If I had a dollar for every time a client came in and expressed shame for not having ideal posture. . .
They come in, sit down and say “I posture could be better”. “ I don’t sit up straight”. They say this with a sense of defeat and shame, like it’s their fault they are experiencing pain because they just can’t seem to sit up straight. There’s a hint of failure in their statements.

But, I tell them a secret. There is no perfect posture and it doesn’t matter how you sit. Yes, you can become sensitized to a specific position if you’re always holding yourself that way but that’s because muscles like to move and the aches you may feel are gentle suggestions to move.

I give them freedom to move and sit however they’d like. Relief comes over their face. They welcome this information and no longer feel like they are failing themselves daily.

You can even pick things off the floor however you’d like. You probably have a preferred way and that’s fine. Sometimes you can become sensitized to this as well so temporarily changing it can help. This can be a bit different with heavy lifting in the gym but only because certain setups are more efficient than others.

The take home message here is you can move, sit, stand however you’d like and not be afraid of causing pain. Sometimes certain habitual movements can become sensitive so we adjust them temporarily to let the tissues calm down.

This information was adapted from Slater et al., 2019. It is not medical advice. Seek out a qualified practitioner if you have questions or concerns.