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Slouch: Posture panic in modern America

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Re: Slouch: Posture panic in modern America

#31

Post by someguy101010 »

naming_the_user wrote: post #2

I'll admit to not reading the entire article here but I think that mostly people mistake posture issues for lack of exercise / being sedentary in general. If you work out a minimal amount and build some core strength / back muscles etc then you'll find that your posture naturally corrects itself whilst walking, that sitting in a chair for extended periods isn't as rough, etc.

I'll just provide a quick counter to this based on my own experience.

A few years ago I had been in my best shape (daily exercise, cardio and weight lifting) and started experiencing some forearm pain. I thought it was just from over use from typing but i finally went to a physical therapist and found that the pain came from me hunching over on my computer and putting a lot of strain on my fore arms. The posture I took on was a combination of

1. Just leaning in to my computer because I'd be trying to read text or getting "into" whatever i'm working on

2. My upper back not having the endurance or development that I needed to hold up my upper body.

I had to change my exercise routine to give my muscles more endurance to hold my upper back up while seated.

So yea, exercise is definitely going to help but I wouldn't just say it fixes things automagically for you and you could run into posture issues even when you are doing the right things in life. :)

Re: Slouch: Posture panic in modern America

#32

Post by rootusrootus »

vhcr wrote: post #28
rootusrootus wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must be old or I have a different idea of minimal. A set of squats at ~200 pounds is entirely doable in time, yes, but my guess is it would be non-trivial for much of the adult population. Even when we were doing conditioning in high school I don't recall that a significant fraction of the class was breaking much over 225 or so.

200lb means a BMI of 25 if you're 6'3", which is like 3-4% of the male population in the US, unless you're taller than that it would probably be a better idea to lower your weight first.

Yes, Americans are fat, the average adult male is 200lb and the average height is 5'9 [0]. They'd be less so if everyone could squat their own weight, especially if that was in addition to the bar itself.

Europeans are a bit lighter, about 10 pounds on average [1]. Sounds like we could all stand to lose weight before taking up lifting.

[0] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/body-measurements.htm

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_body_weight

Re: Slouch: Posture panic in modern America

#33

Post by A_D_E_P_T »

pixelatedindex wrote: post #27
A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lifting weights can certainly help, though people who focus on the bench press and neglect their upper back muscles may find that their posture actually gets worse, rather than improves. (Yet it's interesting, though hardly relevant for most of the population, that bulky upper back muscles can also look like bad posture. In extreme cases, a very well-developed upper back can even result in a mild hunchbacked appearan…

Having a hard time visualizing this. Is it possible to get one from like AliExpress?

Yeah, there are a few of them. I don't know if these models are any good, but it's this sort of thing:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807449805056.html

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805683337285.html

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806531943305.html

Re: Slouch: Posture panic in modern America

#34

Post by cjbgkagh »

naming_the_user wrote: post #2

I'll admit to not reading the entire article here but I think that mostly people mistake posture issues for lack of exercise / being sedentary in general. If you work out a minimal amount and build some core strength / back muscles etc then you'll find that your posture naturally corrects itself whilst walking, that sitting in a chair for extended periods isn't as rough, etc.

Some people are hypermobile and no amount of strength training will fix that. After many years of trying to get various types of ergonomic chairs and standing desks to work I eventually gave up and got a reclining chair.

Re: Slouch: Posture panic in modern America

#36

Post by crazygringo »

vanjajaja1 wrote: post #35

i lifted weights to attempt to fix postural issues that i noticed in my 20s. it made things worse the issue was that i lifted weights to make big number go up, instead of using weights as a support tool to explore muscles in the body

Yup, the same happened to me.

The additional strength didn't do anything to fix my posture. It just let me hold my bad posture for even longer, until another muscle would fail.

You need things like Alexander Technique to retrain how you hold and use your body. And things like myofascial release to undo all the new tension you created from all the lifting with bad posture.

Re: Slouch: Posture panic in modern America

#37

Post by rapjr9 »

This is an area that appears to need some serious research. It seems entirely possible that "good posture" is an idea that comes from our monkey heritage where standing tall was a way to threaten other monkeys and gain status. Also standing up straight may be inherently unnatural, monkeys don't usually do it, and it might actually be the cause of lower back pain for all anyone knows. In other words, a posture fad may be the primary cause of lower back pain.

Re: Slouch: Posture panic in modern America

#38

Post by partomniscient »

someguy101010 wrote: post #31
naming_the_user wrote: post #2

I'll admit to not reading the entire article here but I think that mostly people mistake posture issues for lack of exercise / being sedentary in general. If you work out a minimal amount and build some core strength / back muscles etc then you'll find that your posture naturally corrects itself whilst walking, that sitting in a chair for extended periods isn't as rough, etc.

I'll just provide a quick counter to this based on my own experience. A few years ago I had been in my best shape (daily exercise, cardio and weight lifting) and started experiencing some forearm pain. I thought it was just from over use from typing but i finally went to a physical therapist and found that the pain came from me hunching over on my computer and putting a lot of strain on my fore arms. The posture I to…

I think the whole industry wrecked our posture, and it goes back to the CRT era.

The CRT monitors were big heavy things that sat on the desk. There effectively wasn't much manoueverabilty in a CRT stand, and only the expensive/later models had them. The CRT was below eye level, so we all tilted our head forward and looked at a downward angle

When flat screen monitors came along, the didn't originally stray far the the height the CRT's were at, but monitor stands slowly started to increase in height over time and things are a bit better now - and the additional options for mounting them in various ways has improved things immensely.

When you're seated or standing at your desk with correct posture, the centre of your monitor should be the same height as your eyes as if you were looking into a mirror. In fact to compensate so many people are looking down at their phone screens we could possibly put the computer monitor even higher to balance things out.

Re: Slouch: Posture panic in modern America

#39

Post by sali0 »

Almost had to get neck surgery from a BJJ injury + sitting on a computer all day. This was after BJJ training 3 times a week + lifting twice a week. Would wake up with numb pinkies and would experience shooting pains up and down my neck as I was sitting at my computer.

The thing that prevented a surgery for me was simply fixing my posture, by strengthening the upper back and neck muscles. The most effective exercise I've experienced to achieve this is cable face pulls, with a grip that externally rotates the shoulder. You can see an example here[0].

Non-gym related thing that also helps with posture is getting a standing desk. Its not even necessary to stand, but simply having the ability to change the height of your desk is a massive help for getting the correct sitting posture.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljgqer1ZpXg

Re: Slouch: Posture panic in modern America

#40

Post by watwut »

metalman wrote: post #26
sandspar wrote: post #6

If you watch those "restored 1920s street scene" videos on YouTube then you'll quickly notice that every single pedestrian has outstanding posture.

And up untill the 1940's spiral fractures in various sports were unknown,The base level of exercise from normal activities starting in early childhood built a more robust skeleton and stronger muscle attachment points. Proof would be trivial, as amish and menonite comunities still follow the same practices.....they are not known as slouchers go look at average city kids, and then go look at the ones bieng raised on b…

> And up untill the 1940's spiral fractures in various sports were unknown

The sports were massively less competitive back then, incomparable to todays variant. The sports as a super competitive and popular past time is recent development. If less people do sport and sport itself is less competitive, less people will get injured.

Also, while people were strong, they were not buffed. The robust build, six pack and big muscles is our ideal. Men were basically thin.

> my joke is that the city kids are soft and grey, but the farm kids look good enough to eat, 2 seconds and you see the healthy glow

Fun fact: cities are overall thinner then rural parts.

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