Posture is framed as sub-optimal, optimal or perfect. Pain resulting from posture is framed as an outcome of bad posture. But one person’s bad posture can seem perfectly tolerable to someone else. Another person’s good posture can be painful for some. So what’s happening ? 

** Tolerance for an adaptation and different positions. **

You adapt to all activity. Even inactivity. And that’s both a problem. And the solution. 

Every person has a unique capacity to tolerate different positions for varying amounts of time and intensity. Some people are natural at the bottom of a squat. Others topple even as they attempt a squat. Others can be seated in the least ‘ergonomic’ positions for hours. There are those who need a specific chair and a table at the exact right height for them. The range of what works is baffling. 

This is a function of how your tendons, ligaments, joints and muscles respond and behave when put in certain positions for varying durations. 

Takeaway 

Perfect posture is a myth. The most simplistic idea planted by the medical and wellness community in people’s minds is the idea that there is one position that you can assume that will leave you able to sit for hours and work productively without pain or discomfort. 

1. Exercise and training can improve tolerance for positions. Having strong bones and ample amounts of muscle can help you tolerate positions for longer. Even if your natural tolerance wasn’t great to begin with. Prioritising stability and mobility in your training helps. Explore isometrics, eccentrics and use a variety of exercises to get the job done. 

2. Mix things up a fair bit. Don’t be stuck in any position for too much time. It could be sitting, standing, squatting or crouched over. Every position held long enough forces adaptations. And every adaptation has a price you pay in the form of stiffness and/or laxity in muscles, joints and soft tissue. 

3. Genetics plays a role. Things like the integrity and thickness of your joints, muscle bellies, muscle insertions are factors too. Since you can do nothing about this, your best bet is to read points 1 and 2 and act on it.