Can you feel your spine and shoulders beginning to sag and your posture falling apart? Well, I don’t know about you, but I want to do what I can right now to make sure that this doesn’t happen, and that I still have really good posture and can function without pain when I’m in my 80’s and 90’s.

And here’s the other thing - Poor posture can lead to compensation patterns in your body, making your body move and operate improperly, potentially creating other injuries.

So when it comes to good posture what do you need to know? And what specifically can you start doing today to reverse poor posture and create good alignment for years to come?

I’m breaking it all down for you on the podcast today.

In my 90’s…

We have this sweet old lady that goes to our church, and she sit right in front of us every Sunday. If I had to guess, I think she’s probably in her early 90’s and she just radiates peace and joy.

• But as she’s sitting, the only thing touching the back of the chair is her low back - the rest of her spine, shoulders and head are so hunched and rounded over forward that they’re right above her thighs.
• When she stands up, it’s the same and simply can’t stand for very long. She has to hold on to the chair in front of her for support because so much of her torso is out in front of her body, and such an extreme curvature looks so painful.

Now this is obviously extreme, and I don’t know her story. But I think we all have someone in our life where their posture has degraded to such a degree that they can’t fully function anymore and they’re in constant pain.

And I want to know, is it possible to prevent becoming like that - to start doing something now that ensures that your posture remains as good as possible for decades to come?

Well, it can’t hurt to try - In fact, I’m confident that it will only help.

I saw a video online recently of a woman who is probably the same age - it said she was in her early 90’s - and she’s still doing gymnastics. When she stands and moves around, she doesn’t look like she’s in pain, and her posture looks great! I want to be like that, and I bet you do too!

Today I want to share with you what my personal plan is to make sure that I’m like the second 90 year old woman.

PSF Framework

First of all, you’ve heard me say it before, but posture is one of three key elements for feeling good and not experiencing pain throughout your body.

The PSF Framework

• Posture (alignment) - how well your spine is stacked, one on top of the other
• Strength (the strength to hold you in good alignment)
• Flexibility (release of tension in muscles that could be pulling you out of good alignment)

I could tell you to “sit up straight and get your spine in better alignment”, but if your chest & shoulder muscles are really tight and your upper back muscles are really weak, the moment you stop trying, your body will slide right back into the poor position, eventually getting worse and worse.

And when joints are out of alignment and you have poor posture, you feel:

• Achy, stiff, and old
• Plus it can lead to compensation patterns, making your body move and operate improperly, potentially leading to other injuries and issues

Here’s the plan

Let’s focus on improving your upper body posture - your upper spine and shoulders.

• When you saw the word posture and clicked on this episode, that’s probably what you figured we were going to focus on, so let’s do that.
• But just remember, that posture or “alignment” is important for every joint on your body. If your ankle joint doesn’t have good posture, you’ll experience foot pain, ankle pain, knee pain, hip pain and even back pain.
• Posture applies everywhere, but let’s take the shoulders for now.

3-4 Steps that the listener can take to overcome their problem. (Main teaching point):

• Let’s start with the obvious one: Stretching out your chest and shoulders
  • Why these muscles might be overly tight:
    • Think about how many hours of the day you spend with your hands and arms in front of your body
    • This position encourages your shoulders to round and hunch forward, causing your muscles and even fascia to become tighter across the front
  • Doorway chest stretch
  • Cactus stretch
  • Diagonal arm swings
• Let’s go to the flipside: Strengthening your upper back and shoulder blades muscles
  • Why these muscles might be weak:
    • When you’re hunched forward, your shoulder blades extend forward and those muscles get long and loose
  • Diagonal arm swings
  • W’s or face pulls with a band
  • Rowing exercises
• Let’s head to an overlooked area: mobilizing your thoracic spine
  • Why this might be necessary:
    • When you round forward, your thoracic spine starts to fold forward too. It’s not just the shoulders
    • Your thoracic spine is actually designed to flex, extend, and rotate (or twist)
  • Thoracic extension stretch on a chair
  • Thoracic extension mobilization over a foam roller
  • Hooklying thoracic rotation stretch

Here’s my plan of action:

• Do one move from each category every day
  • So today, is a workout day, so I’m going to do the Diagonal arm swings in my warm-up, a rowing exercise in my workout, and the thoracic extension over a foam roller in my cool down
  • Tomorrow is not a workout day, so I’m going to do the cactus stretch at my desk, some diagonal arm swings while waiting for my coffee to brew, and the hooklying thoracic rotation stretch before bed

Success/Failure

• By opening up our chest, strengthening our upper back muscles, and making sure that our thoracic spines stays mobile, we’re all going to set ourselves up for success and ensure that we maintain really great posture for decades to come.
• But I’m afraid that if we don’t start doing this diligently now, myself included, we’re going to tighter, more hunched over, and eventually so stiff and folded inward that we feel miserable.

Transformation

It doesn’t take much. It’s the simple things done repeatedly that makes a big difference right now and for your body years to come.

I had a coaching call with someone a few months ago and she asked me what she should do now, in her 40’s, to make sure she was a happy and active woman in her 80’s - and I love that. I love that we’re planning ahead. Nobody used to plan ahead, but now we can.

Posture.

Takeaways/Call to Action

Ok, your takeaway today is to do something everyday to stretch your chest, to strengthen your shoulders, and to mobilize your thoracic spine.

I’m going to make this really easy on you, too. In the show notes, I’m dropping a link to a 10 Minute Daily Posture Routine. It’s a follow-along video with me over on my YouTube channel. You can do it daily, or even just 2 or 3 times a week.

More Resources & Links

PERFECT 10 Minute Daily Posture Routine

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