Is poor sitting, standing, or bending posture really causing your neck or back pain?
We blame our stiff necks, aching backs, and tension headaches on our poor posture. And we blame our poor posture on our ‘weak core muscles.’
But recent research suggests the equation is not this simple. And the answer is more encouraging.
Let’s unpack what posture really is, why it’s so difficult to maintain one position for long, and what you can do to feel better.
What is ‘posture’?
Simply put, posture is the position your body adopts while sitting, standing or moving.
FACT: There isn’t one perfect posture that everyone should maintain.
Sitting posture changes constantly throughout the day as your nervous system responds to tasks you’re performing, your level of concentration, your energy and fatigue, your emotions, and your external environment.
Your posture in movement also changes, depending on the same factors. Compare your gait while on a holiday walk to that when coming out of a depressing meeting.
Are we meant to sit perfectly still in perfect posture?
Absolutely not.
Even when you think you are standing perfectly still, you are not. Your centre of gravity is shifting a few millimeters in every direction while your muscles constantly make small corrections to keep you upright. This is known as “postural sway”.
Without this constant sway, we would actually be less stable.
The same principle applies when we sit. Although movements are much smaller and less obvious than in standing, your upper body muscles, breathing muscles and pelvis are continuously making subtle adjustments.
Your nervous system, being the central control station, is constantly observing and responding to internal and external information, looking for the most comfortable and efficient ways to hold your position.
Loosing and keeping awareness of your body posture
Why do you keep loosing sense of your body’s posture?
Your brain relies on thousands of sensory receptors in your muscles, tendons, fascia, joints, ligaments and skin to tell it where your body is in space. This is known as proprioception or your body’s position sense.
The unconscious system
Your brain is receiving and processing an enormous amount of sensory information every second – too much to be consciously aware of it all. Most actually happens unconsciously.
You don’t have to think about how much your calf muscle has to contract to keep you upright. You don’t think about balancing your head on your neck while bending over, or positioning your head for your eyes’ best focus.
Parts of your brain and spinal cord are continuously processing sensory information and making tiny corrections such as these without your awareness.
The conscious system
You can deliberately pay attention to your body’s position by consciously paying attention to the ongoing sensory information. Doing this involves other areas of the brain.
why do we loose body awareness?
We don’t actually ‘loose’ it. The brain simply changes what it’s paying attention to.
Every second your brain receives visual information, sounds, touch, proprioception, balance information, internal sensations, thoughts, emotions…. It cannot consciously process everything at once.
When you are concentrating on work, your brain naturally directs most of its attention towards the task at hand rather than your posture. This is called ‘attentional prioritisation’.
why do we end up slouching?
Your brain is constantly looking to minimise energy expenditure. If your attention is directed towards your work, your nervous system gradually relaxes the energy-demanding muscles holding you upright.
This means you sink into the passive support provided by your fascia, ligaments, and joint capsules. While these provide great stability, they are not designed to support sustained loads for hours at a time. As they become overloaded, they signal discomfort to your brain. At the same time, joints that have been in the same position of pressure stiffen, circulation slows, muscles fascia and nerves move less freely. In some people, prolonged slumped positions can increase sensitivity of nerve tissue, leading to protective muscle tension or spasm.
Your body isn’t telling you that you have “bad posture”—it”‘s simply telling you that it’s time to move.
Does a weak core cause poor posture?
Not necessarily. One of the biggest myths is that weak core muscles automatically lead to poor posture.
Research has shown that many people with excellent posture do not have exceptionally strong core muscles, while many people with chronic back pain have exceptionally strong abdominal muscles.
What matters more is the coordination of your core muscles.
Your team of core muscles includes
- your diaphragm
- pelvic floor
- deep abdominal muscles
- multifidus
- and larger trunk muscles
Rather than simply having a ‘strong’ core, good posture depends on the endurance, coordination, and agility of your core and other relevant muscles.
Why can yogis sit still to meditate for hours?
This is probably the best example of sitting with seemingly effortless, beautiful posture. Experienced meditators and yogis aren’t simply “stronger” – their entire movement system has adapted and refined this skill over years of practice.
Here’s what’s happening:
- They don’t actually sit perfectly still.
2. Their postural muscles have exceptional endurance
3. They have the necessary joint mobility to be able to sit up straight – they won’t be stiff in their midbacks
4. They have excellent body awareness
5. Their breathing technique helps stabilise them – the diaphragm works with the other core muscles to give stability
6. Their nervous system is different during meditation – in a relaxed state rather than a fight/flight state which changes the muscle tension
Can I blame my posture for my neck or back pain?
Probably not entirely.
Research consistently shows that there is no single sitting posture that predicts who will develop neck or back pain.
Pain is usually influenced by multiple factors, including:
- prolonged static postures
- stress
- sleep
- general health
- general physical activity and conditioning
- previous injury
- movement habits leading to repetitive strain injuries
How do I improve my posture?
Instead of trying to sit perfectly all day, try to
- move every 20-30 min
- stand or walk whenever you get the chance
- alternate between sitting and standing when possible
- strengthen your whole boy not just your core
- improve your flexibility in your hips, spine and shoulders
- find cues to draw your awareness to your body
- use deep breathing as a hack to give your spine fantastic movement without getting up from your chair
Movement is normal, stillness is not.
What about standing desks?
Evidence tells us that standing all day isn’t better than sitting all day. The real benefit of a standing desk is that it enables you to change your position regularly.
A practical approach could be:
- Sit for 30-60 minutes
- stand for 15-30 minutes
- walk or move for 2-5 minutes every hour
If you’re new to using a standing desk, wear comfortable shoes, stand on a rubber standing mat, and start with standing for 10-15 minutes to allow the structures of your feet to adapt to the loads of standing still.
Your best posture isn’t sitting or standing – it’s changing between the two.
How can physiotherapy help?
Our goal isn’t to teach you to sit perfectly. Instead, our focus is how your entire movement system works.
Physiotherapy can:
- Relieve pain by reducing muscle tension, and joint and fascia restrictions
- Identify and improve where your problematic restrictions are.
- Identify other contributing factors, such as mouth breathing and TMJ dysfunction.
- Form movement strategies with you that are specific to your body, your work environment, and your lifestyle.
Every person sits differently because every body is different.
Rather than chasing perfect posture, we help you build a body that is comfortable, resilient, and capable of moving well throughout the day.
3 Tips for good posture
First tip for good posture : breathe to move your spine
The reasons deep breathing moves your spine:
- the expanding rib cage moves your mid back,
- the moving diaphragm muscle moves your lower back
- you relax the neck muscles which we use to shallow-breathe
Identify a cue that causes you to take a deep breath. Ideally every hour.
Breathe in through your nose and out.
Make the exhale longer than the inhale.
Breathe in your lower rib cage – feel how the sides of your rib cage expand as you breathe in and drop as you breathe out.
Second tip for good posture : improve your midback mobility
A stiff midback make its harder to achieve the ideal curves in your lower back and neck, and for the abdominal muscles to position your ribcage optimally.
End-of-day stretch:
On the floor, roll up a hand towel and place a pillow above it, forming a ‘T’ shape.
Lie down on the towel, so it’s in the middle of your back, with your head on the pillow and your arms outstretched with your palms up
Lie in the position with sporadic deep breathing for 3 minutes.
Third tip for good posture : sit on your sit-bones
Instead of bearing weight towards your coccyx, roll your pelvis forward to sit on your 2 sit-bones – the bones that would make contact with a bicycle saddle.
You can best feel this shift from bearing weight on the coccyx area to sit-bones when sitting on a hard chair.
This pelvis position helps your spine settle into a more neutral position, where load is distributed more evenly throughout the spine structures, and where its easier for muscles to work better.
