What items does posture correction include?

The current mainstream posture correction projects basically revolve around three core directions: passive intervention, active training, and habit reconstruction. There is no unified standardized division. Different institutions will match different combinations according to the needs of users.

A while ago, I received a girl who was going to take wedding photos. She had enlarged breasts and trapezius muscles, and she looked particularly strong in a tube top wedding dress. I was anxious to adjust her appearance to a good-looking state within two weeks. At the beginning, I arranged a passive program for her: fascial relaxation of the pectoral muscles and upper trapezius muscles twice a week, and cooperated with a rehabilitation practitioner to adjust the range of motion of the thoracic spine joints. When it comes to joint adjustment, there are actually different opinions in the industry. Some people think that bone setting and chiropractic methods can quickly return misaligned small joints, and visible changes in posture can be seen in a short time. There are also many conservative rehabilitation practitioners who believe that if the tension of the surrounding muscles is not adjusted properly, the joints will not be able to stay even if they are straightened, and it will take at most three to five days to return to their original shape. My own experience is that if the user does have obvious small joint compression and limited movement, making adjustments first can indeed save a lot of trouble in subsequent training, but it is definitely not possible to rely solely on this.

After the girl relaxed three times, her shoulders and neck did stretch a lot. She didn't feel any pain even if she straightened her back when taking pictures. However, she still unconsciously held her breasts when she relaxed. At this time, active training had to be added. It’s not just a matter of casual back training as everyone thinks, you have to activate weak muscles first - she has been working at a desk for a long time, and her serratus anterior and middle and lower trapezius muscles have already "struck". She usually relies on the trapezius muscles to compensate for raising her arms and straightening her back. She starts by practicing basic movements such as scapula clamping and Wall Slide while lying down, and then slowly corrects her usual force-generating pattern of raising her hands, walking, and bending at the desk. Correction of these movement patterns is actually the most easily overlooked part of active sports. Many people still have a hunched back after practicing for a long time, just because they have not changed their usual power-exerting habits. One or two hours of practice per week is simply not worth the consumption of sitting at the desk for eight hours a day.

In addition to the projects done in the store, daily habit guidance is actually also a core part of posture correction. I listed three pages of precautions for the girl at that time: the desk should be adjusted to a height where the forearms are flat without shrugging, the cell phone should be raised to eye level when using the phone, and even the sleeping pillow should be chosen to be fist-high, and do not lie on the sofa half-lying to watch TV dramas. Later, she practiced for more than three months after taking the wedding photos. Now she can sit for a day without subconsciously holding her breasts, and her bulging trapezius muscles can no longer be seen when wearing off-shoulder clothes.

Oh, by the way, assistive devices such as orthotic braces and custom-made arch pads that many people buy themselves are actually considered auxiliary correction items, but they must be paid special attention to when using them. For example, corrective straps cannot be worn continuously for more than two hours, otherwise they will make the core muscles dependent and become weaker the longer they are worn. Arch pads must also be customized according to the degree of arch collapse and gait pattern of your own. Buying the popular models randomly may add extra pressure to the knees.

To be honest, many institutions now boast about posture correction. They say they correct XO-shaped legs in seven days or cure high and low shoulders in half a month. In fact, the essence is to make passive adjustments for you first to achieve immediate results. If you really want long-term improvement, you still have to practice movements and change your habits. There is no shortcut.