3 Hip Fixes for Hunched Shoulders
Ever since work moved home, more and more new clients are coming in with forward shoulder and forward head. Most of our home offices weren’t set up to support long days seated in front of a computer.
Aside from adjustable chairs that offer lumbar support, there are a lot of conditions we took for granted at the office that our homes just don’t have:
Desks (and keyboards) at optimal height.
Room and task lighting.
Computer screens in line with your eyes.
Room for your knees
A coffee station with milk that’s not dependent on you supplying it.
While an ergonomic desk setup doesn’t guarantee good posture, a poor setup almost guarantees the opposite.
And believe it or not, a lot of it starts with the hips.
Illuminate me.
The position of your pelvis and your hips has a big effect your shoulders.
If your pelvis isn’t positioned well, your lumbar spine is likely going to sag back, losing it’s curve forward.
The spinal curves affect each other and if one moves, you can bet it’s going to show up somewhere else up or down the line. In this case, the upper thoracic and cervical (your neck and shoulders).
Here are the three most helpful things you can do for your hips to help keep your spine upright and your shoulders wide.
Try it…
Support your curves.
Your spine is supposed to have curves. Support them. When you’re sitting for a long time, put something behind your lumbar to encourage it to maintain its natural curve and not sag back into flexion.
You can use a pillow, but my favorite thing is an inflatable ball. You adjust it to just the right size so it’s not pushing your spine forward.
Make sure your feet are flat on the floor.
This allows your thigh bones to sit well in your hip sockets and not pull your pelvis forwards or push it back. Having your feet on the floor also takes some pressure out of your hips and low back and brings it into the feet.
Have your screen even with your eyes and a comfortable distance away.
If you’re constantly looking down or craning your neck forward to look at your screen your shoulders are going to follow.
Keeping your upper spine in good alignment can also take stress out of your lower spine and hips. (See how we circled back to the hips and spinal curves?)
And, as we’ve said before, try not to sit so much. Get up and walk around as much as you can. Your hips will thank you. Your shoulders will too.
Try it and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.