While you likely know David "DB" Andry from the credits page of Vault's successful and scary series RESONANT, you may have also seen some sage advice from him in the past, on how creators can avoid injury.
Recently, Andry posted another Twitter thread on good posture, and he was kind enough to allow us to host that advice here more permanently.
If you'd like to thank him, pre-order Volume 2 of Resonant (in stores Nov. 30th, 2021) the next time you're at your LCS!
Without further ado, here's his thread, all in one place:
Thread about posture. What is good posture? I think of it as being as tall as you can. Bringing the crown of your head up to the ceiling usually brings everything into the right position, chin back, shoulders back, the 3 curves of your spine in place. What I usually see:
Rounded forward shoulders, forward head, hunched upper back. Working at a computer, art board, you are constantly reaching forward and your body adapts to this position. Sitting up straight feels wrong, because it's no longer your body's "normal." You can't hold a good position.
The tissue in front of your shoulders and chest is tight and the muscles between your shoulder blades are too weak to pull back against this tightness. Because [of] this angle of your upper back, your head is tilted up to look straight ahead, causing tightness close to your skull, and weakness in the front of your neck. This leads to a whole mess of problems from neck and shoulder pain, "pinched nerves," rotator cuff impingement, etc.
So what can we do? First, [take] micro-breaks to frequently change body position. Stand and stretch every 30 minutes, minimum.
Next, specific posture exercises. I really like doorway or corner stretch, arms up and step in, stretching chest and shoulders, hold 30 seconds. A row-type exercise to strengthen your upper back. The concept for the upper back/chest is to stretch the front and strengthen the back. For the neck, it's the opposite, stretch the back and strengthen the front. I like to do this with a chin tuck. Lean against a wall, look down as far as you can, keeping the back of your head touching the wall. You can do this lying down, too. Foam rollers can be great for stretching. See a professional before you start an exercise. It takes time to 'fix' posture. It didn't get bad overnight – it takes consistency and work to fix. But if we fix posture, many problems go away or never start in the first place.
Now, sit up straight and get back to work!