as if you are trying to look at the other side of the bed.
In addition to chest openers, Gradone also has patients do exercises to strengthen their back, which can become weak from sitting in the wrong position for hours at a time.
“When you are in that rounded posture and your shoulders are forward, your chest gets tight, but the muscles between your shoulder blades can get weak from not being used the way that they are supposed to be used,” Gradone said. “So, the other thing I do a lot of for posture is a lot of strengthening of the rotator cuff and the muscles of the upper back. You have to be able to hold yourself up to have good posture.”
Yoga and Ergonomics
In addition to exercises, Gradone also recommends getting into an easy yoga program. There are many programs on YouTube, and live classes are very popular on the Cape.
“If you go to a class, you want to go to a class where the instructor provides modifications, because we are all at different phases of mobility and flexibility,” she said.
Chair yoga is good for older individuals with balance deficits. Tai chi is also a great way to stretch and work on balance.
One of the other things Gradone talks to patients about is ergonomics, especially with people who work in an office on a computer. Working on a desktop is better than a laptop because you have the ability to put the monitor at the right height, so you aren’t looking down, she said. Or, if you do have a laptop, put it at the proper height and get an electronic keyboard.
“In general, you want your monitor at eye height, and you want your arms relaxed by your side with your elbows bent to 90 degrees. That’s ideal,” she said. “And then the same thing with your hips and legs. Ideally your hips and knees are at a 90-degree angle. If your chair is too high, use a foot stool.”
Having a chair with good support is also important. Swivel office chairs with an open back or a gap in between the seat and the top of the back rest don’t provide proper support. Gradone has some chairs with great lumbar support at her clinic that she uses to show patients how they are supposed to sit.
First, she has them sit in the chair with their back to the back of the chair and asks them to relax.
You can relax with good posture in a chair that has good support. Next, she asks them to scooch two inches forward and relax. They automatically go into the C-curved position without proper support. If your office chair doesn’t provide enough support, she recommends rolling a towel up and using it to provide lumbar support.
She also recommends a headset for people who are on the phone a lot to avoid resting the phone on your shoulder.
Another good posture tip is to take frequent breaks to get up and move. For example, walk to the garbage can across the room instead of using one under your desk. Take a walk to the water cooler to both stretch and hydrate. There are some great computer programs that actually save your work and tell you to get up and move. Similarly, a Fitbit gives you a buzz on the wrist to remind you to walk 250 steps every hour or you can set a timer on your cell phone.
“A lot of what we do as physical therapists is education for real life and then the other part of it is let’s stretch the things that are tight and strengthen the things that are weak,” Gradone said.
