The importance of posture correction

The core value of posture correction has never been to create a perfect photogenic "standard figure", but to help the body escape from a state of high consumption of long-term compensation, reduce the risk of chronic pain and joint wear from the root, and ultimately improve the comfort of daily life and long-term exercise life. This is the most practical conclusion after I have been a sports rehabilitation coach for 7 years and have experienced nearly a thousand cases.

The girl I just picked up last month is a 25-year-old girl who works as an Internet content operator. She suffers from migraines three or four times a week. The pain makes her feel nauseous. Three brain CT scans failed to detect organic problems. She took the painkillers prescribed by the neurology department and suffered acid reflux. When she came to see me, she stretched her head forward almost 5 centimeters, and the lump on the back of her neck bulged like a small steamed bun. I first relaxed her scalene muscles and sternocleidomastoid muscles that were tense and stiff, and then taught her three small movements that she could practice while fishing at work, specifically to strengthen the weak lower trapezius muscles and deep muscles in the back of her neck. Finally, I forced her to raise her office computer by 10 centimeters, and she had to raise her mobile phone to eye level when looking at it. Less than two months later, she sent a message last week saying that she had not taken any painkillers for the whole month, and even the stiff neck that she always had before came to her door again.

I also know that many people think that posture correction is an IQ tax promoted by Internet celebrities. After all, if you search for relevant content on the Internet, they are all eye-catching gimmicks such as "Develop right-angled shoulders in 7 days" and "Correction of XO-shaped legs in 2 weeks", which makes everyone assume that this thing is only done to look good on camera. But if you think about your daily life carefully: Does your waist make a clicking sound when you stand up after sitting for a long time? Does the inner side of your knee always hurt when you squat down to tie your shoelaces? Sometimes when you raise your hand to pick up a cup from a high place, your shoulder gets pricked? These little aches and pains that you don’t take seriously are actually the joints and muscles sending you distress signals after your posture is crooked.

Oh, by the way, I met a 42-year-old middle school teacher before. She has been standing on the podium for almost 20 years. Her O-shaped legs are very obvious. Every autumn, the inside of her knees hurt. She has to hold on to the handrails when going up and down stairs. She went to the orthopedic department and was told that the inside of her knee joints were worn too much, so she was told to avoid walking long distances as much as possible. I adjusted the alignment of her lower limbs, taught her a few gluteus medius activation exercises that can be done while standing, and reminded her not to always focus on one leg during lectures. Last year, she told me that she followed her friend to climb Mount Huangshan without even wearing knee pads, and her knees didn’t hurt the whole way. This was much better than saying, “My legs look better in pants when I straighten them.”

The industry is actually quite noisy about the path to posture correction. Those of us who do sports rehabilitation believe that we must rely on targeted training to loosen tense muscles, strengthen weak muscle groups, and bring the whole body's strength back on track, in order to solve the root cause. Problem; another group of behavioral intervention teachers believe that no matter how much you practice, it is useless. If you sit for 10 hours a day with your legs crossed and on the sofa scrolling through your mobile phone, the amount of training is simply not worth 10 hours of training. It is better to change the small daily actions first. To be honest, I think both of them are right. Now when I make plans for clients, I half teach them training exercises and half help them learn daily habits - for example, don’t chew with one tooth all the time, don’t put the computer on the side of the body and twist your waist to look at it. Changing these small things is much more useful than running to the gym three times a week.

Many people also ask me whether Internet-famous products such as BackBear and leggings are useful? To be honest, short-term use can really remind you. For example, if you sit crookedly and your back is too tight, you will subconsciously sit up straighter. But if you wear it every day, your core muscles will be too lazy to exert force, and it will become even more crooked after taking it off. As for those who change from leggings to O-shaped legs after adulthood, they are simply suffering. The epiphyses are closed and the bones have long been set. It is impossible to tie the legs straight until they are bruised. On the contrary, the common peroneal nerve may be pressed. In severe cases, it may be so numb that you can't walk.

Actually, I never require clients to develop a textbook-level "standard posture". After all, everyone's bone structure is naturally different. Some people are born with slightly hyperextended knees. As long as it doesn't hurt and doesn't affect normal life, there is no need to force it. The most essential meaning of posture correction is to prevent you from being bothered by those inexplicable aches and pains: you don’t have to rub your neck for a long time at work, you don’t have to hold your knees to breathe when climbing stairs, and you don’t have back pain when you go out for a day. That’s enough. After all, only you know whether you feel comfortable or not, right?