Good Posture & You

CAN OUR POSTURE BE IMPROVED?

It’s a new year! For many, this means turning over a new leaf. In the spirit of fresh starts, we are starting a new series of posts on posture and movement!

As we talked about in a previous post, The Stretch Reflex & Posture, posture isn’t just about “standing up straight.” It’s a series of relationships between your joints, muscles, and fascia. For your body to move well—and stay pain-free—those relationships need to work together.

The problem is, most people don’t know what to look for when evaluating their posture. And if you can’t see what’s off, it’s hard to know how to fix it.

In this post, we’ll break down some of the most common posture mistakes and what you can start doing to improve them.

And while it’s always helpful to have your posture assessed professionally, the goal here is to help you better understand your own body so you can start making changes right away. This is exactly what we do in our 1-on-1 training—looking at how your body moves and building a plan around what it actually needs.

If you’re not sure what your body needs, you can always schedule a discovery call and we’ll figure it out together.

Whether or not you work with us, our goal is to help you better understand and take ownership of your own posture.

Below are some of the most common posture faux pas we see—and what you can start doing to improve them. Take a look and see if any of these sound familiar—you’ll probably recognize a few.

1. TOO STIFF! Say NO to the military stance

This is a simple example of training movement instead of holding a position. When you add resistance and rotation, your body has to learn how to control force—not just stay “stiff.”

The word “posture” reminds me of my mom, lovingly nagging me to sit up straight—shoulders back, chin up, stomach in. While this may help avoid slouching (thanks, Mom!), it often creates more problems. It leads to the misconception that we need to hold a rigid, military-style posture all day.

The effort required to maintain that position is exhausting and, over time, leads to overcompensation and increased tension throughout the muscular and fascial systems.

Posture isn’t just a static position—it’s how your muscles, joints, and fascia work together as you move. Clinging to a stiff idea of what posture “should” look like often creates more tension, not less.

Focus on what is moving and what isn’t

Instead, we encourage people to loosen up and start paying attention to how their body is actually working. Focus on which muscles are doing the job. Notice your joint alignment during everyday movements—sitting, standing, walking—not just when you’re trying to “fix” your posture.

The goal isn’t to hold yourself in place—it’s to move well.

Over time, you can begin to adjust your posture by making sure the right muscles do the work, rather than constantly tensing everything to stay upright. This helps reduce unnecessary tension and allows your body to move more efficiently.

This is also where things like rotation and force control start to matter—because your body isn’t just holding position, it’s constantly adapting to movement.

👉 I break this down more here → How the Lack of Rotation Can be Causing Lower Back Pain

2. Head Forward Posture AKA “Text Neck” What is “texting neck”?

In this day and age, we are constantly looking at our phones. When we text (or read, use our iPads, play phone games etc.) we often cock our necks forward. Most people tend to bend their neck at the 7th cervical vertebra (where the neck meets the body). We call it “texting neck”. This is a compromising position! This position increases work and stress on the muscles and fascia that support the head. It causes the weight of the head to “hang” out, further increasing strain on the neck. Think of holding a jug of water close to your body, then holding it away from your body with your arms outstretched. Which one is harder? Clearly, holding it away from your body is harder as it puts more stress on your shoulders/arms. The same goes for your neck and the weight of your head.

If we keep doing this, a muscle memory develops over time, and the head begins to move forward past the shoulders. We begin to exist with our necks constantly in this compromising position. This is not good for our muscles or spine.

Take your neck out of the equation

The correct position is to bend your neck at the 1st cervical vertebra (where the neck meets the base of the head). But this position does not allow enough range to look down without curling your spine. To fix this, bring whatever you’re looking at upwards, instead of looking downwards. Practice bringing your phone or book up to meet your gaze. Let your arms do what they are meant to do and avoid straining your neck. A good exercise is to hold a tennis ball between your shoulder blades while you’re reading or texting. If you start moving your head forward, your spine will follow, and the tennis ball will drop. You can use this to train yourself to maintain good neck posture.

3. THOSE HIPS DON’T LIE! Be careful about how you sit

Let’s move down to the foundation of your torso, your pelvis. When sitting, the majority of your weight should rest on your sitz bones (aka the ischial tuberosity). These bones are at the base of your pelvis and are designed to support your weight. Unfortunately, many people sit with their butts too far forward, causing them to lean back in chairs. Thus, tucking their pelvis in causes them to sit on their tailbone. This action causes a rounding in the lower back, which strains the lower part of your spine. It also perpetuates “texting neck”. Our head tends to shift forward to compensate for leaning back, compromising the neck.

Sitting in this position puts your spine in a compromised position. Each underlying vertebra is not supported as it should be. It can cause a myriad of problems, most often lower back pain.

You can find sitz bones by sitting on your hands and rocking back and forth. The pointy bones you feel as you rock are your sitz bones. When sitting correctly, you are sitting on these bones. It puts your pelvis squarely under your weight and fully supports your spine. It gives a good foundation for the rest of your body.

Sit on your sitz!

Sitting on your sitz bones may feel odd at first. If it does, you may have an anterior (forward) or posterior (rearward) pelvic tilt. To see if this is the case, try the following test. Start by looking in the mirror and imagine your hips as a bucket filled with water. Look at the two pointy bones on the front of your hips. If they point down as if the water would be spilling out in front of you, you may have an anterior pelvic tilt. If your tailbone tucks under you as if the water were spilling out behind you, you may have a posterior pelvic tilt.

A good method to combat this is to move around every once in a while. Don’t stay stuck in your chair for long periods of time. Don’t let your body train itself to be in compromising positions. Try getting up out of your chair and walking around at least once every hour. You can even set an hourly timer if you need to. It will surprise you how much a little hourly movement and change of position can help you.

Have an office job? Try these

If you have to sit for long periods, a few small changes can make a big difference.

• 1. Improve your upper back position

  Many posture issues don’t start at the neck—they start in the upper back. If your thoracic spine is stuck in flexion (rounded forward), your neck and shoulders will compensate.

  Instead of trying to “sit up straight,” focus on restoring movement and control through your upper back. Watch the video and try these exercises to improve thoracic extension and core control.

• Set up your lower body

  Keep your feet flat on the floor with your knees at about 90 degrees. This gives you a more stable base and helps support a more neutral spine.

  If your chair is too high, use a stool or footrest so your feet aren’t hanging.

• Don’t get stuck in one position

  If you tend to tuck your pelvis under (posterior tilt) or arch excessively (anterior tilt), the goal isn’t to force yourself into a “perfect” position—it’s to move more often.

  This is also where things like lower back supports or lumbar cushions can be misleading. While they might feel helpful in the moment, they often keep you in one position for too long instead of helping your body learn how to support itself.

  Your body isn’t designed to hold one “perfect” posture all day—it’s designed to move.

  Get up, walk around, and change positions throughout the day. Even a quick reset every hour can help prevent your body from getting stuck in one pattern.

• Build control, not just flexibility

  If you’re dealing with a pelvic tilt, it’s rarely just about stretching one muscle.

  You need a combination of mobility, strength, and control so your body can actually maintain a better position.

  👉 This is exactly where many people get stuck—feeling better, but not fully moving better → What Comes After Physical Therapy? How to Safely Return to Training

  GROUNDING YOUR FEET- Start with a solid foundation

  A healthy body starts with good foundations. When it comes to upright posture, we need to start with the feet. When upright, all our weight is supported by the feet. This causes pressure in and on the feet. We often see this in the wear patterns on our shoes, which can be very telling.

  When we evaluate a new client presenting with knee pain, we first check the soles of their shoes. By looking at tread wear, we can assess how well their feet support their bodies. If the tread is more worn on the outside edge, the sole is facing inward (supination or toward the other foot). A wear pattern on the inside edge means the sole is facing outward (pronation or away from the other foot). Take a look at the wear patterns on your own shoes. What does your stride look like?

  Work towards a neutral stride

  Ideally, wear patterns are more evenly distributed, indicating that your feet are distributing pressure well.

  But the goal isn’t to force a “perfect” stride—it’s to understand how your body moves and make adjustments over time.

  Pay attention to how your feet contact the ground when you walk or stand. Small changes in awareness can go a long way in improving how your body stacks and moves.

  In some cases, a stability shoe can be helpful—but it shouldn’t be the only solution.

  Often, the issue doesn’t actually start at the feet.

  Because the body works as a connected system, what’s happening at the hips, core, or even upper body can change how force travels down into the ground—and back up through your body.
  This is where things like force transfer start to matter.

  If your body isn’t able to absorb and transfer force efficiently, it has to compensate somewhere. That’s when you start to see uneven wear patterns, joint stress, and eventually pain.

  When we work with clients, we don’t just look at the feet—we look at how everything connects. As we improve control and movement through the hips and core, we often see those wear patterns start to change as well.

  👉 I’ll be breaking this down more (and showing exercises for it) in an upcoming post, because this is where posture really starts to turn into performance.
  

  Get Your Posture Back on Track

  The goal isn’t perfect posture—it’s better movement. The more you pay attention to how your body moves and where it compensates, the easier it becomes to improve. But if your body doesn’t have the control or capacity to support those changes, posture corrections won’t stick.

  If you’re dealing with pain, coming back from injury, or feel like nothing is sticking, there’s usually a missing piece. Schedule a discovery call, and let’s figure out what your body actually needs

Want more tips like this? I share movement, recovery, and posture insights on Instagram.