Q. My 15 year old has taken a real stretch in height recently, but his posture is dreadful: he walks with his head poking forward and sloping shoulders. How can we help him? D.G., Rathcoffey
Children grow in spurts from pre-puberty through adolescence. In growth spurts, the skeletal system or bones grow first, causing muscles to undergo stretching until they catch up the growth curve. This causes ongoing adaptations within the musculoskeletal system, which will not fully mature until early 20’s.
Posture thus varies throughout the growth phase, and in fact throughout all of life, being not ‘set in stone’. In fact, one of my favourite quotes is that ‘posture is an ongoing dialogue between mind and body’.
Though the concept of an ‘ideal’ posture has been extensively scientifically researched for some 60 years, the reality is that very few human beings confirm to anatomical ideal. In less than ideal posture, groups of common muscles faults can be identified to categorise different postural types. Corrective action for one postural fault type will not suit another. Thus, in reality, it is difficult to suggest corrective exercises without a detailed physical examination of your son. Then a specific individual exercise programme can be taught to alter his posture for the better.
However, the poking head and sloping shoulders you describe is suggestive of weakness of some important postural muscles around the shoulder blades and within the neck region. This is common in school goers, as they spend a major part of each day sitting hunched over a desk, dropping the head to read and write. This posture could also include weakness in the lower back and deep abdominal muscles, or even extra tight hamstring and calf muscles.
In spite of not having addressed him, let me give you a quick tip that I use almost daily for speedy posture improvement. I call it ‘chest up’. Try standing and sitting with the breast bone raided to an angle of 15 degrees off the vertical rather than pointing straight down to the floor. This simple tip will improve both the position of the head and shoulders and will help to turn on a better muscle pattern. Get him to have a go! |
