Upper Posture Distortion

How can I determine if I have muscle imbalances?

As already mentioned, most people exhibit signs of at least some muscle imbalance. Its hard to avoid for most people in the work force today, since so many occupations require postures and repetitive movements that contribute to imbalances. Even reading a book over long periods can contribute to the problem.

Go to the mirror and look at yourself in profile. Notice your shoulders. Does your head sit forwards in front of your shoulders, or does it sit squarely on top? Do the palms of your hands face the wall behind you, your hips, or somewhere in-between?




If your hands face the wall behind you, or are angled so your pinky is on the outside, you have what is called an upper extremities postural distortion, otherwise known as UEPD. When you wear pants with a belt, does the belt slant forwards or backwards? If it slants either way, you have what is called a lumbo-pelvic-hip complex postural distortion, or LPHC.

Other signs of muscle imbalance

As mentioned earlier, muscle imbalances do not always cause pain or discomfort. In most cases, an individual will not even notice it. But they often do notice weak areas in their physical strength and performance. Muscle imbalances impair your ability to reap the benefits of your workout!

Most people join a gym to get in shape, diving into popular exercises such as the bench press, the lateral pull, leg extensions and leg presses. The irony is that when a person with muscle imbalances exercises the muscles that are doing all of the work already, they are only exacerbating the problem. For example, a person with a sore lower back may think that by exercising their lower back muscles, they are working to correct a problem when, in fact, they making it worse by increasing the muscular imbalance! Similarly, a person who works hunched over a computer all day has shortened chest muscles and elongated rhomboid (upper back) muscles. Doing bench presses to strengthen the chest muscles may make them stronger, but it also makes them shorter, and makes the person even more prone to bad working posture.

And yes, it may seem like a good idea to use a leg press machine to exercise those gluteus muscles. But leg press machines seat you in a position very similar to your posture at work, with your hip flexors and quadriceps shortened. So your hard work is largely wasted exercising your body in a position that caused the problem in the first place.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• headache
• athletics
• medicine
• physical
• science
• muscle
• balance
• training
• jeff
• gordon
• parker
• fitness

[mohawk34]

Excellent video! This guy is really good at explaining things, and knows his stuff. I wonder where he was trained?

[JeffreyGParker]

I was trained through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. NASM for short.

I'm glad you like the video =-)

[apclik]

Great information Jeffrey. Can you do a video on treatments for lower posture distortions? Thanks in advance.

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[PUSSY100ish]

Excellent video. Now this is what you call education without fluff!

[TheCoolestCanadien]

You are a genious, thank you. I think this is the solution to my shoulder problems.

[tricksterD8]

If I stand in good posture and lift weights will it help? my right shoulder sits a bit lower then my left when I relax. should I pull my left arm down and work it out? and do lots of streaching on both sides. please let me know. I know someone that use to carry a heavy back back on their right arm. and now it sits lower. so now they just carry it on their left side.

[sribecco]

Thanks for the clear explanation!

[BackInsight]

Consider lifting the shoulders to within 2 inches of chin level. It is difficult to do. However when you do it, you become very proportionate.

[greenfuzz15reloaded]

@greenfuzz15reloaded

PS my shoulder keeps moving out of the socket sometimes

[greenfuzz15reloaded]

my friends were telling me tht i have scoliosis but i think i have what's described in this video but my shoulder blades were sticking out from since i was 5 im 17 now and i cant wear certain shirts :( it makes me look like my back is hunched...now my left shoulder blade muscle is hurting ( i always sleep on my side) i bought a pillow tht says it will help with my posture but it doesn't really work.

[leumasnehpets]

Great video!

[161194]

how can i make my shoulder blades stick out less? looks weird when im not wearing a t-shirt

[sigrino]

@JeffreyGParker Hi I am having some discomfort in my right shoulder blade, rhomboideus muscel I think it is. I feel relief when I grab the top ofmy head with left hand and pull it down (my ear touches the left shoulder) and I raise my right shoulder up as if shruging.

But that relief is only for a second and discomfort continues. It is not enough pain to pursade me to se the doctor.

Could u please tell what I can do to fix it, exercice what muscle should I exercise.

Wud realy apriciate help