Instead of constantly reminding yourself to stand up straight, you may want to focus on strengthening specific muscle groups. By working out, you’re allowing these muscles to better support your spine and help your body comfortably stand up straight without forcing it or making you feel uncomfortable.
“There are two muscle groups that work well to help you with posture,” Mallozzi said. The first group is your paraspinal muscles, which are the muscles that surround your spine from your neck to your lower back. If you have a strong group of muscles around your spine, your discs and joints will have to do less work because they’re better supported, he said. The other muscle group that’s important to work is your core, which will further help support your back.
You can work out these muscle groups by doing yoga, pilates or general strength exercises like planks, crunches, bridges and shoulder-blade squeezes.
These exercises “really do help people achieve this musculature that is supportive of good posture,” Mallozzi said.
He added that some factors that impact posture can’t be corrected with exercise. Issues like arthritis or stiffness of the hips won’t just go away, but if you start prioritizing strength exercise early in life, you’ll be more set up for success. “The more you have [of] that good base to start, the more you’ll be able to compensate if you do develop other issues,” Mallozzi said.
Plus, by strengthening your spine, you’re reaping the benefits of exercise, of which there are many. “We know exercise is good for cardiovascular health — it’s good for osteoporosis prevention, and people who exercise tend to have better mental health scores,” Queralt said.
All in all, having good posture isn’t going to be a cure-all, and the pressure you feel to stand up straight is likely unwarranted.
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