Hi all,
It was a rainy day yesterday and so I spent too much time on Youtube as I am prone to do when I get caught in a Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” loop.
At the little right hand side of the screen this commercial cropped up and, since I’m always intrigued by these things, I clicked the link.
Down the rabbithole I went and before I knew it I started writing this blog.
What do posture correctors claim to do?
There are a tonne of posture correctors out there and they all claim that poor posture is caused by 1; Short pectoral muscles. 2; Long muscles in your upper back.
By squeezing you into “correct posture” they claim to therefore fix those two things by 1; stretching the pectoral muscles and 2; shortening the muscles in your upper back.
Are they right about the cause of poor posture?
Partly, yes…..BUT, and it’s a big but.
Rounded shoulders are partly caused by shortened pectoral muscles and longer upper back/delt muscles but that’s not really the reason why most people have poor posture. I like to simplify things a lot and that “lengthen what is short and shorten what is long” is oversimplifying even for me.
Yes some of the muscles at the front need to be stretched, but you don’t need to stretch them for that long every day. Some of these things say you should wear them for 8 hours a day. Jesus, unless you’re Forrest Gump that’s just ridiculous!
And yes some muscles near the upper-back need to be shortened but you don’t do that by locking your body in place, you do that by strengthening them up. Saying that “shortening the muscles” in this way is a good thing is like saying tight hamstrings are good. I mean, that’s just not how these things work.
And this is ignoring things like the hips, glutes, hamstrings etc. which actually have a really big impact on upper-body posture.
This is why our Posture Home routines work more than just those muscles and work them in a specific way. (Click the link to download one of the posture home routines for free) And it only takes 10 minutes day!
So do they work?
In short; no. They are similar to the Post-Natal splint that I wrote about before. They might squeeze things into place but that doesn’t mean that the muscles will do what they are supposed to do and therefore it isn’t really a fix. You’re just making some muscles tight, not stronger, and ignoring loads of other muscles that cause poor posture.
But the review guys tell me they work.
I know that guys like this tell you they work but that’s because he has no understanding about how the body works and gets paid by the company to tell you how great they are.
I’m not picking on this guy btw, his was just one of the first videos to crop up. Other shysters are available.
Most online reviews are basically just advertisements. Please only listen to people who clearly state they are not being paid, or given free stuff, to review the product and who have some understanding of the subject they are talking about. People with some sort of ethics.
My opinion is completely worthless when it comes to; breastpumps, supercars or best variety of Brussel sprouts. But when it comes to poor posture and how to exercise to resolve that, I can tell you that these things are a waste of money.
And you look ridiculous wearing one.
Take care,
Peter
BTW, The picture of the duck? It’s a quack thing 🙂
