Is there such thing as correct posture?

So, what is the “correct” posture anyway? Is there even a correct posture?

When referring back to the ‘Plumb Line’, viewing our body from the side, we ideally want the shoulders to line up with the centre of the ear, the centre of the hip joint (down the seam of your pants), midline of the knee and the centre of the ankle in a straight line.

The purpose of correcting poor posture is to ensure the right muscles are being activated and used, and are in a safe position when doing daily tasks and exercise, to help prevent injury and any damage to structures such as the joints, muscle, bones, tendons and ligaments.

We must remember that although holding ourselves in the correct alignment is important, we must still move our bodies and not stay static holding the position all day like a statue.
Being sedentary for a long period of time even in good posture will eventually cause you some discomfort from lack of blood circulation and fluid in the joints.

Once we correct our posture we must give ourselves breaks from being sedentary to move our bodies to avoid muscle fatigue, improve blood circulation and increase fluid through the joints. Remaining correct posture through movement and just moving the body in general is the key to reducing pain and tension.

Sitting down with poor posture for short periods of time in not as harmful as prolonged poor posture.
Prolonged poor posture where we are hunched over a desk all day without much movement is when structural changes occur, and we put our bodies at risk of injury, muscular imbalances and joint impingements.
Maintaining this poor posture when performing movements and exercise such as lifting weights can enhance this poor posture and increase risk of injury as we begin to strengthen already overused muscles.
This creates an imbalance where structures are getting pulled one way from overuse and weaker muscles are being held in a lengthened position unable to facilitate or bring the structure back into the ideal position.

For example, when we hunch over a desk and roll our shoulders in, the pectoralis muscles are becoming shortened, and our rhomboids located on our back are lengthening and becoming weak.
So, if we perform movements while still in this position, the pecs become overused and keep shortening and the rhomboids remain lengthened which is when pain occurs.
This also puts the shoulder joint at risk of injury and can cause impingement.

This imbalance of having weak, under-facilitated muscles and overused and tight muscles is what causes the pull on bones, creating the commonly seen poor posture.
This is why the free guide I created focuses on activating and strengthening muscles that are commonly underused, while also stretching, releasing and bringing mobility through overused muscles, to help re-align the body into the ideal posture reducing pain and tension.
It’s a great start if you’re new to all of this, but if you are struggling with specific pain, don’t be shy and send me an email to discuss your concerns!