What's Your Posture Telling You?

Posture

By Melissa Williams

Experts, including physical therapists, yoga teachers, Pilates instructors and personal trainers can often see imbalances, tightness and injury just by the way you stand.

Outerhips heavy? You might have flat or weak feet. Experts say that when you collapse into your feet you’ll often appear “heavy” in the hips. Rotating to the inside of the foot also creates a tilt of the pelvis which can look like a pooch. Try strengthening your arches by wrapping your toes around a rolled up towel and trying to drag the towel toward you.
Belly pooch. A belly pooch can be caused by tight hamstrings and also tight back muscles. If your back body is being pulled on, the front body can’t lengthen.
Droopy butt. I often call this the “mom” butt. Not to offend moms but often it happens after children. We carry weight in our front for much of our pregnancy and then continue this with holding our children, often with bad posture. This creates an external rotation at our hips, leading to a flat butt. Work a lift in your butt by working your internal thigh muscles (your adductors) and also by strengthening your back.
Duck feet. Duck feet are often the sign that you have tight hips. Tight hips cause external rotation and can lead to a host of injuries in anything further down, i.e. your knees, ankles and feet. Try working your inner thigh muscles to increase strength and try to soothe tight outer hip muscles by rolling on a foam roller.