Despite being the same person, Superman and Clark Kent adopt very distinct postures. One posture is much like that of a guy spending too much time in front of a computer (or in Clark’s case, a typewriter): shoulders rounded, neck jutting forward. Along with the thick horn-rimmed glasses and the stutter, this posture portrays a man lacking in confidence. When changing to Superman, Clark removes his glasses, puffs up his chest, and narrows his gaze. Immediately he oozes strength and assurance. Another caricature that depicts a well-known posture is that of Jessica Rabbit. This is a common “selfie” pose for women: butt tilted out, gut sucked in, breasts jutting forward.
Oxygenating and balancing your breath means you’re addressing your health at the root, not just bandaging the symptoms. If you really want “wellness,” you need to go back to basics and make sure the foundation of your health—your breathing—is good.
Now let’s talk about your posture. You vacillate between hunched over the wheel or cell phone and a stiff “social” pose. You know your posture is bad but probably have shied away from addressing it because you don’t know where to start. Maybe if you ignore it, you hope, it will fix itself or go away, right? Wrong. The bad news is that poor posture is not only affecting your skeleton, it’s also impacting the most important thing you do: your breathing. The good news is that I’m going to give you the CliffsNotes for fixing your posture, or at least making it way better than it is now.
Consider this: poor posture can affect your ability to breathe by up to 30 percent. 34 Think about that: 30 percent. That’s one-third of all the other good work you’re doing down the drain. If you’re wondering how the position of your head, neck, shoulders, and back can have such a colossal effect on respiration, the answer is pretty simple: Your head alone is pretty darn heavy. And when your body isn’t supporting it as well as it should, the rest of your physical functions get thrown out of whack big time. 35
Even if your body is in decent shape, it doesn’t mean that your breathing is in top form. The same goes for your posture. You may have abs of steel, bulging biceps, and to-die-for delts, but if your skeleton isn’t properly aligned, these muscles—as well as your diaphragm, core, and other breathing muscles—aren’t working as well as they could or should be.
Do you spend a little too much time on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever the latest social media is? Are you an office drone at your day job? Do you spend more than two hours a day behind the wheel? Do hours pass by as you’re hunched over your laptop or iPad? If you said yes to one or more of these questions, then your posture just isn’t up to snuff, no matter how hard you’re working out at the gym.
Yes, your cell phone could be seriously messing with your posture, and that’s nothing to LOL at. It’s all because of something called Forward Head Posture, or FHP. Ever heard of “Text Back”? 36 You will, because FHP is a problem of modern life, and it’s not going away anytime soon. FHP occurs when your head is positioned so that your ears are in front of your shoulders instead of directly above them. In comparison, ideal posture means that your head is positioned with your ears over your shoulders, your shoulders are aligned with your pelvis, your pelvis is over your knees, and your knees are over your ankles.
The effects of technology on your posture are hardly exaggerated. Texting places your head an estimated 4.5 inches past your shoulders. And according to chiropractors and other experts, for every inch your head moves forward, a whopping 10 pounds in weight are added to your upper back and neck muscles. 37 That’s because these muscles have to work much harder to support your head to keep it from dropping onto your chest. It also causes your suboccipital muscles, which support the chin, to be in constant contraction, which then puts pressure on the related nerves. All told, FHP can add some 30 pounds of work to your cervical spine, throwing your whole skeleton out of alignment.
Are you a rib-gripper? Bad news. This means you’re constantly tucking your ribs in, creating a narrowing at the bottom of your rib cage, which makes it harder to take a full breath. Check out the work of Canadian physiotherapists Diane Lee and Linda-Joy Lee for more information.
To get an idea of how this feels, hold a 10-pound kettlebell directly over your head. Now, bending at the shoulder but keeping your arm straight, hold it at 45 degrees. The weight suddenly feels a lot heavier, doesn’t it? Well, this is exactly what happens when you lean your 10-pound noggin forward. Just think of how that can affect your spine and muscles over many years. It’s no surprise, then, that FHP can exacerbate old neck, shoulder, and back injuries, and also cause TMD (temporomandibular joint disorder). 38
Sounds pretty unpleasant, right? But your skeleton and musculature aren’t the only things affected by poor posture. In fact, FHP blocks the action of your hyoid muscles, the ones that lift your ribs during inhalation. As a result, you squeeze your lungs and other organs into a cramped position that limits the ability of your diaphragm to do its job. You take shallower and less efficient breaths and, consequently:
• You underutilize your full lung capacity due to FHP, which means that, even if you exhale completely and take a big inhale, you still only fill about two-thirds of your lungs with fresh oxygenated air.
• Poor posture actually weakens your breathing muscles because of all the strain under-breathing imposes on your body. 39
Now let’s fix these important parts of your body.
The first step: Get a picture of yourself from the side, both sitting and standing. Take a look: Is the back of your head in line with your spine? Or is your head leaning forward, your back curved? Now, make a few adjustments. “Tuck” your chin by pushing it back slightly, so that your ears are directly over your shoulders. Take another picture and notice the difference.
The postural muscles are there to support you and to maintain the appropriate curve of the spine. The postural muscles of the shoulder include the pectoral muscles (which act internally to rotate the shoulders), the levator scapulae, upper trapezius, scalenes, subscapularis, and suboccipitals. The postural muscles of the trunk include the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar erector spinae muscles. Their job (and to a lesser extent, that of the abdominals) is to extend the spine and keep you erect. In the pelvis and thighs, the postural muscles include the hamstrings, psoas, quads, adductors of the leg, and piriformis.
The second step in adjusting and improving your posture is to look at the position of your shoulders. When standing with your back against the wall, your shoulder blades should lie flat against the wall. Be careful not to billow out your chest in order to achieve this. Just slide your shoulder blades together.
Often I see people with rounded shoulders, due to the fact that their pectoral muscles—the Pectoralis majors —are constricted (thanks again, cars and computers). The solution: deep tissue massage and stretching, in addition to rolling on tennis balls, then graduating to a lacrosse ball.
Now put one hand behind you in order to gauge how much space there is between the curve of your lower back (lumbar) and the wall. There should be just enough to allow you to slide your hand through easily. Too much space? Tilt your hips forward to narrow it. Too tight a squeeze? Tilt your butt back so that you create more curve at the back of your spine. 40
Need help? Tilting your pelvis can be a hard concept, so try lying on the floor and adjusting your hips so that your lower back is pressing into the floor. Conversely, this is a good way to achieve a “posterior pelvic-tilt.” To a certain extent, it’s similar to the position you assume when you’re slouched on a couch. Tipping your pelvis back is the position you take when you’re about to do a squat at the gym, arching your back—the same position as used in Cow.
See if, when standing against the wall, your back and head are both touching the wall. Performing this alignment will make you feel as if you’re leaning back; it’s the result of having leaned forward for so long. In addition to having your head touch the wall, put your hand on the back of your neck to make sure you’re creating length. Do this by practicing, and experiment by moving your chin downward and lengthening your head upward.
Work those pecs. Put your shoulder blades flat on the wall. Hard to do? The Pectoralis major is the powerful internal rotator of the arm that can cause the shoulders to be pulled down and in toward the chest. Rule of thumb: when a muscle is “tight” or increased in tone, work or exercise the opposing muscle; in the case of tight pecs, work the external rotators of the shoulder.
Too often, when people think about good posture, about lengthening their spine, they try to stretch upward and consequently pull in their stomachs, inadvertently falling back into dysfunctional Vertical Breathing. Try doing it right: keep yourself belly breathing while reaching upward with the crown of your head. Feels different, right?
The cerebellum is the part of the brain that controls muscle movement, and, consequently, balance and equilibrium. It also helps control eye movement and is responsible for maintaining active postural muscles. As I explained earlier, poor posture is due to a weakness in the muscles that maintain good posture. People who have poor posture may suffer from dizziness or orthostatic hypotension (a drop in blood pressure when getting up hurriedly or turning the head quickly), and feel sick when reading in a car. Old injuries, physical inactivity, a career as a desk jockey, and inborn weakness in the nervous system may affect the electrical output of the cerebellum and all that it controls. Physical activity—more specifically, exercises that create extension—is the quickest way to improve neurological function and, consequently, your posture.
Postural weakness and instability may lead to deterioration of spinal joints and eventually degenerative joint disease (severe arthritis) of the spine.
If you spend at least thirty-five hours a week in an office, take a serious look at your workspace. Don’t wait for new, modern ergonomic furniture to be delivered from above; you can do something about the ergonomics of your work setting.
Your feet should be flat on the ground when sitting; adjust your chair if they’re not. When your hands are on the keyboard, the bottom of your arms, wrists, or forearms should be parallel to the floor, while your shoulders are relaxed. Do not move your shoulders up or down in order to get your forearms to the right place. If you have a laptop, get a separate keyboard. When sitting up straight, examine your viewing angle. You should not be looking up at your screen; it should be at eye level. The distance should be such that you can read the screen comfortably, without adjustment (i.e., squinting). And if you catch yourself leaning forward to see better, bring the screen in closer; don’t move toward it. Make sure you’re not leaning forward in an attempt to get your work done faster!
Check your shoulders to make sure they’re relaxed and down. Much shoulder pain comes from working at a keyboard that is positioned too high, for which you compensate by raising your shoulders an inch or two. Make sure you relax them and that your desk is accommodating your needs. Yes, you may have to move your desk up, add an under-the-desk shelf for your keyboard or a cushion on your chair, but all the changes are worth the effort. And you definitely are worth it!
I just read an article in the New York Times about how texting is not only bad for your posture, but also for your mood! So in an attempt to text less, or at least be more thoughtful and less knee-jerky about checking my phone, I made it my rule that I would have to do five Rock and Roll Breaths before looking. Ended up getting a grip on my text addiction and breathing better!—Belle, age 68
I always thought that sitting up against the back of my chair, be it at work or in the car, was good for my posture. But now as I try to Rock and Roll, I realize I can’t really tip back. Sure, “perching” and not touching the back feels peculiar at first, but actually bumping my butt back meant that my spine was more stabilized. Now breathing is making my back and abs move and get involved. For the first time ever, my lower back feels good—I thought I was going to have to learn to live with the pain. —Brinkley, age 34
34 Rene Cailliet, M.D., author of a series of books on musculoskeletal medicine and former Director of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Southern California, has pointed out that “forward head posture (FHP) may result in the loss of 30% of vital lung capacity. These breath-related effects are primarily due to the loss of the cervical lordosis, which blocks the action of the hyoid muscles, especially the inferior hyoid responsible for helping lift the first rib during inhalation” (The Rejuvenation Strategy ).
35 While coming out of the stiff Superman pose may seem easy, this stance is pretty deeply ingrained: The study “It Hurts When I Do This (or You Do That),” by Vanessa K. Bohns and Scott S. Wiltermuth in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, reported that by simply adopting more dominant poses, people feel more powerful, in control, and able to tolerate more distress. Also see Amy Cuddy, Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges (New York: Little, Brown, 2015).
36 New Zealand physiotherapist Steve August calls it “the iHunch” and Harvard professor Amy Cuddy calls it “the iPosture” (“How iPhones Ruin Your Posture and Your Mood” in the New York Times, December 13, 2015).
37 According to Dr. Ibrahim A. Kapandji, for every inch your head moves forward, it gains 10 pounds in weight as far as the muscles in your upper back and neck are concerned (Physiology of the Joints, vol. 3). This also forces the suboccipital muscles (they raise the chin) to remain in constant contraction.
38 For a rather long but highly readable article on how the jaw system and the postural system are connected, go to http://www.ortlandtmjclinic.com/tmj-disorders/the-role-of-body-posture/ .
39 For one of many articles published on the effects of FHP (e.g., chronic pain conditions and other health problems, including tension headaches, increased blood pressure, disc herniation, arthritis, pinched nerves, eye and ear dysfunction, fibromyalgia, upper back pain, and reduced shoulder mobility) see Dan Vaughn, “Looking Forward,” Journal of Manual and Manipulative Therapy 21, no. 4 (2013): 175–76.
40 For more detail on the subject of the neutral spine, see Nigel Palastanga and Roger Soames, Anatomy and Human Movement: Structure and Function (London: Churchill Livingstone, 2012).