Everybody has heard the term “good posture” thrown around countless times.
It is used by a lot of people with a wide variety of different personal and professional backgrounds. Many of them have different understandings of the idea of posture and therefore it is surrounded by some controversy.
In this article we want to clear up some common misconceptions about the topic and explain what a good body posture is and under what circumstances it is important.
Table of Contents
Understanding the concept of a neutral spine
Basic anatomy and function of the spine
Your spine is a remarkable structure that forms the central axis of your skeleton. It has a lot of important anatomical functions like providing structural support, distributing forces, protecting the spinal cord, absorbing shocks, and maintaining stability. This enables us to engage in daily activities, move with efficiency, and protect the vital nervous system housed within the spine. The spine is composed of a series of bones called vertebrae that are separated by a protective layer, the discs, that act as a cushion and shock absorber.
This unique architecture allows you to bend your body forward, arch backward, turn your head around and combine those movements. All of this feels very normal to us, and we usually don’t appreciate it unless we slept wrong and feel a stinging neck pain when trying to fasten our seatbelt in the car the next morning. We don’t realize how often we turn our head until this annoying pain keeps reminding us.
This shows how important and how normal it is for us to arch, bend, and twist our spine. And there is nothing unhealthy or even wrong with using this body part how it is designed to be used.
The default position of the spine
The healthy, default position of your spine is not perfectly straight. Your neck (the cervical spine) is slightly curved inward. This allows for your head to be aligned with your shoulders, neither excessively tilted forward nor drooping down.
Your chin is parallel to the ground. Your upper back (the thoracic spine) retains a natural outward curve and your shoulders are relaxed and level, not excessively rounded or hunched forward.
Your chest is open and your shoulder blades are flat against your back.
Your lower back (the lumbar spine) is also curved slightly inward, just like your neck. That way your pelvis is in a neutral position, not excessively tilted forward (anterior pelvic tilt aka the booty pop pose) or backward (posterior pelvic tilt).
When viewed from the side, a person with a neutral spine position will have a balanced alignment of the head, shoulders, spine, and hips. The natural curves of the spine are present and maintained, allowing for optimal distribution of forces and reduced strain on the muscles and ligaments surrounding the spine.
So why care about a neutral spine if it’s intended to be moved?
But wait! Didn’t you just say it is normal for the spine to twist, bend, and arch? So why care about a neutral spine if it’s intended to be moved? Well, as most things in life you can’t just see this in black and white. There are a lot of different shades and colors to it.
The neutral spine is the optimal position for it to offer stability, balance, and – most importantly – force absorption. It minimizes the wear and tear on the vertebrae, discs, and other body parts, especially under load. For example, when you land after a big jump or carry something heavy.
Whenever there is load on your spine, it should be in a stable, neutral position the whole time. The first thing every decent gym trainer should tell you while teaching you how to perform a deadlift is to maintain a neutral spine.
But of course, there will be a lot of situations where this is not possible. Try ducking your head and leaning into your car to pick up a heavy grocery bag from the back seat without bending your back. Or jumping and landing to catch a football high over your head without arching your back. Things in life are moving and so is your spine. The point is not to move like C-3PO from Star Wars.
The idea is to try and minimize the wear and tear of your spine by being mindful of its position under load and trying to keep it neutral, if possible. If you never spend time in a position with a neutral spine however, it will probably be hard for you to to find that stable position when you should (for example performing dynamic movements under load).
Moreover, many people get into the habit of spending most of their day in rounded positions due to prolonged sitting and the use of mobile devices. Doing this for hours a day, 365 days a year, can lead to muscular tightness and weakness, making it hard to enter and remain in a position of good posture.
Defining good posture
Good standing posture
With the caveat in mind that we are no robots, let’s define what a good standing posture looks like, starting from the feet. Although most people only think about the back when talking about posture, it is important to know that your body is a very complex system. A proper stability throughout your whole body is necessary to maintain good posture.
Stand with your feet about hip-width apart, giving yourself a stable and balanced foundation. Make sure your weight is evenly distributed between both feet. Your toes are pointing forward and your feet are firmly planted into the ground.
Your knees are in a relaxed and almost fully extended position. However, maintain a slight softness in the joints and don’t fully lock them. This knee position should feel natural and relaxed, yet stable.
Your hips act as the base of support for your entire upper body. In order to bring them into the optimal position, squeeze your glutes – in other words: pinch your butt cheeks together as if you were trying to hold a dollar bill in between them (although you should probably just use a wallet to store your cash). By doing so, you are bringing them into a centered and stable position.
As we move up your body, let’s pay attention to your spine. Your spine has natural curves that you want to maintain. This means that your upper back is not hunched (curved excessively) and your shoulders are not rolled forward. But it also means that you’re not pulling back your shoulders and pushing out your chest in an exaggerated way, resulting in an arched back. Try to imagine a string attached to the crown of your head. And now imagine someone gently pulling it up, expanding your rib cage and aligning your shoulders over your hips. Your shoulders are slightly turned outward (externally rotated) but relaxed. Let them rest comfortably, avoiding tension or hunching. As your arms hang down the sides of your body, your thumbs are pointing forward.
Finally, your head should be balanced, so that your ears are right over your shoulders. Your head is not hanging down or tilted up. Instead, your chin is parallel to the ground and your gaze straight ahead.
At this point your ears, shoulders, hips, and knees should all be aligned over your ankles.
And if you followed those instructions step by step your probably holding onto that dollar bill in between your butt cheeks for dear life and think: Should I really squeeze them all the time? And this is where your abs come into play. By engaging your core, you are also stabilizing your hips and can let go off the tension in your glutes. After all, you are not able to walk around while strongly engaging your glutes. You should find a balanced level of core stability that allows you to maintain a good posture and feel comfortable and natural at the same time.
Being mobile
As mentioned before, our body are designed to move rather than stand around all day. That means that if you have to stand somewhere for long durations, you will naturally switch your standing position every now and then. And that is normal and healthy.
However, your default standing position should be stable with a neutral spine. You should train yourself to make this feel natural. If you are mindful of it for a while, you will find yourself automatically entering into that posture all the time.
But if you’re having trouble to maintain that position comfortably for only short periods or even just to enter into it, you might have certain muscular weaknesses or inflexibilities. Even athletic people often don’t put enough emphasis on some structurally important but often overlooked body parts in their workout regimen. If that applies to you, we recommend starting a workout program specifically designed to strengthen your posture.
Is there a good sitting posture?
As humans our bodies are not designed to spend as much time in a sedentary position as we do. Over the millennia we evolved from living in small tribes of hunter-gatherers to living in a society in which many of us get to their food by working in an office and sitting at a desk. And even people who don’t work at a desk, will still spend a lot of time sitting in their car and on their couch.
Just as your default standing posture, your default sitting posture should be with a neutral spine. This doesn’t mean you have to sit perfectly upright all of the time. You can also maintain a neutral spine by leaning your upper body backwards and resting your shoulder blades against the back of the chair. Or you can lean forward while maintaining a naturally straight back, propping up your elbows on your knees or your arm on a table.
The problem with sitting is that muscularly your legs are put out of the equation. That means that your glutes can’t support your trunk to keep your spine in a neutral position. And your lower back will tire, and you’ll slouch into a rounded position. Again, this is not a bad position per se but doing this 10 hours a day, every day causes bad habits and muscular imbalances.
The best option for most people will be to reduce the time spent seated. A standing desk, that you can move up and down is a great solution when you work an office job. It allows you to frequently stand up and switch around between a lot of different sitting positions. Sitting for a long time will give you some discomfort and give you an impulse to move into a different position. Or even get to up and move around a bit after sitting down for a while. Follow this impulse. Your body will appreciate it.
Conclusion
When talking about good posture it is crucial to first understand the concept of a neutral spine. This is the position in which your spine is the most strong, stable, balanced, and safe. Realize that you want to almost always maintain a neutral spine under load.
A good posture is one in which your spine is in that neutral position. Train your body to make a good posture your standard posture. And understand that moving your spine and rounding your back is totally normal and not unhealthy as long as a hunched over and rounded posture doesn’t become your default position.
