There are more significant things going on in the world, but having had some unwelcome news from the consultant and then the physio yesterday, improving my posture is now joint top of my list of things to address, as otherwise mtb isn’t that likely to be in my near term future. It’s to be combined with plenty of other strengthening tasks.

Physio recommended an “upright go”, some electronic dooda you stick between your shoulder blades, quick google and it’s a faff, doesn’t quite track all slouching etc and needs plenty of sticky pads, all which put me off.

Anyone here got any words of wisdom, used any devices etc to improve their posture?

“Stand up straight at the back” isn’t – I’m told – going to be enough now 🙂

I do use a standing desk and have a very good ergonomic setup for work.

No, sorry, no words of wisdom from me. I have dreadful posture and have been having terrible pain in my neck, throat, shoulders and headaches – which I suspect are at least in part due to this.
I too need to do something about it, so I wish you well. I will be very interested in the advice you receive and in hearing your progress.

Look up the Alexander Technique.

On a very basic level it’s a technique that actually aims to get you using your body akin to a small child, Ie completely naturally.

Watch any young kid and they have perfect posture, straight back at all times etc.
They’ve not been through life with all the bad daily habits we have that affect our posture.

It’s not massively well known but it works.

Alexander technique as above. There is a quick ted talk that can help you on the right path. Whether it will overcome the problems you are seeing just now is hard to say but it can’t do any harm.

Another thing you can try is just hanging. Grab a branch/pull up bar or whatever and try to hang off it.

There’s a video to go with this on youtube, but the guys quite annoying (think …. Ross from friends in “The one where he took too many PED’s and became a gym trainer”.

It’s basically 6 tests which are all pass/fail. If you fail them, you add that stretch and that strengthening exercise to your routine on alternate days until it’s a pass.

https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AGIWtqtcSZLkL98&cid=66C190E6BA17A3E4&id=66C190E6BA17A3E4%21123122&parId=66C190E6BA17A3E4%21123108&o=OneUp

Device sounds shabite, you don’t need that.

There’s plenty out there for core / posture physio but it’s more down to actually doing it, than there being one particular great set of movements. Figuring out the routine that you can stick to.

Personally I’d love to do this sort of stuff at home / work and just seamlessly integrate it into the day, but it never sticks for me. I find going to the gym is way more effective. But others will have the opposite experience.

What has worked for me came off the back of shoulder surgery rehab – I hired a personal trainer who I see once a week. Through the work we’ve done I am stronger in just about every way because he recognised my various imbalances and sets me exercises to sort them out. So we do plenty of foundational stuff, making sure my core is strong, glutes activated when they should be, back muscles doing what they’re meant to do, stretching, etc etc. The unintended (by me at any rate) side effect is that I’m much more aware of what my posture is doing and how to correct it when it’s not right. The other side effect was that a friend I hadn’t seen for a year squeezed my biceps and went “ooOOooh” the other week, that was nice! And I’m better on the bike, when I find time to ride it at least.
Others will find a self-driven route for less money I’m sure but personally I’ve found it worth it for the expertise and the forcing me to keep the habit up – I can’t let it drift as it’s wasting money and letting the PT down, as daft as that sounds. Strapping gadgets to yourself seems an unlikely technique to me by comparison.

One other thing, sounds like your work setup is good but do you take frequent enough breaks to walk around? That’s been one of my problems, effectively immobile for too long through the day.

I follow quite a few physio blogs etc and as far as I can tell there appears to be no evidence that poor posture causes back problems i.e. there are more people with poor posture and no pain than there are with poor posture and pain and plenty of people with good posture and pain. Similar to the whole ‘you must lift with a straight back’ – absolutely no evidence it makes any difference…

There was a study I read ages ago that suggested slumping in a chair actually reduced the strain on the vertebrae…

Anyway – I’m sure that’s of no help whatsoever to you!

There was a study I read ages ago that suggested slumping in a chair actually reduced the strain on the vertebrae…

Sweet – I’m sorted then.

And yet the Alexander technique is proven to help reduce back pain and in many cases eradicate it altogether by simply being aware of how much you are bending your back and giving yourself bad posture.

One thing is certain, reducing the bending motion and stress on your back is never going to have a negative impact.

In the areas that now of concern, after the tests yesterday and the further analysis of the mri, I’m not even strong enough to warrant any kind of exercise or hiring a PT.

In fact that is the one thing that is really off the table for now, exercise other than very low level maintenance. Do recall the Alexander technique from years ago.

Properly fcuked off about this today. Need to find something that works / helps, I’m better doing something and having an action plan etc.

I keep banging on about it but the Alexander technique is a reset for the body. It’s not a physical activity, it’s re-learning how to hold yourself. Making yourself aware of how your body moves.

Use the hinge points of the body how they were design, don’t bend over to pick something up, squat down. Just like a small child would do.

There’s a simple daily 15 minutes of literally lying on your back, knees up, muscles fully relaxed and head resting on a book to keep the spine level. The idea being to rest and relax your whole body and feel, eventually, your back/posture relaxing into its natural shape. This then helps you be aware of what that natural shape feels like in normal daily movement.

I should practice this a lot more, as I get deeper into my 30’s I’m getting a gradually more painful lower back.

In the areas that now of concern, after the tests yesterday and the further analysis of the mri, I’m not even strong enough to warrant any kind of exercise or hiring a PT.

Could try an osteopath? I’ve been seeing one for a few months now after getting back problems. He has suggested various core strength exercises, starting with weights of like 2kg, and offered lower-intensity ones for when my fatigue is too bad to do them.

Note – all osteopaths aren’t equal. I saw a different one before who was shite!

One thing is certain, reducing the bending motion and stress on your back is never going to have a negative impact.

Again – not proven.

Backs are meant to bend and are capable of doing so under load. The largest study (that I know of) looking at bending backs was an observational one (you can’t do double blind placebo trials with human movement). They studied Swedish (I think) forestry workers and classified them into two camps – those who picked up logs / branches with a straight back and those who bent when doing so. They then followed up with them and their medical records. No difference in incidence of back pain between the two groups.

I suspect sedentary lifestyles are the root cause of most of our back related problems.

Are you just slouching when sitting/working at desk etc.? I bought a relatively cheap support from Amazon a while ago that almost looks like a bra you put on backwards (velco straps though, that would have been a game changer in my youth with the girls, but another story…).

Its just really enough pressure remond you to sit with shoulders back etc., not really a support per se but keeps you right with enough feedback to keep correctly positioned.

In the areas that now of concern, after the tests yesterday and the further analysis of the mri, I’m not even strong enough to warrant any kind of exercise or hiring a PT.

In fact that is the one thing that is really off the table for now, exercise other than very low level maintenance. Do recall the Alexander technique from years ago.

Properly fcuked off about this today. Need to find something that works / helps, I’m better doing something and having an action plan etc.

Low points like this are definitely a thing to try and get over, while understanding that they’re unavoidable at times. I would’ve thought (without being medically qualified myself) that your physio (referred via doctor after MRI? Or some sort of surgery first?) would be giving you very light exercises to work on. Typically these would get you to a certain point where more general exercise would start to help and that’s where a PT (especially a rehab-minded one aware of your condition) could be useful.

As far as the action plan goes it’s hard to say without knowing if you’re seeing a GP, a specialist, a random physio or what, but they ought to be starting you on the road to recovery surely. My shoulder rehab started with some very small cautious movements indeed.

This exercise is a good start.
Handcuffs

Instead of a bench, start on the floor where you can cheat.

We hunch so our bellys don’t stick out wearing t-shirts. And we think makes our backs look wider.

So head up – chest out – shoulders back a bit. Don’t let the ego ruin your posture

Nothing wrong with a bit of slouch whilst at work. But basically:

There’s plenty out there for core / posture physio but it’s more down to actually doing it, than there being one particular great set of movements.

So see a physio, get some exercises, do them every day.

and the further analysis of the mri,

Another interesting thing is MRIs and back pain – they’re pretty much hopeless as a diagnostic tool unless you’ve done some major damage e.g. rupture a disc and have a significant protrusion.

Anyone over 30 will have wear and tear to their discs that will show up on an MRI, however in most cases they don’t have any symptoms or pain – it’s just a normal part of aging. Give a set of MRIs of people with back pain and those pain free to a consultant and they won’t be able to figure out which is which from the MRIs (excluding major damage).

NB My back has caused me a lot of problems over the last 10 years hence seen a lot of physios / sports therapists, read a lot of blogs, journals and papers and am slowly figuring out how to just live with having a back prone to seizing up. The best thing I have found is the more I understand what it’s doing and why, the less it seems to hurt. Movement is pretty much always the cure – ‘motion is lotion as they say. My main concession is giving up deadlifts – no matter how I prepared, how caution I was, how little I lifted – that just seems to have a 1 in 3 chance of locking it up for several days. As does tripping off a kerb – the jolt seems to really set it off.

I read somethign a while back that really chimed with me – bad desk posture isn’t the problem, it’s doing it for too long. Their solution was called a 20/20/20 rule. Every 20 minutes look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

I still don’t do it despite it being free and simple.

Thanks for the pointers.

I’ve had a variety of procedures, pain injections and wonderful pain medication over the last 12 months. Lots of damage in spine – thank you very much. Also thoracic spine locked solid.also a microdiscectomy a decade or so ago, very successful.

I have only a couple of very very light tasks to do from physio, I can’t bring myself to call them exercises- as they aren’t. But the posture correction is also one of them.

In last year, I’ve seen a hip specialist – all ok, neurosurgeon, Pain specialist, physio. Saw my GP to get the initial referral.

As to the suggestion to see a physio, already doing that – that’s where my original ask came from ? Re posture gadgets, exercises. As the one he recommended I think is “a bit rubbish”.

Will take a closer look at the Alexander reset lying on the floor suggestion. Not too sure what that will do for my posture, but it does sound relaxing.

Swimming, pull ups (or even just hanging from a bar), squats, lunges, roller work, stretching and walking. All helped me straighten my posture and sort pelvic tilt issues caused by being seated all day including driving and cycling.

is it worth trying another physio? Good luck with the Alexander stuff, I hope it helps.

I have had intermittent lower back problems, my physio recommend Pilates, which I’ve found helpful. I started going to a class in the local gym, and when that stopped during lockdown I tried using a video course, but it was nowhere near as good as having somebody knowledgeable and qualified to point out what you should be doing.