Your Posture Doesn't Really Matter
Yep, it’s a bit radical, but I said it. I’ll say it once more:
Your posture doesn't really matter.
It's probably pretty strange to hear that from a Rolfer. Especially since the field of Rolfing was more or less built on the belief that postural symmetry was the key to pain-free living.
But, you know, science.
Being a Rolfer, I often have people come to see me in order to work on their posture. Most of the time, they believe that better posture and greater symmetry will help them become pain-free, or keep them pain-free for life.
Social media doesn't help, as it's really taken this idea and run with it. You'll find tons out there suggesting that if you have any little kinks or imbalances you're doomed to painful decrepitude.
Like most things on social, these ideas hook into the whole "you're-not-doing-or-being-enough" fear we all have, along with our Western bias that in order to achieve results or get anything done you need to work hard at whatever it is you're doing. That tends to lead people to an over-focused, super-tense posture, where they rigidly hold themselves upright at all times in order to maintain what they believe is an ideal posture.
Paradoxically, that overworking at "good" posture is often the culprit underneath their pain. Not an asymmetry in posture (those asymmetries, by the way, are a natural part of being human and doing stuff).
Fact is, if you have less-than-perfect posture, you'll most likely be fine.
So, what's important about your posture then?
It all comes down to effort vs. ease.
Working hard at maintaining good posture in order to live pain-free usually has the exact opposite effect.
When it comes to being pain-free, aiming for "ease" beats "effort" every time, hands down.
Think about a time or times when you felt completely easy in your body. Perhaps it was an incredible vacation, or a time you were having a blast with friends, or felt completely focused & immersed in an activity you love.
Thinking about your posture, or holding your body in a particular way was probably the LAST thing on your mind then, right? Things were probably feeling easy & relaxed. Lazy even.
Now, think about a time you were in pain. You probably had to effort extra hard to hold yourself just so, so you wouldn't trigger more pain or discomfort. You probably felt tense, on alert, and hyperaware of every little way your body was positioned or moving, right? It was a LOT of work to protect yourself from more pain, wasn't it?
This is how pain works in the nervous system. More focus, more intensity, more effort all equate to more pain.
Just like our friend here in the cartoon. How relaxed do you think he is out there on the cutting edge??
The solution? You literally need to learn to let go of the efforting and not work so hard.
The science backs this up. In a study published in the European Journal of Pain, scientists looked at a group of patients with disabling low back pain (LBP). This 12-week long physiotherapy study reviewed how movement & posture impact LBP to test the common clinical and societal beliefs that poor posture or movement patterns equate to pain.
The results?
"Where clinical improvements were related to changes in movement or posture, participants consistently returned toward being 'less protective'...greater spinal range, faster movement, more relaxed postures (my emphasis) and less back muscle EMG (electromyographic activity) accompanied positive changes in self-report factors."
You can read the study here.
And check out these posture facts from the authors of the study.
Bottom line? What I can report from the front lines of chronic pain relief after 15+ years in practice helping people resolve their pain is this:
Every single client I've worked with for 15 years has felt better when they can relax and be EASIER in their body. Not when they're working hard and exerting themselves to stand or sit up taller, more upright, or more symmetrically balanced.
100% of the time.
When it comes to your posture & mobility and how they lead to pain relief, the trend is always toward more ease and less effort.
So that's what my clients and I are always working toward. Not more uprightness, not more symmetry.
More ease.
Want help with that? Start here.