For years the general advice has been that good posture protects your back. Sit up straight, pull your shoulders back, do not slouch. Parents, teachers, and workplace guidelines all repeat it.
While it does make sense on the surface, the truth seems to be somewhat simpler. What seems to help most is regularly changing the position you are in through the day. Not aiming for perfect alignment at all times.
That seems to be good news for people with ‘bad posture’
Despite decades of that advice, research has actually not found a strong link between any specific posture and back pain. People with very upright posture can still have chronic pain, and long-term slouchers are often perfectly comfortable.
What Does Matter
What matters more is how long you hold any one position, how much you move across the day, and how well your tissues are conditioned to handle everyday loads.Bodies are built to move. Hold any position too long, whatever it is, and muscles fatigue, joints stiffen, and discomfort builds. You can feel sore after three hours in an ergonomic chair, or stiff after the same time standing at a desk.
Vary Your Position
The aim is variety across the day. A few simple habits help:
- Change position every 20 to 30 minutes. Set an alarm for yourself at work if you find yourself too engaged in a task to remember.
- Move regularly through the day with short walks, stretches, or a few flights of stairs to break up long spells of sitting.
- If you’re needing to be in a fixed posture for long periods of time, create a stretching routine that helps to compensate.
How Physiotherapy Can Help
If you are finding that you are having pain after any activity that requires long periods of time in one posture, come and have a chat with us. We can identify if the set up isn’t quite right or if there are some factors at play that are leading to any pain or irritation.
This is particularly relevant if pain from working in an office is part of your concern, as we rarely spend more time in one place than we do at the work desk. If an office desk setup isn’t quite suited to you, you’re actually more likely to fix in one posture to compensate.
Speak to our Parramatta Physio Matthew West for ideas on how to keep yourself moving throughout the day and stay out of one fixed posture.