Fucked Up Posture due to Desk Job. Is there a solution?

[withwonderingawe]

Hi Everyone,

I am Trying to improve my posture so that my spin stays healthy for longer time.

Have no Pain in neck or back but gets shoulder pain due to excessive typing sometimes.

I went through the book "Overcoming Poor Posture: A Systematic Approach to Refine Your Posture .."

This is my understanding about the poor posture

Cause of the Posture

1. Certain muscles have low endurance and strength because of lack of use.

Solution

Corrective Excercise to increase mobility, strength and body awareness in those muscles.

Action Plan

1. Start improving the mobility of neck by chin tucks,
   1. a. Side bending Chin Tucks :- 2 Sets of 10 repetitions
   2. b. Chin Tucks With Rotation momvemts :- 2 set of 10 reps.
2. Add the External and Internal Retraction :- 2 Set of 12 repetitions.
3. Add Quadruped cat/Camel 1 set of 10 repetitions
4. Thoraic Extension 2 Sets of 30 seconds
5. Hip Flexor Stretch - 2 Sets of 30 seconds.

Start Adding the Warmup/Cool down excercise

1. Chin Tucks :- 2 Sets of 10 repetitions
2. Hyperextension Pose :- 2 Sets of 10 repetitions.
3. Rolls
4. Thoraic Extension 3 Sets of 30 seconds
5. Hip Flexor Stretch - 3 Sets of 30 seconds.

Questions

1. What will progression look like?
2. Will there be visible change in the before and after photos?
3. What's the expected time it takes?
4. How do I know, if I am not progressing or degressing.
5. Is the plan correct?
6. Has anyone tried Bryan johson posture correction
   ?

The Current Posture

https://imgur.com/a/MlRhgOb

# UpdateI am doing Strength training for 1 year now. Training every muscle two times a week.

• deadlift,
• Facepull,
• Bent over rows,
• Shrugs,
• Lat Pull Down ,
• seated cable row,
• reverse peck deck

This is comparison of my posture before and after

https://imgur.com/a/b2yxNqj

Form of My Chin Tucks

https://imgur.com/a/fTCpvyO

Ideal Posture vs My Posture

https://imgur.com/a/aYapmbV

Bryan Johnson has fixed his posture by doing excercises mentioned in the video https://youtu.be/in9ubCilsT8?si=BTX8f_3YNeNOvdnD&t=176

Has anyone tried it?

Found Kjetil (physio of Brin), He is not recommending chun tucks.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CjdMYy6gDB_/?hl=en

Here is the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAqtfOmSKIs&ab_channel=MSKNeurology

 

[samuel_north1]

@withwonderingawe I had really bad posture at one point and my posture improved a lot in a few months just following a traditional strength training program. The main cause for me was weak back and core muscles so just strengthening those and trying to consciously keep good posture throughout the day helped a lot. I follow 5/3/1 with a lot of bodyweight exercises for assistance but any program that has you doing back and core work will help. The posture specific exercises would be good to tack on as prehab/rehab work but you'll make a lot more progress if you also strengthen the muscles that help you keep good posture.

 

[withwonderingawe]

@samuel_north1 I have been doing strength training for 1 year now.
I target 2 muscles a day and have built some strength.

But the neck posture looks the same there is no improvement.

1 year old photo
Current photo

https://imgur.com/a/b2yxNqj

 

[withwonderingawe]

Adding more image of my posture of neck vs ideal the neck position.

https://imgur.com/a/aYapmbV

 

[snorks4lyfe]

@withwonderingawe Your posture is fine. Well within the normal range. Do you experience pain? Also, seating posture is irrelevant if it doesn't cause damage, the problem with posture with most folks is the lack of muscle to keep their backs up when they stand.

 

[withwonderingawe]

@snorks4lyfe No, I don't feel pain, but sometime I feel pain in right shoulder because of excesieve typing, if I am sitting for too long.

 

[snorks4lyfe]

@withwonderingawe So what I would suggest is periodic small exercise. I do push ups before work and a lot of walking during my lunch breaks. I also do planks with my arms out past my head, but they may be hard for some.

A bit of shoulder loading should do the trick

 

[haziyu]

@snorks4lyfe He could easily be holding his shoulders in a funky position and get the same thing. Agree about the back. Perhaps just building some strength and more movement in that area, I'm guilty of going the whole day without putting my upper body through its full range of motion.

 

[withwonderingawe]

@haziyu Did not get you about holding the shoulders in funky position. What does it mean?

 

[haziyu]

@withwonderingawe Well your shoulders work in 3 dimensions and muscle weakness can creep in in a lot of ways. The ribcage, back, front capsule, neck, scapular, chest can all be affected if your shoulder is not rotating freely in one of those planes. They also have nerve endings that are triggered by parts further along which can make things trickier to find.

Working on activating and strengthening muscles that have become weak and moving those parts is a good start. Yoga, pilates, tennis (done with restraint) could help free up the area. Just moving that area and its connected aspects.

Ive seen many physios over the years and they haven't been able to identify and fix anything I've had. They really just guess and hope it pays off. I'm, sure they work for some people but I'd say most are optimists and happy to have you subscribe to their services for as long as it takes to realise they don't know what's actually happening.

 

[withwonderingawe]

@haziyu How do you idendtify which muscles are weak in the shoulder and what do you do to correct them.

Is there any guide for dummies which I can just use without thinking much?

 

[haziyu]

@withwonderingawe I'm not sure there is an easy way to identify any of it. I look up a diagram of muscles and see if I can deduce what area is affected. There may be lots of different muscles going over the same area but you can tell pretty easily what it won't be. Then YouTube some exercises for that muscle. Isolating and working through it, you should be able to tell if it's weak because it won't be stable when you perform an exercise. Keep working on it and release anything working in the opposite direction. Weak back / tight chest. I would just avoid googling sore shoulder as you will get too much info and it won't apply. That said I still have issues so this may not be the perfect way to attack the problem.

 

[blondie2]

@withwonderingawe Do you mouth breathe? Do you have bruxism?

 

[withwonderingawe]

@blondie2 I don't mouth breathe and don't have bruxism.
I have noticed that my forehead stays a little tense and has formed the tension lines

 

[stephen333]

@withwonderingawe You are probably squinting your eyes while looking at your computer (maybe check your prescription), which makes you lean forward with your neck and creates a vicious cycle. That also explains the forehead lines somewhat

 

[christianswede]

@blondie2 I grind my teeth to the point where they're all the flat/end at the place across my mouth. My teeth are real but almost look fake because none stick out past any others. How do this contribute to the problem?

 

[tsundoku]

@christianswede Get a night guard from the dentist. It's worth the cost.

 

[blondie2]

@christianswede The body is a chain. An overtight part will tighten the others. The jaw is a strong muscle and an imbalance on it will lead to shoulder and hip imbalances mainly. Neal Hallinan on youtube talks about this.

 

[withwonderingawe]

@blondie2 Interesting point. I am concioulsy keeping forehead relaxed

 

[forevereternal]

@withwonderingawe Your posture looks pretty good, but I'd be more concerned with all of the sitting. The hip flexor stretching is a good idea, but make sure you do some hip dominant a training to strengthen them up otherwise it'll cause an anterior pelvic tilt. Basically, when you sit too much your hip flexor shorten up causi g your pelvis to tilt almost like a hip hinge. This puts additional strain on your lower back as it's not strong enough to remain in a proper position. The range of motion required to stand has to come from somewhere so your lower back almost hyperextends itself causing excessive tightness.

If you're not having lower back issues then I'd say throw in some band pull apart, face pulls, and other direct upper trap work. It'll pull your shoulders back a wee bit, but that'll be just enough to get what you're looking for. Not to mention they're barely hit with most training so they tend to be weaker as it is.

The neck training is always important, but I don't think it'll help posture much. I'm not sure how those exercises actually look, but the easiest way to start neck training is when you're laying down, lift your head up slightly and shake your head "no" slowly taking your chin to each shoulder. After that, with your head still slightly up, slowly try to put your ear from one shoulder to the next. Do each of these 20-25 times a night and you should see a difference fairly soon.