“The position or bearing of the body, whether characteristic or assumed for a special purpose.” Or “the position in which someone holds their body when standing or sitting.” (Merriam-Webster and Oxford Languages resp.)
We don’t want to necessarily pin the culprit down on one single cause, but it’s worth asking anyway…
Can your posture be a problem?
Yes.
Especially if it is the only one you have. If you were to stay sat and slouched for hours on end in the same posture, that would definitely be an issue and would cause discomfort and pain, as it often does. But that is a movement problem, not necessarily a postural problem.
Your posture represents a centre between extremes on a spectrum. There is a tendency to look at posture in an isolated context and not consider that it’s fundamental in being able to move well outside just standing.
There is large variability of different postures within different people, you may transition through many different ones yourself during your day. The question we want you to ask yourself is whether those postures can make for efficient motion when you decide to move around or exercise.
Before we can correct malfunctions on a human structure in a dynamic context, at some level we need to be able to correct these problems at the base, it being your standing posture.
If you’re stuck at one end of the spectrum as it relates to how you stand (e.g.: slouched and with your hips shifted forward), keep in mind that this is the default your body operates from when it goes into motion. There’s only so far you can go correcting your posture without moving well.
The more centred you are on that spectrum at rest, the more prepared you’ll be to move your body in ways that aren’t going to lead to problems down the track. If you want to move better, it all starts with learning to stand.
The point of posture has always been to prime the body for better movement. If a body is better aligned at rest, it will have a solid base to move better from.
If you can stack your joints through one strong connected tensile structure (tensegrity), and allow your body to effortlessly withstand gravity and its forces, that will be the primer from which effortless movement will spring.
Let’s correct your posture to enable you to gain an awareness of where your body is in space. Then let’s use that awareness to move better and build a structure with tensions that will hold your posture up and support you during movement.
