Patients never come to me asking, how do I improve my posture naturally? They come to me for conditions like headaches, chest pain, fatigue, low back pain, anxiety, and others not realizing how their posture may play a role. Patients don’t know that I’m observing their head, neck, and shoulder position when they walk from the waiting room to my office as well as how they sit while giving me their history. Once I bring up how their posture effects headaches, chest pain, fatigue, low back pain, and anxiety then they ask, “How can I improve my posture naturally?” I’m honest with them; making significant postural improvements as an adult is difficult. Historically I recommended patients visit Youtube to learn exercises and how to improve posture. Learning exercises is nice but it’s not the same as having your mother tell you to sit up straight. Luckily we live in the 21st century and there are new technologies available like a wearable posture coaches. Posture coaches basically serve as a reminder to sit up straight at your work station as well as not to keep your head down while reading your phone (read text neck for more information). Two that look great and are affordable are the Lumo Lift Posture Coach and Activity Tracker and ALEX N5 Posture Coach.
The Lumo Lift is about $80 and you wear it on your clothing. It monitors your chest position and sends that information to your smart phone. As the name implies it’s also an activity tracker. The plus is that it can easily be added to your wardrobe without any noticing and it tracks your activity. The downside is that it does not track your head and neck position as well.
The ALEX N5 is a little more at about $92. Unlike the Lumo Lift it’s visible because you wear it on your neck. This allows for tracking of your actual head and neck. The plus is if you have symptoms related to headaches or neck and shoulder pain then it will give better data. It also vibrates when your posture is bad so you don’t have to rely on looking at your smart phone to see how you’re doing. The bad side is that it’s obvious that you’re wearing some type of device.
Which device works best for you depends on your posture and what you’re looking for. Taking time to improve your posture is worth the effort. I personally suffer more from text neck than anything so the ALEX N5 is on my wish list.
