Not a lot. One review, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Pain, collected results from six studies that assessed posture-correcting shirts. The researchers found evidence that suggests that posture-correcting shirts do change a person’s posture, and might help alleviate pain and discomfort, and even increase energy levels and productivity. But there were some big problems with the studies, says J.P. Caneiro, a physiotherapist and research fellow at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, and one of the review’s authors.
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For one thing, the six studies could not adequately assess how well posture correctors alleviated pain because they used participants who were not in pain. “That’s a major flaw in itself,” Canerio says, “because if you’re trying to push something that will correct your posture and will give you pain relief and improve your function, you should be including people that have those problems in the first place to make sure that you’re creating a change.”
In general, the scientists determined that the quality of the research on posture-correcting shirts was generally low, which makes the conclusions of those studies a bit shaky. The takeaway? There’s not currently good quality evidence to support recommending posture- correcting shirts, Caniero says, “especially as a management strategy for musculoskeletal pain.”
The evidence is thin when it comes to electronic devices, too.
Upright, which makes the wearable Upright Go, cites just one peer-reviewed study showing a benefit from its device. That study, published in in Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback, included 26 college students, 13 of whom chose to try out the Upright device and 13 of whom didn’t. Those that used it reported feeling more energy and less fatigue. But the study, which was in a small group of young people, didn’t assess pain or employ any objective measurements of posture. (Upright did not respond to a request for a comment.)
Several experts I spoke with noted that a lack of evidence doesn’t mean these devices are proven to be useless for everyone—just that scientists haven’t yet been able to show they’re helpful for many people.
Still, some individuals might benefit. You might find, for example, that a posture brace or a wearable provides a helpful reminder to try and keep your spine in a neutral position while you’re working at your desk, says Mayur Jivanjee, a musculoskeletal and vestibular physiotherapist based in Melbourne, Australia.
This is an important question behind some of the promise of posture correctors, and the answer is that no one knows for sure.
“I don’t think we have good evidence about bad posture leading to chronic back pain,” Wai says. He co-authored a study in The Spine Journal that reviewed existing studies on workers who must adopt awkward postures at work (an example: sewer cleaners in Denmark who had to hunch over to work in narrow sewer tunnels). The researchers found little evidence to back up the idea that awkward postures cause back pain.
But other analyses—also synthesizing existing studies—have found the opposite. For example, a analysis in the American Journal of Public Health did find that people whose work required nonneutral back postures (along with other types of exertion, like lifting) were more likely to experience low back pain.
In , researchers writing in the Journal of Biomechanics attempted to pull together the results from multiple analyses of the evidence on posture and physical exertion. The takeaway? The conflicting findings mean that, currently, there’s no consensus about the extent to which postures and other physical factors (sitting, standing, lifting, bending, twisting, and more) contribute to the development of back pain.
Back pain itself is complicated and not fully understood, notes Dino Samartzis, DSc, an associate professor in the department of orthopedic surgery at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He points out that recent evidence shows factors like genetics, demographics, socioeconomics, and even the microbiome can also potentially influence a person’s risk of developing a pain problem.
Not necessarily. The underlying assumption of posture-correcting devices—the idea that there might be one “correct” posture that everyone should seek to achieve—may not be so clear-cut.
For some providers, like Jivanjee, the dichotomy between good and bad posture isn’t particularly useful. He recommends different postures or movements to different people, “based on their work pattern, their body dimensions, and their injury history,” he says.
Several of the experts I spoke with emphasized this same point: that the right posture for you might not look like what it looks like for someone else, or like what you think of as “good” posture generally. OHSU’s Beadnell explains that yes, some people who experience back pain might benefit from adopting less of a slouched posture when sitting at their desk, for example.
On the other hand, some folks might be better off relaxing a bit. “There are people that sit really upright or have what we would think of as really good posture. And usually these are people that were either in the military or had dance training, like ballet especially, or gymnastics, when they really overcorrect their posture,” he says. “And for them being in a more slouched position is actually a much better position.”
There’s one other potential benefit to adopting a more upright posture, according to some research, and it has to do with your mood. There’s clear evidence, for example, that more slumped or stooped postures can indicate a poor mood, and can even be used to help diagnose depression. Some research suggests that the relationship may also run in the opposite direction—that adopting more upright postures might actually help improve mood.
Chilling out about having perfect posture doesn’t mean tossing out all the principles of, for instance, sitting well at work. I checked in with Paul Ritchey, DrPH, one of Consumer Reports’ in-house ergonomics experts, for clarity. He agreed that there’s likely no one perfect posture for everyone. But there are still things you can do to help avoid soreness, strain, and discomfort in your back when you’re working.
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Make your workspace more ergonomic. Ritchey suggests setting up your workspace to ensure you can keep your back—and your other joints as well—in neutral positions, or rather, neutral zones (since, again, there’s no exact position that means you’ve achieved a perfect posture).
The advantage of allowing your back to assume its natural S-shaped curve is that this puts the least stress on your joints, intervertebral discs (the soft, flexible material in between your spinal bones), and muscles, and helps you avoid fatigue. This isn’t the same as simple advice to “sit up straight.” For example, ergonomists usually recommend using a quality office chair that’s adjusted for your body and sitting with a slight recline to help support your back in a neutral posture, rather than relying on your trunk muscles alone.
Pay attention to your comfort. Ritchey recommends trying to be mindful of how your body is feeling, whatever position you’re in. “In the office and in your daily life, like when using a smartphone, it’s easy to shrug off a nagging discomfort,” he says. But it’s best not to ignore those little aches or pains, and instead try and find a way to make yourself feel more comfortable.
Don’t stay in one position all day. All the experts I spoke with emphasized that more important than hitting one proper posture is making sure you move around frequently and change things up throughout the day.
Moving around helps nourish your body. It gets your blood flowing, sending nutrients to your muscles and the discs of your spine, Ritchey says. A key tenet of ergonomics is that whatever position you’ve set yourself up to work in, you should try to get up, stretch, and move around, even for a minute or two, multiple times throughout the day—ideally every 30 minutes.
This can also help if you’re experiencing pain that you’re worried about aggravating, says Caneiro. “There is evidence that people with persistent pain are more rigid and moving less,” he says, but freezing up and making yourself more rigid can be counterproductive. “There is evidence that taking that approach of relaxed movement actually provides people with reduction in pain and improvement in function.”
Know when to call in a professional. If you’re experiencing chronic pain, it’s best to visit a provider who can help you figure out what might be causing your pain and what you can do to address it. The solution is likely going to be more nuanced than the oversimplified promise of a posture-correcting device, Beadnell says.
Exercise regularly. The muscles of your core and trunk help support your back, so it’s important to keep them in good condition. Although you might think that means you need to do crunches every day, there’s actually a wide variety of exercises that will help, says Wai. “Almost any form of upright exercise will also work at strengthening the core as well.”
A year into the pandemic, our collective posture is at its worst. “The constraints of our world now are practically set up for slouching,” says orthopedic specialist Christina Rodriguez, PT, DPT, OCS, cert. MDT. “We’re stuck at home, everything’s done on the computer, and things like the gym, or even a walk to the water cooler, are no longer available to us.”
Add to that: Our bodies are inherently lazy. “Your body will find the path of least resistance, which ends up being that rounded shoulder, hunched back, head drifted forward look,” Rodriguez says. On top of that, bad posture can also hurt. It can cause pain in the neck, upper back, shoulders, and lower back, and, because your body is out of alignment, it can even lead to injury.
If this sounds familiar, you may want to consider a posture corrector. These devices come in a variety of different forms. Some look like a harness, fitting over your shoulders or across your lower back. Others are shirts with special panels designed to help you to remember to activate certain muscle groups. Still others come with pads that stick on your back and use vibrations or other cues (like a alarm) to remind you to sit up straight. Some even combine these methods.
What all posture correctors have in common is that they are designed to address muscle imbalances that arise when we spend long periods of time in unhealthy, fixed positions. While the muscles in the front of the chest (pectorals) have a tendency to become tight, the muscles in the upper back, including the middle trap and rhomboids, are likely to become overstretched. Correctors can help activate the muscles that haven’t been worked enough and give them a guide for where they need to be.
“This is called proprioception, where the body gets sensory feedback in order to feel where it’s supposed to be in space,” says Rodriguez. Proprioception is what helps you to maneuver freely without having to stop to think about every move. It enables you to touch your finger to your nose with your eyes closed, to walk down a flight of stairs without looking at every step, or sit in a chair without looking under your rear end.
Correctors allow us to build on our proprioceptive senses, providing us with a keener awareness of what good posture feels like and what we need to do to achieve it. “If I start to slouch, the posture corrector will let me know I’m in the wrong position so I can pull my shoulders back or tuck my lower back in,” Rodriguez says. Ideally, eventually this correction will become second nature.
Rodriguez suggests limiting use to only a few hours per day. If you keep it on too long, your body may begin to rely on the device so much that you revert back to that rounding. “You don’t want to use it as a crutch and have it ultimately do more harm than good,” she adds.
Most importantly, don’t plan to use a posture corrector permanently. There’s no magic number in terms of how long you’ll have to wear one, but when you get a glimpse in the mirror of yourself with better posture, that’s the time you can say so long to your little helper. “Think of it like training wheels; everyone will be different in terms of how long they want to use it,” says Rodriguez.
These devices are best used in conjunction with a posture-strengthening exercise routine. Your goal is to show your body what it feels like to be in perfect alignment and to strengthen the muscles you need to get it there. “The point is to become more aware of what your body is doing and then nudge yourself into a more optimal position,” says Rodriguez. "You want to engage those postural and stabilizing muscles while wearing the posture corrector so your body can recruit those muscles by itself later on."