A lot of therapists I follow on YouTube talk about the importance of proper breathing mechanics. What confuses me is the notion that exhalation is supposed to engage the "side abs". My abs don't activate on the exhale at all as far as I can tell. But rather on the inhale. If I exhale slowly and fully I feel my chest sinking closer to the spine while feeling pressure on the chest. Like there is an actual weight on my chest.

I don't get that feeling with normal breathing, be it in or out. But I'm wondering.. Just how messed up are my breathing mechanics? If I put my fingers between pelvis and ribs where side abs are and slowly exhale as hard as I can they just stay soft. I can't tell they're being used at all.

As a person suffering from neck/collar/upper back tightness due to forward head and sitting in front of the PC all day, I've found that the following give me a lot of temporary relief:

1. Wonder Woman cross-arm pose, with elbows pulled toward chest and shoulders back
2. Hands behind head with fingers interlocked, and pulling elbows/shoulders back
3. Holding one arm up and bending my back/spine to the side the opposite way, toward the floor
4. Making an L-shape with my arms and pulling my shoulders back

Based on all of that, does anyone have an idea of what exact muscles are problematic?

Can anyone recommend a device that can track my posture/ alert me when it's bad ? When I work, I completely forget to correct my posture.

I know it's a weird/stupid question, but since my posture imbalance started, I also have unexplained teeth pain with neck pain, headaches ect

I wear a claw clip like every single day (sahm don’t have a reason to do my hair & having a baby makes it hard to leave my hair down they are always pulling it) and I think it’s starting to give me back problems and messing with my posture. I know it sounds crazy but like I feel like I’m constantly hunching my back/neck when I wear it and always keep my head tilted down. When I take it out I feel like I can finally extend my neck and stand straight all the way. Am I crazy? Has this happened to anyone else??

7 months ago I got totally fed up with how terrible I looked and felt. I was 6 weeks postpartum with my second baby and I had a laundry list of physical problems both aesthetically and functionally, with my buffalo hump being one of them. I started working out 5x a week doing a combination of mat Pilates and calisthenics, eating better, and living a fairly active lifestyle. I’ve lost 20 lbs, went from 138 to 118, and all my physical ailments have been completely resolved except for this god forsaken hump on my neck. WTF am I doing wrong?

I've been dealing with tightness around my suboccipital muscles and a feeling of nerve tension in that area, likely due to my forward head posture. This has been ongoing for over two years.

Once, feeling really frustrated and annoyed by the pain, I lay on my bed without a pillow, with my head flat on the mattress. Despite the discomfort, I stayed in that position for 30–40 minutes, pressing the back of my head gently against the bed and just resting there. When I finally stood up, the pain had almost gone, it felt like heaven, and the tightness was nearly gone. Unfortunately, though, this only worked effectively that one time and hasn't provided the same relief since.

Does anyone know what might have happened here and why it only worked once? The stretch felt really effective, but I’ve never been able to recreate that relief again, no idea why.

Hi, I’m 22 years old and seemed to have developed functional scoliosis from working a job at an angle for 2.5 years. I appear to have Left Hip Hike, right facing pelvis. Right shoulder hike , left facing rib cage. I seem to get new symptoms every 2 weeks. Groin pains, Si pain, chest pains, Thoracic outlet syndrome, etc. Desperate to fix/ stop new symptoms and get back to normal. I know some advanced people browse here. If you offer 1-on-1 coaching and know how to reverse/fix me, please message me. Thank you!!

And also helps with glute activation?

I have been doing it for a couple months now but just want to hear from others if they've had success stories and after how many sessions / weeks did they notice an improvement?

https://surveyswap.io/surveys/19bf8b9e-ef76-484a-9521-de0ace043748/take-a-survey

Hi Reddit! I’m a grad student working on a project that could help relieve back pain beyond just correcting posture (spoiler alert: posture is only a small part of the problem). If you find yourself wondering why you're always achy or why your back sounds like popcorn when you stand up, I’d love to chat. I'm not selling anything here, I just want to learn more.

It’s a quick 15-minute call to hear about your experiences with back pain or bad posture! If interested, grab a spot on my Calendly here. Bonus points if you’ve tried some wild fixes – I’m here for the stories, too!

So I am dealing with upper and middle to lower back pain because I'm on the computer a lot, mainly for school and then in the afternoon at home gaming or watching YouTube depending on the day.

It's distracting at times and mostly it's been happening at home in the evening when I'm at home at my desk.

I'm tired of it and I'm having a hard time reminding myself about my posture and avoiding slouching.

Any suggestions on how to stop the pain and keep it away or to more easily correct my posture?

(I apologize if this is poorly written at all. I'm kinda tired right now and I'm writing this before I forget.)