3 Signs of Poor Posture (and How to Fix Them)

You catch your reflection in a store window and notice your head poking forward and your shoulders rounded. Or you realize you’ve spent the last hour hunched over your phone or laptop. The signs of poor posture creep in slowly, and they often show up first as a stiff neck, tight shoulders, headaches or an achy back.

Most of us spend the day sitting at a computer, slumped in front of the TV or bent over a phone, and we only notice our posture when something starts to hurt. Here are the three most common signs of poor posture, what causes them, the problems they lead to, and how to fix them for good.

3 Signs of Poor Posture

1. Forward head posture

While you work on a computer or watch TV, your head can drift several inches in front of your shoulders. This is called forward head posture. The further forward your head goes, the harder the muscles at the back of your neck have to work to hold it up.

Over time that can lead to neck pain and shoulder stiffness, tension headaches, jaw pain and wear on the neck joints. Long hours of sitting are the usual cause, but an old neck injury or sprain can also play a part.

2. Rounded upper back and shoulders

If your upper back is rounded, you probably can’t sit up straight for more than a couple of minutes before you slump again. Rounded shoulders usually come from a muscle imbalance: the chest muscles get tight while the muscles of the upper back get too weak to hold your shoulders back.

Computer work and looking down at phones and tablets for long periods are the most common causes. A rounded upper back also limits how well your shoulders move and makes those muscles more prone to injury. When the rounding becomes a fixed curve, read our guide to hunchback posture (kyphosis).

3. Arched lower back

Your spine has three natural curves, at the neck, upper back and lower back, which together form an S shape. That shape absorbs shock, supports the weight of your head and keeps you balanced. When the lower back arches too far inward, it’s called hyperlordosis, or swayback.

An excessive arch puts extra pressure on the joints of the lower back and can cause pain, stiffness and discomfort. It’s often linked to tight hip flexors from sitting, a weak core and weak glutes.

What Causes Poor Posture?

Poor posture usually comes from sitting too long, not doing enough strength training, and gravity pulling the body down day after day. Underneath it all is a pattern of muscles that get tight and muscles that get weak.

Muscles that tend to get tight

• Hip flexors: the muscles at the front of the hip shorten when you sit, then pull on the lower back when you stand and walk.
• Lower back muscles: they stay switched on to keep you upright when the hip flexors are tight.
• Chest and lats: sitting rounded forward keeps these muscles short.
• Suboccipitals: the small muscles at the base of the skull tighten to tip your head back when your upper back is rounded.

Muscles that tend to get weak

• Glutes: too much sitting and not enough targeted strength work let them switch off.
• Abdominals: a weak core lets the lower back arch too far.
• Upper back muscles: the middle and lower traps, rhomboids and spinal extensors, which hold you upright against rounding.
• Deep neck flexors: small muscles at the front of the neck that keep your head from drifting forward.

Try this: sit up tall and turn your head to each side. Now slump and try again. Most people can turn further when they sit tall, which shows how much posture affects the way your joints move.

How Poor Posture Hurts the Rest of Your Body

Posture isn’t just about how you look. Over time, poor posture changes how your joints and muscles share load, and we see it linked to many common problems in the clinic.

• Neck tension and headaches: a forward head keeps the neck muscles working all day. See how physical therapy treats tension headaches.
• Shoulder problems: round your upper back and try to raise your arms overhead, then stand tall and try again. A rounded spine limits the shoulder and can add stress to the rotator cuff over time.
• Lower back pain: tight hip flexors and an arched lower back compress the joints of the spine, which can contribute to back pain and stiffness.
• Hip, knee and foot pain: when the hips don’t move well, the knees, ankles and feet often pick up the slack.

When to See a Doctor First

• Numbness or weakness: in your arms or legs
• Pain after trauma: such as a fall or car accident
• A curve that’s changing quickly: or pain with fever or unexplained weight loss

How to Improve Your Posture

1. Move often: stand up, walk or change position every 30 minutes or so. No single posture is perfect if you hold it all day.
2. Set up your screens: raise your laptop or monitor to eye level, and bring your phone up to your eyes instead of dropping your head to your hands.
3. Do chin tucks: gently draw your chin straight back to wake up the deep neck flexors.
4. Strengthen your upper back and glutes: rows, band pull-aparts, bridges and hip thrusts build the muscles that hold you upright.
5. Open up tight areas: gentle hip flexor and chest stretches, plus upper-back extension over a foam roller.

Desk workers can try the four simple resets in our desk worker’s guide to mid-back tension.

How a Doctor of Physical Therapy Can Fix Your Posture Faster

A Doctor of Physical Therapy can pinpoint exactly which of your muscles are tight and which are weak, instead of handing you generic exercises. They can also mobilize stiff areas of your spine, hips and neck with hands-on techniques, then give you a targeted strength plan so the change lasts.

Stand Taller and Move Without Pain

If you’re serious about improving your posture and getting rid of the pain and stiffness that come with it, we can help. Our neck pain and posture treatment uses The Gray Method™ to find what’s driving your posture, one-on-one with a Doctor of Physical Therapy at our clinics in Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Estero.

Start with our Fixing the Cause & Not Just the Symptoms Assessment, or Inquire About an Appointment →

Call our office at (239) 223-0484 to schedule your appointment.