Posture Series, Post #1: Forward head vs neutral position

Most of the population has poor posture. We are a product of desk jobs, people. Even those of us who work on our feet have turned into creatures of poor posture.

As a result of this poor posture, our bodies compensate by shortening some muscles and elongating others, which puts our whole kinetic chain out of balance.

How can we fix this? Exercise. We need to focus on our core function by strengthening our trunk and abdominal muscles.

There are a few key things to keep in mind when considering posture.

Most of us have a tendency to set our heads forward in relation to the rest of our bodies. Double-check yourself... if you were to look at your profile (side view), would your ears be in line with the bony part of your shoulder (the acromion process)? Or are they set more forward? We need to focus on keeping our chests up, shoulders back, and chin up just a bit, in order to create an imaginary line straight down from those ears to the shoulder bone. By doing this, we are automatically shifting that upper back out of a hunched position and into a more neutral placement.

Make one small change at a time and turn it into habit, friends. In the mean time, we'll keep working on our core-strengthening exercises to support those bones. We'll get your bodies mechanically sound in no time, but it's important for you to focus on keeping your head set back in a neutral position, as pictured above, during all exercises AND your activities of daily living.