Does anyone else experience this: when in your normal slouched posture and completely relaxed, breathing feels okay. Then when I try to sit up straight and tense too much, something under my lower ribs starts feeling really restricted and I can't breathe deeply anymore and start feeling bad. It only resolves after a couple of hours of lying down until my ribs get into a good position again and my diaphragm relaxes.

My issue is not so much only the posture (I have forward head posture, I'm on my phone too much, and also snapping scapula on the left shoulder) but that I have a bunch of other symptoms like dizziness (possibly cervicogenic) that my doctors and I can't quite figure out if it's coming from muscles, spine, nerves, brain, blood vessels or what, but definitely something in the neck, upper back and head area isn't quite right and I'll have to do a bunch of testing. So posting here to see if anyone else dealt with this, and to get a sense of what is normal and not normal.

Hi there, I have a bad posture and I'm on a journey to get back into good posture forever again.
Today, I tried the happy baby pose once again and I realized that my hip flexors hurt a lotwhen I pull the knees to the chest like in the picture
I have anterior pelvic tilt and I try to stretch the Psoas twide a day
I'm extremely tense and was wondering if it's normal that it hurts in this position
Second picture is my posture at the moment

Hey, can you tell me how does my posture look? I can see, there is something wrong with my right scapula. I wonder what is it. I would appreciate any answers.

Only in the last few months have I noticed I have scapula winging and scoliosis, but I have friends with the exact same and none of them have as much pain as me. Past month I've had a trapped nerve radiating from my right rear delt to my thumb, it feels like a knot that refuses to budge no matter how much stretching, foam rolling or massage with a lacrosse ball I do. As you can see I have bruises on my back from massaging so much, I'm that desperate for relief. This is despite being on 600mg of pregabalin a day too, it's really getting to me. Have constant neck / upper back tension. Still waiting on my x ray appointment to get the scoliosis measured.

I feel as though my traps are sort of tense + I can't breathe as deeply if I was slouched which is odd. I usually slouch forward.

Yesterday I posted my posture and this was my posture 6 years ago I’ll will be getting one in January hopefully

My scapulas are not as winged as the left display on the fist photo but still, they are never "straight" and make my shoulders look a little rounded. I can only get a good straight posture for my shoulders (like in the second image) when I activate my lats and really pull my scapulas in. Almost like a bodybuilding pose.

I already go to the gym and my posture sure has improved but I still don't have that perfect straight posture the way I wanted. My back has become stronger but the problem is still there. The exercises I do for my back are the basic ones: Pull downs and the T bar row.

I have a unique imbalance in my shoulder and i feel pain in my left shoulder while doing lat pull downs. on pull day i feel my left back gets involved too much and i am losing fat as well.

Suggest me good exercises as i work on a deskjob for 7-8 hours.

This is my stance how does it look it?

Hi,

Whenever I do a chin tuck, I get pain around my left TMJ joint, close to my ear. If I relax and don’t do chin tucks, I don’t have any pain at all.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Did you find anything that helped？ thankyou.

Looking for advice on fixing scapular winging and shoulder posture. I do a lot of desk work and production shifts. Any specific stretches, strengthening exercises, or corrections recommended?

So I’m an artist who has struggled with my posture my entire life and I’m on a journey to fix it, today is day 3.
I struggle a lot with bending down to the table to draw and today I sat down to draw but I’m actively working on fixing it so I elevated my work space with a lap table
And still I find myself bending down towards the table in order to draw
I do this when I write and when I draw, always have done it since I was a kid and I don’t know how to correct it
Any advice on how to fix this issue would be much appreciated

I can't tell if this might be structural or muscle imbalances. First photo is relaxed. Second one is attempting to stand straight.

Are there any free apps that can analyze exercise posture and tell me if I'm in the right shape while doing a specific exercise?

Even though I have a mirror in front of me, I feed my single leg squat are in different posture for both my legs.

Hi everyone
I am 18 years old. I have spent a lot of time sitting at a desk since I was 12. I took these photos to check my posture.
I think I have Anterior Pelvic Tilt (APT) and text neck. When I stand naturally against a wall, I can easily slide my whole forearm behind my lower back. Also, the back of my head does not touch the wall naturally.
If I squeeze my abs and butt muscles, I can force my lower back to go completely flat against the wall. When I do this, I feel a very satisfying release/cracking feeling in my lower spine. I want to fix this tilt because it makes my stomach push out and compresses my height. Im 5’7 wanna be 5’8 or 5’7.75

I’ve spent years sitting at a computer desk. My only hobby is cycling. So again. Sat, shortening everything. I’m currently going through a bad back spell with the lower right side locked up in tightness. And I’m wondering if it could all be linked. My hip flexors are shockingly bad. And my hamstrings, well, this is how far I can go trying to touch my toes. It feels like the tension in them is about to snap like a rubber band when I bend down.

Also think hips are twisted forward too much.

Am I past the point of no return? Early 30’s.

Has anyone ever seen this kind of rib structure where my right rib is bent inwards and what can I do about it ?!??!

Hi everyone, I’m posting here because I am at my wit's end and really hoping someone has gone through this exact pattern and successfully come out the other side.

For the last 1.5 years, my entire kinetic chain has been locked up in a state of chronic guarding. It feels like my body has built an "exoskeleton" of tension. Stretching just seems to make it angry, and the tightness is continuous from top to bottom.

Here is exactly what I am dealing with:

Neck/Head: Right SCM (side of neck) is constantly tight. Now, the tension is radiating upward and causing chronic tension headaches at the base of my skull and forehead.

Upper Back: Heavy, crushing tightness across both Upper Traps, my Levator Scapulae, and Splenius.

The Junction: The area where my neck joins my shoulders/traps is incredibly stiff, tight, and clicks constantly.

Shoulders: My shoulder clicks/pops when moving (scapular tracking issues).

Mid/Lower Back: The tightness runs all the way down my lats and mid-back into a completely stiff lower back.

Hips: My glutes are chronically tight alongside the lower back.

What I’ve tried (and failed): I have consulted physiotherapists multiple times. Every time, they default to passive therapies. I have done dry needling, cupping, electrotherapy (TENS/electrical stimulation), and multiple other machines.

None of it holds. I get a few hours of relief, and then my nervous system panics and locks everything right back up.

Has anyone actually experienced this full-spine lockdown? What was your breakthrough? I know passive machines aren't going to fix this, but I don't know where to start to get my nervous system to let go. Any guidance, routines, or shared experiences would be hugely appreciated.

TL;DR: For 1.5 years, my entire kinetic chain (from neck to glutes) has been locked in chronic tension, causing shoulder clicking, a stiff lower back, and now radiating tension headaches. I've tried multiple passive physio therapies (needling, cupping, electro-stim) but nothing provides lasting relief. Has anyone successfully beaten this full-body lockdown?

P.S. I used AI to help me write and structure this post so I could explain my symptoms and the exact anatomical locations clearly.

I have forward head posture, maybe kyphosis (waiting for the X ray), left shoulder problems - snapping scapula and pain, and dizziness that's possibly cervicogenic. I already built a decent exercise routine (strength training, stretching, yoga, cardio) and I started PT, but I realized all the exercise is probably not helping enough when my posture is terrible the rest of the day. I literally never sat up straight, I was just slouching all day on my phone, during work, during hobbies, chores, while relaxing etc, probably for the last 20 years (I'm 40 now).

I decided to work on my posture now, and consciously sit up straight for most of my day. I bought a phone holder to bring it to eye level, which has been a game changer. It's been a couple of days now, and it is definitely helping my shoulder for example, but I have a lot more pain now in other parts that were underworked - lower back, some parts of upper back and neck, a bit of headache etc. Should I just persevere at what I'm doing, will this go away? Or am I trying too hard to hold a straight pose? Sometimes it's hard for me to tell a difference.

Basically what the title says, my back is just very rounded. I’m trying to figure out what are the best exercises and muscles to work to help reduce this. My back has been like this for a while so any help is greatly appreciated.

I've noticed that my body seems pretty asymmetrical, and I'm trying to figure out what's causing it and how to correct it.

My left shoulder sits higher than my right, and my pelvis seems to rotate toward the right. The entire right side of my body also looks lower, more rounded, and less defined compared to my left.

I notice this imbalance when working out too. Whether I'm doing squats, chest presses, or other exercises, I tend to feel my left side doing most of the work, even when I consciously try to engage my right side.

My left side also looks noticeably more developed, despite me being right handed. I've also noticed that my left shoulder has more rotational range of motion than my right, which feels more restricted.

I notice a similar asymmetry in my face as well. My jaw seems to shift toward the right, and the left side of my face looks more developed and defined, while the right side appears less developed and slightly droopier. I suspect my posture and overall body alignment might be contributing to this, but I'm not sure if they're actually connected.

I'd appreciate any advice on what might be happening, what I should look into, or where to start. I'm also open to seeing a physical therapist if that's the best approach.

Heyo people

For context, I am 28F, 115lb, and have mild scoliosis so my lower back kinda aches during periods of extended standing (like being at concerts or conventions).

I go to the gym for like 1-1.5 hours total a week to do squats and hip thrusts, and I'm anywhere from 1x to 1.5x times my body weight on each, respectively. My worry is that these two exercises probably don't do anything good for my scoliosis, and that I should try to find substitutes that hit booty without worsening my condition.

I also sit at a desk for nine hours a day for work.
Generally, I could stand to do some more exercise throughout the week outside of my booty workouts (like cardio and more strength training of the arm and back) seeing as I'm nearing 30 years old. Kind of fell off with exercise recently just because I was having an incredibly shitty year.

Side-note: do you guys have any suggestions on how to get rid of under chin fat? I seem to only be getting a small layer of fat underneath my chin and belly sadly :(

Sorry for the shitty photos. Hopefully it's apparent that my tummy sticks a little forward and I also don't have great posture with my neck, like letting my head hang forward. Let me know what you guys think.