What muscles affect your posture?
Short answer: most of them.
Long Answer: well… let’s dive head first.
First off, there are estimated to be over 650 named skeletal muscles in the body. That is a lot! Obviously, we are not going over all of them. HOWEVER, every single one of these muscles play a role in your ability to function and move.
We are going to focus on the major muscles. The muscles which affect how all other muscles do their job. Let’s start in the neck.
Neck Muscles & Posture
There are over 40 muscles in the neck alone. These muscles move and stabilize the head, shoulders, and upper part of the spine. All are contributors to your posture. Four notable muscles are the left and right sternocleidomastoids and left and right trapezius (“traps”).
The Sternocleidomastoid. (Blue)
The sternocleidomastoids’ primary functions are to bring the chin down towards your chest, up away from your chest, bend your neck side to side, and rotate your head side to side.
The inability to perform these movements due to tightness, can be extremely detrimental to your posture but also your quality of life.
When the sternocleidomastoid muscles do not work properly, you may experience pain on the sides of the neck, nape of the neck, and/or clavicles.
How do we decrease pain and improve mobility of the sternocleidomastoids?
The sternocleidomastoid muscles typically need to be put in a position of success more than exercised. Pay attention to how you position your head. Is it turning to look at a screen all the time? Are you leaning your head forward all the time?
There is nothing wrong with moving and being in different postions, but staying in that same position for hours every day can become an issue.
An easy cue is to bring your head up from the chin, and move your head back by the nape as pictured.
The Trapezius.
The trapezius muscles tilt your head up and move your shoulder blades in all directions.
When the trapezius muscles do not work properly, you may experience pain in the nape of the neck, the area between your neck and shoulder, and between your shoulder blades. The traps are typically broken down into upper, mid, and lower traps. The upper traps are typically painful or tight due to positioning of the head while the mid and lower traps are tight due to a lack of use and the over use of opposite muscles.
How do we decrease pain and improve mobility of the upper trapezius muscles?
The upper traps primarily tilt our head towards the sky. At the nape of the neck, painful traps present as tight & short while the rest of the neck is tight & long.
When correcting this posture, lift your head up from the nape of the neck and back. This will lengthen at the nape and shorten closer to the shoulders as pictured.
In our next area of focus, we will direct our attention to the mid and lower traps.
For further information feel free to reach out at (802)765-0234!
