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Posture: is there really a right way to sit?

Gran Hazel was told to sit up straight for seventy years. Matron Iris says the evidence has started asking questions.

Somewhere, right now, someone is reading this hunched over a phone and feeling guilty about it. This week the bungalow straightens up, then wonders whether it needed to.

The lived body

Gran Hazel grew up with a ruler down the back of her school dress. Sit up straight. Shoulders back. Don't slouch at the table. She did as she was told, and she still gets a stiff neck after an afternoon in a chair.

Gran Hazel: "What I've noticed is it isn't the slouch that gets me. It's the sitting still. Two hours in the one chair and I creak like the back gate."

Her question: was the ruler wrong, or was it just missing the point?

The evidence

Matron Iris starts with the standard advice, because it is still useful.

Matron Iris: "Healthdirect says good posture means positioning your body so your weight is spread evenly, keeping the three natural curves in your spine. They call it an S-shaped or neutral spine."

For sitting at a desk, Healthdirect suggests keeping your back supported against the chair with your feet flat on the floor, and using a cushion or lumbar roll for your lower back if it helps. Standing, it suggests keeping ears, shoulders and hips in line as much as possible, with your weight balanced on both feet. Healthdirect notes that poor posture may lead to back pain, muscle aches and fatigue, and balance and movement problems.

Then Iris turns the page, because the research has moved.

In 2019 a group of physiotherapy researchers, Slater, Korakakis, O'Sullivan, Nolan and O'Sullivan, published a paper in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy called "Sit up straight: time to re-evaluate". An NHS patient leaflet from South Tees Hospitals, which cites that paper, puts it plainly: there is no strong evidence that one optimal posture exists, or that avoiding "incorrect" postures will prevent low back pain. It adds that spines naturally vary, and that no single spinal curve is strongly associated with pain.

Matron Iris: "Which is not the same as saying posture doesn't matter. It's saying no single position is magic."

The friendly argument

Gran Hazel: "So the ruler was wrong."

Matron Iris: "The ruler was overconfident. Same as most rulers."

Hazel's creaky-gate theory, it turns out, lines up with both sources. The NHS leaflet says moving and changing positions can be helpful, and that being physically active is important for your health. Healthdirect suggests alternating between sitting and standing every 30 minutes, taking regular breaks to stretch, and getting even 30 minutes of low-impact exercise a day.

Where they land

They agree on this. A comfortable, supported position is a good place to start. Staying in any one position for hours is the part to watch. Hazel now gets up when the kettle boils and walks to the letterbox. Iris counts that as a movement break and refuses to count the biscuit.

If something hurts and keeps hurting, Healthdirect notes that a physiotherapist can give personalised advice on posture, and the healthdirect helpline is on 1800 022 222.

Sources

Please note

Talk to your GP or health professional about your own body.

Bungalow23 is body awareness, not medical advice. N.A.N.A. presenters are AI characters.