Posture

You will need muscle strength, particularly in your core and upper body for good posture. Strong muscle will help hold your joints if they are hypermobile. Pilates is good and also helps with proprioception but I don’t personally find it increases my strength enough if that’s all I do. Weight exercises, mainly in the form of aerial hoop, silks and ballet has helped me more. My husband has awful posture but if he just thinks about standing or sitting straight it really hurts him because he doesn’t have the muscle to maintain it. When I was at peak strength my back and core held themselves. I also second someone else’s suggestion about bra fitting, when I went from 32D to a sister size with a smaller band it really felt like someone had taken half the weight of my boobs away because they were actually being supported instead of just covered

Modern technology certainly doesn’t help, but it’s been an issue for far longer than that- anyone who’s ever taught me in anything from horse riding to handwriting has said some iteration of ‘stand/sit up’. I’ve seen a few osteopaths and similar professionals over the years but unfortunately none have ever elaborated on ‘sit up’.

what I use.

https://builtwithscience.com/fitness-tips/how-to-straighten-back/

sessions with an occupational therapist helps to get a personalized to do list for ongoing practice.

Some gyms take health insurance. A great investment in oneself and full of people all focused on what they are doing: a room full on parallel, individual play.

Yoga will help and martial arts too, martial arts may give you the confidence to stand tall and move properly, poor posture is often a confidence thing, people hunch up because they're trying not to be noticed.

There's a technique called The Alexander Method that' helps people with their posture, I've not done it myself, but I've known people who have and said it really helped them. I just googled it and the first page that came up was one from the NHS, so finding some reliable information shouldn't be too difficult.

If your bra is making you hunch up then I'd really advise going to be properly fitted, it's a little embarassing, but the fitters are usually very nice and non-judgemental and help you find the right size and style. The right size correctly fitting bra makes such a difference to your posture and general levels of comfort. If you have larger breasts then having them not supported properly can lead to spinal problems later. M&S do them in store and online via a video call, there are lots of sites online that tell you how to measure yourself properly, but what they won't do is advice you on the shape of bra you need. Also like with shoes, one shops size may be different to anothers.

Yoga & martial arts. Audition instructors until you find one who will help over-explain the kinetic and skeletal experience of how to balance.

Hi CM. I find gentle exercise with weights in the gym has helped my posture and my backache that accompanied that. I don’t know what the pieces of kit are called, but they’re basic so should be in most gyms and I do the ones which have pictures of highlighted muscles in the back on their diagrams that show what the machine is for. Has helped me a lot over the last year.

My balance, coordination, and posture have always been  rather crap . They've definitely worsened with age. My daughter often has to tell me to relax and stop hunching my shoulders.I've not found anything that helps, but hopefully others will recommend things you can try.

CM said:

Having had bad posture all my life (hunched shoulders/rounded back) finding out it could be as a result of autism hypermobility/low tone felt groundbreakin

Your profile says you are in your 20s so do you think this posture issue could come from extended periods of being hunched over your phone / tablet / laptop?

I see this a lot when out and about and have often commented to my wife that this must have a cumulative effect.

CM said:

Has anyone found anything that helps?

See an Osteopath would be my reommendation.

They can identify where the issue is focussed and give you a treatment plan that will help you de-hunch over time. Expect it to involve some discomfort or pain at times as it is quite a difficult thing to address.