To be fair about this, it isn’t exactly week one. Its more like 2 weeks of actually trying off and on with distractions, plus a month or so of random research.
Results so far: There don’t seem to be any real concrete results yet, it is still very painful, and I expect this to be the case for some time.
However, some things have gotten better: Its become easier to put myself in a good posture (without looking in a mirror and trying to adjust is it). This is actually really important; because my posture is such a mess, and more so because of the balance between kyphosis AND the pelvic tilt, it has taken a lot of hours of standing in front of a mirror to get more used to knowing what actual good posture feels like. I have also realized that good posture itself is like a stretch, since those muscles are not used to being so elongated, and its quite difficult to achieve perfect posture.
So, to re-enforce something I’ve already said, one thing I’ve learned is that I really don’t want to try and force myself to be in some sort of “perfect posture” all the time. This is just impossible, it’s incredibly painful and takes and incredible amount of concentration, making it impossible to do anything else. Further, just holding this posture for a few minutes literatlly makes my body start to tingle and alters my conciousness. So, I’ve been doing two important things:
1. Holding a “perfect” posture for 2-3 minutes, in front of a mirror and with a timer, every day.
2. Adjusting my posture when I remember to, and trying to make a better posture, but not worrying if it isn’t exactly perfect; not trying to force myself to hold it all the time, and definitely not beating myself up for not standing up straighter/ more often/ all the time– it’s just a recipe for failure and giving up when you don’t succeed. Better to focus on one thing at a time and work in small steps.
In regards to the second part, I’ve been more concerned with correcting with correcting the pelvic tilt than correcting the kyphosis portion of the problem. That isn’t to say I don’t try to fix it at all, I try to keep my back generally straight, but I know that trying to do both perfectly all at once is all but impossible. Therefore I’ve chosen to focus mainly on one problem at a time, trying to get my pelvic tilt very correct, and making a smaller adjustment to the kyphotic upper back, with the confidence that at some point, I will be able to leverage the correct pelvic tilt and stronger core muscles towards correcting the upper back as well.
Some thing’s I’ve noted:
Sitting is a serious problem. I don’t really know what to do about this one, It’s way more difficult and painful to maintain the correct posture while sitting. I can’t write and do it at the same time. This is going to require more research and practice and time. For now, I’ve just been trying to sit less, and trying to have a generally better posture while taking breaks to rest my muscles and do stretches, as well as just trying to sit down less often in general.
One of the keys here is consistency, which is seriously hard to maintain, even for someone who doesn’t have a job. However, at this point I believe one of the most important goals for me is excercising the glutes and abs (or core muscles in general) in order for them to be in a better condition to support the spine and change the pelvic tilt, and that means working them and stretching every day. So, I have to continue improving on this, even with all the obstacles life throws in.
Just general confidence that this will work! breaking out of comfort zones is always, always very painful. These couple of weeks haven’t been easy or perfect, but I do feel like I am moving in the right direction and things are getting a little better, definitely easier than the first couple of days. It’s hard to want to keep going through all the pain, but I know in the end it will be worth it.
I’ll write more when I can, as always.
Alex
Beat Kyphosis 