BLUF: Studies show that just as there is no single ideal posture for everyone, there is no clear link between posture and pain. The focus should shift from maintaining an ‘ideal posture’ to promoting regular movement, health and fitness.
OSINT: The first day of physiotherapy school begins with a deep observation of one’s own body and those of fellow students. The emphasis is on posture, which is asserted as the crucial element of good health. Yet two decades ago, a young student, Peter O’Sullivan, questioned this approach. He sought out evidence to validate the assertion that ‘bad posture’ leads to back pain, but came up empty-handed.
Despite his personal experiences with chronic back pain – and the improvement he experienced once he stopped forcing a straight posture – O’Sullivan didn’t take his own experience as scientific evidence. Instead, he embarked on a quest to research posture formally with a team of researchers.
Surprisingly, no hard evidence was found linking posture to either back pain or overall health. Similarly, there was no association between sitting posture and back pain. O’Sullivan’s findings were startlingly disruptive to the common wisdom, irking some while garnering support from noteworthy figures in pain science.
They found that while each person’s spinal curve is as unique as their genetic makeup, individual deviations from what is conventionally considered ‘ideal posture’ do not