Posture Tips To Reduce Pain

It's been a pleasure to hear that some clients have read 

and found some of my past posts about ideal posture and muscle control, particularly helpful.

This topic is something I am very passionate about because

small changes in your habits can make a big difference to your back health,

and because the education I have to share on this topic 

is very different from common advice people usually receive.

Often, when I ask about how clients sit, or about their posture, 

they start by showing me how they sit up straight.

I then examine their back muscles with my fingertips

and see their muscles are overactive, 

they feel like rods or metal bars.

I help them see that this is contributing to their problems.

These overactive muscles are our nervous system's feedback,

and a protection strategy.  

I ask clients when they are sitting in this way does it increase their pain or relieve their pain?

Most tell me that sitting like this increases their pain 

but they keep doing it because it's the 'right thing' to do.

And when I ask clients to sit with more relaxed back muscles 

they often comment that this feels much better,

but that it 'must be wrong'.

I ask why it must be wrong,

they answer, "because it feels like I am slouching".

"My teacher, my mother, other physios, and even magazine articles 

all tell me that good posture is sitting up straight." 

BUT, when I ask clients to relax their back muscles

what I see is that they are actually not slouching,

and they have an ideal, almost straight back.

When the core muscles control well these back muscles do not need to activate in sitting.

When these muscles are not activating they are the consistency of raw meat (soft to push into),

because the nervous system is calm and allowing these muscles to be at rest.

I often take a photo of the client sitting like this 

and when I show them clients are often surprised to see how straight it is 

when it feels like they are slouching!


"This feels so dramatically different.  It feels better, more comfortable and reduces my pain.  Why hasn't anyone shown me this before?"


Some examples of clients improving their sitting posture are in the images attached. 

Thank you to these clients for sharing the photos of their experience.

The red line indicates the posture created by overactive muscle which contribute to aches, pains, stiffness and tightness.

This is what it looks like when this client 'sits up straight'.

The green line shows the posture when the back muscles are more relaxed with less contribution to aches, pains, stiffness and tightness.

This is what it looks like when the client says "It must be wrong because it feels like I am slouching."

It is helpful to examine your back to confirm that your muscles are as relaxed as you can make them.

Relaxed muscles feel soft like raw meat.

Trying this is a way of caring for yourself.

No better time than the present!

How did you go?

I invite you to send in a photo for confidential feedback.

Keep in mind that this type of change to your sitting often requires assistance to get it right for you, so this might not work for you without specific help.

And there is a reason for why these overactive back muscles are difficult to relax, it's our nervous system telling us that there is something blocking.

Once what is blocking has been released then our nervous system relaxes the muscles to the ideal amount of activation, like raw meat.

At Youngify we release what's blocking to allow you to maintain your ideal posture, reduce your pain, and help you move and feel young again.