How Poor Posture Can Lead To Lower And Upper Cross Syndromes And Tips To Overcome It

Whether you’re an average person who goes to the gym for your regular workout, or an athlete like a powerlifter, for example, you are prone to lower and upper cross syndromes. These are syndromes caused by poor posture, slouching, rounding your shoulders, and more muscular imbalances in the body that can lead to pain, injury, and a decrease in strength, flexibility, and range of motion.

Especially during this pandemic where everyone has been forced to work or study at home making us sit at our desks for long hours and overlooking proper posture, there is already a good chance that we might have muscular imbalances in the body. This article will talk about the importance of posture and how to overcome lower and upper cross syndromes.

The importance Of Posture

We have all been told to “sit straight,” by our parents or teachers at some point in our lives. Good posture is key to balance. By standing straight, your weight is at the center of your body over your feet. It helps you maintain the correct form while exercising or doing yoga which results in a lesser probability of injuries.

Working on balance can help you strengthen and fuel your body. If you are used to engaging in activities such as dancing, running, golf, weightlifting, proper posture is everything.

If you have poor posture, this can lead to inflexible muscles that decrease range of motion. As discussed in the previous article, range of motion is how far your joints can move in any direction. Tight hip muscles, for example, can make your upper body move forward thus disrupting your posture. Overly tight chest muscles can make your shoulders curl.

Another disadvantage of having poor posture is that it leads to weak core muscles in the back, side, pelvis, and buttocks encouraging you to slump (you will notice that your body will tip forward thus having an imbalance in the body). So when you do yoga exercises, you will notice that you will fall off frequently.

The core muscles need to have strength as they can greatly affect your balance. They are the sturdy central link between your upper and lower body. I always integrate a few exercises to help my clients achieve muscle strength, whatever the offering they are enrolled in.

These exercises address the posture and balance problems that these clients are facing. Over time, I increase their core strength and flexibility through balance-specific exercises so they can optimise their body to their maximum ability. Through these offerings, many of my clients have been happy with how they are doing and performing in their everyday life.

See what they have to say about our Program.

Lower And Upper Cross Syndromes

Lower and Upper Cross Syndromes are muscular imbalances coined by Dr. Vladimir Janda. It refers to an area of the body that is tight that can cause weakness in other areas. It affects posture, joints, and overall mobility, which can lead to a negative cycle of pain and discomfort over time.

Caused by bad posture and sitting for long periods of time with your head pushed forward, Upper Cross Syndrome is the most common pattern of muscle imbalance in the upper body. The muscles of the neck, chest, and shoulders become deformed, restricted, and weak. As a result, the back is weakened and the pectoral, neck muscles tighten. This can cause unending pain throughout the upper body.

On the other hand, Lower Cross Syndrome involves tight and weaker structures of the hips, pelvis, and lower back. It is a muscular dysfunction that happens in the lower part of the body where the pelvis is titled forward. The muscles on the front of your hips are called your “hip flexors” and low back muscles are tight, while the lower abdominals and the muscles that act kick your leg behind you like in a running stride known as your “hip extensors” are lengthened and weak.

How To Fix These Syndromes

As they say, knowing the problem is already half of the solution so identifying the pains in your body is important. You will go through a posture assessment at the beginning of our first step from the online program so we can go over the areas in your body that need to be worked on.

Next is to stretch and lengthen the tightened muscles by adopting exercises specific to the syndrome that you have. I highly recommend that you visit Built Lean as they have a good set of exercise regimens that can help you with it.

Do not leave these syndromes unattended. Many people underestimate the value of having a good posture before lifting heavy weights or sitting long hours at their desks. It can lead to imbalances and movement dysfunctions that will have direct effects on joint surfaces thus possibly resulting in injury and joint degeneration.

Not only in the joints that the consequences will be felt but also felt through fatigue, arthritis, increased risk for disc herniation, tension headaches, teeth clenching, pinched nerves, and so much more. At Evoke Movement, we are committed to helping clients at whatever stage of pain that they have.

Speak to Aaron today for free!