Have you ever been told to “stand up straight!”? This phrase has children everywhere grumbling as a well meaning adult lectures on the importance of good posture. In my opinion, it’s one of the most relevant examples of the difference between posture and alignment. The phrase has permeated the culture with its vague (subjective) recommendation for our spinal health and caused a lot of confusion. I have many clients who have spent years trying to get their back “straight” because of this misunderstanding and suffered greatly because of it. For all of you out there in the same boat, I hope this post helps you find some relief.
First of all, the spine isn’t supposed to be straight. It has curves like an “S”. I’m going to say it again: a healthy spine has curves. Specifically, notice the thoracic (mid back) curve. This is called kyphosis. The word kyphosis is often misused to mean “too much curve.” (Too much curve is called hyperkyphosis.) You want that kyphotic curve. It’s supposed to be there.
Most people translate “stand up straight” to equal “chest up, shoulders back.” This lifting of the chest/rib cage creates forces that distort the curve of the thoracic spine. If I asked you to stand up straight or show me your best posture, chances are it would look something like this:
(Again, ignore the “I Dream of Jeannie” arms. I’m just doing that so you can see the line that is coming up.)
Looks pretty good, right? In my last post, you learned how to align your pelvis. When you did this, you may have felt like you were going to fall over backwards or felt some discomfort in your back. If so, learning where your ribs belong will help. Let’s revisit the super awesome grid app.
The vertical line is lined up with the bottom of my rib cage. See how that line falls out in front of my pelvis? My “good posture” is lifting my rib cage and pushing it forward. Look at any skeleton in an anatomy text book, and you will see that the rib cage is supposed to be right over the pelvis. Put your finger tips on the most inferior, anterior part (the part that is lowest and towards the front) of your rib cage. Can you feel the pointy edges of your ribs sticking out? Now exaggerate your best posture. Are your ribs sticking out even more? Now relax and let the ribs drop down ALL THE WAY. (If you feel like you are slouching, you’re on the right track.) At this point you shouldn’t be able to feel any boney edges sticking out. They will be directly over your Anterior Superior Illiac Spine (ASIS: boney protrusions on the front of each side of your pelvis). If this description is confusing, or you have a hard time finding these boney markers, see how to test for rib thrusting against a wall.
I have one finger on my ASIS and one on my bottom rib, so you can see where they are. Now the rib cage is right over the pelvis, where it belongs.
Take a look at these side by side. On the left: Ribs are aligned, restoring thoracic kyphosis. (What you want.) On the right: Ribs are lifted and thrusted forward, distorting the thoracic curve. (A recipe for pain and degeneration.) Can you see the difference?
I know these two positions look similar, but the physiological effects of these two positions are very different. Remember, “good posture” looks good but is not necessarily healthy. The rib thrusting/chest lifted position distorts your spinal curves and puts excessive compression on the one or two vertebra that you are displacing. The vertebra that make up the spine stack on top of one another forming a protective housing for the spinal cord. When we lose or distort our spinal curves, the integrity of this protective structure is compromised, and the spinal cord and nerves that branch off are at risk for damage. Displacing the ribs also compromises the abdominals’ ability to do their jobs. One of these jobs is to properly support the spine and decompress the discs. Many people find huge relief from back pain when they stop thrusting their ribs. Another job of the abdominal muscles is to support the weight of a growing baby when you are pregnant. When these muscles are compromised, it can lead to diastasis recti (excessive spreading/separating of the abdominal wall).
When you get your ribs down (ALL THE WAY DOWN) you might (read: almost certainly will) find that you have hyperkyphosis and your head and shoulders are too far forward. Like this:
Don’t panic! I know, it’s alarming when you see how far forward your head is. The good news is you can make changes with some hard work. Resist the urge to lift your chest/ribs to “fix” this problem! It will look better in the short term but will not solve the problem. When the ribs are down in their aligned position, it reveals all the tension in the upper body that we typically hide by lifting the chest/ribs. Instead of hiding the problem, use the two exercises below to start correcting it.
DO THIS:
First, elevate your head and shoulders and relax here until your ribs start to relax down towards the floor. You can let your arms rest on the ground by your sides. This helps relax a muscle called the psoas.
Next: After several minutes, add SLOW arm motions like you are making a snow angel without letting the ribs pop back up towards the ceiling. Rotate the arms so that your thumbs are closer to the floor than the pinkies. This will stretch the chest and shoulders.
- If you find that your upper body is REALLY tight, I would suggest taking Katy Bowman’s online class called Super Supple Shoulders or any of the “Alignment Snacks” dealing with the shoulders.
Anthology Wellness 
Thanks for these pictures (it always helps me when I see comparisons)!
I have two questions which have been boggling my mind some time now:
I’m one of these with ambarrasing amounts of hyperkyphosis and every other classical malalignment. When I lower my ribs (which is essential for me to avoid backpain exactly in the middle of my spine), I feel an uncomfortable pressure in my SI-joint region. If I do this for an extended time span I get really tight muscles in the lower spine and upper butt region (which in turn hurts my sciatic nerve). Are you able to guess why that might be? Is it possible that my forward head generates that much leverage? Or do I tilt my pelvis too much anteriorly? (Ah, and now that I think about it, my torso sometimes shifts forward when I try to lower my ribs. Like in the second picture of her sister: http://www.kangaroofitness.ca/blog/mindful-standing Although I don’t understand why my calfs would have anything to do with that. I always assumend is due to my short psoai?)
The SI-joint sometimes feels painfull too, when I do this psoas release. Any help with that? And this might seem odd, but my feet turn out pretty far when lying down and relaxing (I guess that’s due to tight piriformis? At least I assume that this a sign of malalignment). When I’m doing this strech I am unsure which benefits my psoas the most: legs completly relaxed (rotated outward), or trying to straighten them?
I like your blog really very very much! Glad I stumbled apon it.
best E
E- Thanks! Glad you are finding it helpful. The short answer is: You have a lot of questions, and I think you would benefit from an in person session. Try finding a Restorative Exercise Specialist near you (or one who does Skype sessions.) http://www.restorativeexercise.com/our-program-graduates/ Without actually seeing you, I’ll do my best to answer your questions.
1) check your pelvis and make sure that it’s neutral. (http://www.katysays.com/neutral-pelvis/ and http://www.katysays.com/neutral-pelvis-2/)
2) I’d GUESS that you have tight and weak hips, and that when you try to align pelvis and ribs there is not sufficient strength in the posterior muscles (gluts/hams) to hold you up. Do some hip opening and lateral hip strengthening.
To start working on this, click this link and choose “all around the thighs” and “balance with lateral hips” http://www.restorativeexercise.com/alignment-snacks/?ap_id=taylorbroggie
3) It’s never one thing. The body is super complex. But yes, I would suspect your calves, piriformis and psoai are all tight and contributing to the pain.
4) Try putting a blanket or yoga mat under your pelvis during the psoas release.
5) Don’t worry about the feet turning out in the psoas release. Just relax the legs.
Thanks for your fast and detailed answer! I’ll gladly follow to all your tips! (and will keep reading your posts)
I wasn’t aware that skype sessions are available too, so I haven’t ever concidered a private session. Now that you mention it, it seems to be the most resionable thing to do (after checking out the links you gave me).
Thanks again! best E