Kyphosis - Posture Help


Hello every one, like the title says, i believe i have some problems with my posture and upper back. I have been to a physio a couple of months ago for my elbow tendonitis and the moment she looked at me, the first thing she told me that i’ve got upper back/ posture problems.

I wasn’t fussed too much in the beginning but recently the issue has been bothering me a lot. When i stay up, i constantly feel like my shoulders are rounding inwards, as well as my arms turning too, as if trying to collapse my chest. I’ve read quite a bit about Eric Cressey & Mike Robertson on here and their posture related articles. My chest has always been more stronger than my back and because of that reason i always try to do at least twice the volume for back, than i do for chest. Face pulls, band pull aparts, deadlift, Pull ups, inverted/ DB/ BB rows have always been in my program as well as wall slides, scap push ups and Dan John’s batwings but it still feels like i can’t solve the problem and makes me feel like terribly huncback, along with a not so good look from the back side.

I’ll also attach some pics so you guys might see what does it look like from the back. The first pic is when i stand still and natural and the second one is when i really try to retract my scapula.

Would really appreciate any sort of help or advice, Thank you very much!


2 nd pic, retracted

I’m not sure if you are just looking down in your pictures, but if your head is in that position all the time, you also need to focus on cervical retraction (flattening your spine in the neck area) as well. Flattening out your cervical curve will also help with your thoracic curve. It also seems like your lumbar spine is a little arched and you have anterior pelvic tilt. Basically, your spine needs to be straighter throughout.

Didn’t know these, will definitely look them up, thanks a lot for the input!

This stuff take years to correct.

My posture went from total crap to good in 5 years. Besides training your back (which gives limited results) you have to do corrective exercise everyday.

What has ameliorated my posture the most is doing 20-25min of yoga posture everyday. Take yoga classes, learn the posture then from there eventually do them at home everyday.

With this posture you are always going to have your head tilted down and your pelvis tilted forward. This creates a lumbar lordosis which means a lifetime of neck and lower back pain.

You mentioned Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson. Well from now on you only follow their programs. Nothing else. They know more about corrective exercise then anyone I can think of.

To correct postural problems you actually have to do it. Not just exercises but you have to have a good posture throughout the day. The best way to do this is push your chest out. Some people say pull your shoulders back but IMO that is a mistake. Pull your shoulders back and see how long you can hold it for. I’m guessing a few minutes and you will feel like crap.

Just push your chest out. This will lift your chin as well which will raise your head. Once you do this you will take stress off your lumbar and now your body can enjoy some normality. It wont feel like it to you but if you try and do it everyday eventually this will feel normal.

train upward rotation as well as just external rotation. I made the mistake of concentrating on external rotation and neglecting upward rotation for years and once I added in the upward rotation stuff I made more progress in a week than I had in the years previous. Seriously, it was like magic.

Do some prone trap raises.

Trying to push my chest out for the last 24 hours now, looks like it’s going to make a big difference and yes will add prone traps, thanks every one for the help!