Blog · September 10, 2022
Does Your Body Look Like a Question Mark?
Life is all about becoming a question mark. We start as babies in the fetal position, spine flexed and head forward; we grow upright, and then work and life pull us back into the forward-head, bent-over posture I endearingly call the human question mark.
So how do we reverse it? A combination of proper ergonomics, continued postural mobility, and strengthening.
1. Computer posture
Everyone knows the basics: sit tall, eyes level with the monitor, feet on the floor. But the simplest changes work best: actually use the armrests (or prop your elbows) to unload the shoulder girdle and neck, and keep computer, keyboard, and phone close enough that your elbows stay by your sides.
2. Thoracic mobility
The thoracic spine, the mid-back where your ribs attach, is inherently stiff for good reason: it protects your organs and anchors your neck and lower back's freedom of motion. All-day sitting makes it stiffer, and the neck compensates, creating that ape-like forward posture. Try this: foam roller perpendicular to the spine at the bottom of the shoulder blades, fingers interlocked behind the neck, slowly arch back over the roller. Hold 5 seconds, then move up an inch at a time to the base of the neck.
3. Strengthening
Strengthen the middle and lower trapezius, paraspinals, and postural stabilizers. My favorite, the most humbling and most fatiguing exercise with little or no weight: Prone-T over a ball. Start with 0–2 lb dumbbells, palms forward and thumbs up. Hold the left arm up isometrically while performing controlled reps with the right; after 10, switch. Before you become the next hypothetical granny lost in the supermarket, add these to your weekly routine.