Stop slouching! Sit up straight! Shoulders back! Good posture is important.
We’ve all heard it at some point growing up, from our parents at the dinner table or teachers at school: Good posture is important. But what does “good posture” even mean ‘Not slouching’ Your Head up, back straight, doing your best Marine impression And WHY is good posture so important? The only answer I received:
Because bad posture makes you look lazy.
I’m betting most of you heard something similar. While well meaning, and probably true, this doesn’t give posture the justice it deserves. The only question it answered was:
How can I give the appearance of a hard-working, upstanding citizen? (see what I did there?)
If you didn’t care about your appearance or were really after that 90’s Cobain look, you’d be left thinking posture is for the birds. Oh, the misinformation!
Turns out that posture is the backbone of human movement and movement the backbone health. So if physical prowess, a mind like a sponge, and freedom from pain sound good to you, then posture matters. If you’re a competitive athlete, it really matters.
Posture can be defined as:
The strategy of what muscles are doing the correct things at the correct time, to effectively cope with the forces of gravity.
Or, more loosely as:
The organization of the arms, legs, and torso to accomplish a task with the least effort.
Posture isn’t just standing up straight and not slouching at the dinner table, but a broader term encompassing all the positions our body can form, both static and dynamic. Think about the tasks you do each day. Different tasks require different body positions, and different positions require different postures.
The ideal posture for standing is different than the ideal posture for sprinting. The ideal posture for lifting a bar off the floor is different than the ideal for lifting a bar overhead. Thankfully the countless positions we can assume all share fundamental characteristics. This means the backbone of posture – and flawless movement – is always the same. Such continuity of posture allows us to learn to move as infants and continue as adults – crawling, standing, walking, running all share and build upon the same postural foundation we began as a fetus2. Once we build it, the trick is not to lose it. So what do these pictures have in common
Answer: Optimal stabilization of the trunk, most notably the neutral pelvis and muscles controlling it.
Good posture in all positions is highlighted by neutrality of the pelvis; tilted neither too much front or back, or left to right (with regards to the position of the torso and legs). This is most easily seen in an upright stance. Note the Ben Johnson photo below and how his pelvis is near level with the ground beneath, perfectly balanced as he produces 2000lb of force with each ground contact. His posture allows him to create, absorb, and transfer these huge loads between his body and the ground while maintaining structural integrity and joint alignment. You and I would just fall apart like a game of Jenga.
Ben is the dude winning.
The pelvis is the major link between the spinal column and lower extremities, and as such plays a vital role in the ability of an athlete to produce strength efficiently and safely. It allows for proper transmission and absorption of force between the upper and lower body3. Better yet, if everything is in tip-top shape it allows for conservation energy through your elastic tissues, meaning greater efficiency.
I know, I know, this isn’t really Jenga.
When your posture is poor and pelvis misaligned (too far from neutral) then force isn’t attenuated properly, resulting in poor performance at best, and serious injury at worst. You can think of it like a game of Jenga (fig 2). If all the blocks are stacked neatly, you can bang on the top of the stack and nothing will move – it’s solid. On the other hand, when the dead center of the stack is off kilter, you can bang on the top and watch it fall apart. While oversimplified, it’s great analogy for how we get injured through poor posture and pelvic alignment. Our head is the top of the blocks, our feet the bottom, and pelvis the center. Any force from above (lifting overhead, back squats) or from below (sprinting) is going to get transferred through the middle. If your middle isn’t mechanically sound, you break – just not always in the middle.
Once the pelvis gets out of whack structurally, surrounding muscles start trying to hold it in place as best they can. This usually means doing a job they aren’t meant to do, aren’t suited for, and aren’t any good at. Nevertheless, just like the Little Engine That Could they keep on trying. But unlike the Little Engine That Could, they can t. Eventually, one of them quits and the remaining muscles already doing jobs they aren’t suited for, have to pick up the slack. Now other muscles start trying to help, doing things they aren’t meant to do (but they mean well, keeping you from immediately crumbling to the ground and all). Eventually, so many muscles are attempting to do things they aren’t meant to that you could “break” anywhere, far away the original issue, the pelvis.
So “good posture” is more than just “not looking lazy”. Good posture means keeping the muscles attached to your pelvis functioning correctly. When those function correctly, your entire body functions correctly. As a reminder, here are a few of the muscles attaching to your pelvis:
Behnke, 2005
I’m sure you’re wondering “Kyle, with all these muscles to train how will I ever achieve this elusive posture you speak of” How do I avoid being a poorly stack of blue cubes.
Well, I’m going to tell you. Next time.
References:
- Behnke R. Kinetic Anatomy With Web Resource-2nd Edition: Human Kinetics; 2005.
- Frank C, Kobesova A, Kolar P. DYNAMIC NEUROMUSCULAR STABILIZATION & SPORTS REHABILITATION. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2013;8(1):62-73.
- McGill S. Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance: Stuart McGill, PhD; 2004.
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