COMMON EXERCISES TO COMBAT ‘POOR POSTURE’
Many clients search for a Physiotherapist to teach them what exercises to do, in order to improve their ‘posture’.
Even though we know there’s no ‘perfect posture’, we’ve treated enough desk jockeys to recognise a similar clinical pattern that is common in those with posturally driven pain.
“Posturally Driven Pain” refers to pain that is most aggravated by someone’s specific posture, while performing a certain task. An experienced Physiotherapist will be able to thoroughly assess your case, and accurately classify if your particular pain is posturally driven or not.
The exercises we’ll outline here, are examples of the most common exercises that we prescribe, to address common impairments in people with Posturally Driven Pain.
COMMON IMPAIRMENTS OF SOMEONE WITH ‘POOR POSTURE’
When Physiotherapists talk about ‘impairments’, we’re referring to the specific problems that are contributing to a person’s pain and dysfunction. They commonly include
Joint Mobility Issues
Muscular Weakness
Poor Muscular Endurance
Here are the most common impairments in people with ‘Poor Posture’
Weak, and poor endurance of Spinal Extensor Muscles
Weak, and poor endurance of Scapulothoracic Muscles
Poor mobility into thoracic extension
HOW DO THESE COMMON IMPAIRMENTS CONTRIBUTE TO PAIN?
It’s important that your Physiotherapist understands WHY the impairments they have assessed are contributing to your pain.
Even better if they can explain it to you in a way you understand, and make sense.
1: Weak Spinal Extensors
For you to sit at your desk, in some kind of upright position to look at your screen, use your keyboard etc, the muscles at the back of your spine have to work, for prolonged periods of time, to prevent your body from collapsing.
In the scenario where the spinal extensors are weak and lack endurance, they’ll eventually fatigue as the day goes on. When muscles are fatigued, they manifest as feeling ‘tight’...left untreated, this persistent tightness feeling can potentially turn into pain!
Highlighted are the main Spinal Extensor Muscles.
2: Weak Scapulothoracic muscles
A fancy name to describe the group of muscles responsible for shoulder and middle back stability. Similar to the spinal extensors, this group of muscles have to work all day to keep your shoulder stable while you’re typing away, using the mouse and phone. Again, if they’re weak, they’ll eventually fatigue, cause a sensation of ‘tightness’, and potentially progress into becoming a pain generator.
Highlighted are the pain Scapulothoracic Muscles.
3: Poor Thoracic Extension Mobility
Being in a slouched forward, flexed position all day, all week, for years will most likely make extending a very difficult movement. To add to that, the spinal extensors will have extra workload to counteract the flexed position of the thoracic spine, in order to keep you relatively upright.
Highlighted is the Thoracic Spine (T1-T12)
HOW DO WE FIX THESE COMMON IMPAIRMENTS?
Once you’ve had your body assessed by a Physiotherapist experienced in treating Postural Disorders, you’ll benefit the most from rehabilitative exercises that are targeted at your specific impairments.
Here are some common exercises we prescribe to our clients to address the 3 common impairments we’ve described.
ROMANIAN DEADLIFT/DEADLIFT
An excellent exercise to build spinal extensor strength, but also glutes, hamstring, and core muscles!
We will usually prescribe higher repetitions to be performed to be more endurance focussed, as it will more closely mimic the demands of the task at hand, which is sitting for extended periods of time.
“SHOULDER BIG 3”
One of our absolute favourites for shoulder and mid-back rehab, the shoulder big 3 is a series of 3 exercises that are targeted at the scapulothoracic muscles.
Again, we’ll usually prescribe a higher level of repetitions, between 15-20!
THORACIC EXTENSION MOBILITY OVER FOAM ROLLER
A simple, and highly effective mobility drill, the thoracic extension over a foam roller is one of the most common exercises I prescribe.
It uses a foam roller to help mobilise each joint segment into extension! Improved mobility into extension will help as it will be easier for the spinal extensors to work over prolonged periods of time, as they’ll have less resistance to fight against.
CONCLUSION
Obviously every case is different, and these are just three exercises that we commonly prescribe for poor posture.
It’s always best to have your injury individually assessed by an experienced physiotherapist who will also show you how to rehabilitate your injury, for good.
At Physiologic, 20% of our clientele have issues relating to their posture, and our Physiotherapist is highly experienced in using hands on manual therapy and rehabilitative exercises for the best, long term results.
Contact us now to find out more!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ryan Tan is our Clinical Director and Physiotherapist here at Physiologic Hong Kong. He’s had over 10 years of experience as a sports and spinal Physiotherapist. He is accredited with a Certificate of Spinal Manual Therapy (COSMT), and also trained in Osteopathic Spinal Manipulations (OMT SM), both advanced courses focussing purely on Spinal conditions, including postural disorders.
He has extensive experience working in Complex Pain Clinics in London, treating complex spinal conditions that have been through Spinal Surgeries and procedures. Ryan now works closely with Orthopaedic Spinal Specialists to provide collaborative care and expert Physiotherapy treatment to those suffering from back pain. If you have a complex Spinal injury that hasn’t been able to be resolved, contact us for a no obligation assessment.
