Can we stop micromanaging posture?
"Brainy What-Why-How"
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What (the TL:DR)
Fixing your posture by intentionally moving out of "bad" posture is kind of a waste of time.
Posture is largely REFLEXIVE, meaning your brain is doing it without you thinking about it.
So if we want to train better posture, we have to train it REFLEXIVELY too.
Why (the geeky neurology)
Like breathing, you can voluntarily change how you hold yourself.
But as soon as you start thinking about something else (mmmm....what's for lunch??) you don't stop breathing, right?
Your brain takes care of it for you.
And you also don't slump into a puddle on the floor. Your brain takes care of keeping you upright against gravity, too.
So when I see people on social media running through endless cues encouraging us to voluntarily change our posture or alignment, I see band-aids.
That's all it is. A band-aid that doesn't actually change the underlying cause of things like:
rounded shoulders
anterior pelvic tilts
knock knees
collapsed foot arches
forward head posture
etc
(And for the record, none of the above is inherently problematic or needs to be changed at all if it's not causing issues to that individual.)
The cerebellum is one area that plays a big role in creating and regulating the muscle tone that creates that reflexive posture.
And there are some really cool ways to train the cerebellum, potentially getting closer to the root of some postural issues rather than constantly reminding yourself to "sit up straight."
How (apply it to your life)
There are dozens of drills but my go-to is perturbation.
Basically: find ways to make it a little (or a lot) harder to balance.
• In the gym doing lunge squats: Instead of holding two 10-kg dumbbells, offset the weight: hold a 15kg in one hand and a 5kg in the other.
• Balancing on one leg in yoga: Move some other body part around. A leg. Your head. An arm. Make your brain work.
• Blow-drying your hair: Stand like you're on a balance beam: big toe touching heel, feet facing straight forward.
Love this stuff? Want to go deeper?
Check out my Applied Neurology Teacher Training!
Stop micromanaging your skeleton and start giving your nervous system a job,
Adell xoxo
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