What is sway back posture?

What does sway back posture mean?  When I first heard this term I couldn’t quite visualize what a “swayed back” posture could look like.  I thought of a back that was swayed in some manner but how exactly I couldn’t quite visualize until I saw the picture to the right.  Let’s have a look at this person standing here to our right.   If we use the vertical line as a reference line or plumb line, our person’s head seems slightly forward.  Their neck is slightly extended.  Their upper back is slightly curved or flexed, the lower part of the mid back region is flatter.   In general, the upper part of the torso seems to be further back of our reference line or posteriorly displaced from the plumb line.   If we look at the lower back, we can see that the spine is quite flat.  The pelvis seems tucked under or posteriorly tilted and slightly forward of our reference line.  The hips are quite open or extended and the knees are also extended.    In a way the upper body is sort of swayed back and resting on the hips.

Causes of Sway Back Posture

Causes for a swayback posture are numerous. People standing holding something, resting it on their hips, such as a baby.  If we consider the muscles areas that are weaker and stronger with a swayback posture that will also help determine possible causes or reasons for this particular type of posture.  

Muscles that are weaker and elongated with a sway back posture are the hip flexors (muscles that allow you to bend forward at the hips or raise your knee up), external obliques, upper back (muscles that help you extend your back) and neck flexors (muscles in your neck that help you nod your head).  Muscles that are stronger with a sway back posture are the hamstrings, internal obliques and low back muscles.

How can Pilates help sway back posture?

How can Pilates help?  There are many exercises that can help strengthen and lengthen the appropriate muscles.  To target the hip flexors exercises that involve movement at the hip joint will help.  The obliques can be targeted by exercises that involve rotation about the spine.  Making a conscious effort to perform the head nod, not just when flexing the spine but also when the spine is in neutral and extended may help prevent over extension of the neck and in time help strengthen the neck flexors.  There are many exercises to help strengthen the upper back muscles that can be performed on the reformer.  Many exercises that require stabilization of the scapular region, refer to this issue’s Technical Inspiration, involve engaging some of the muscles in the mid back and as a result will help strengthen this area.  To help lengthen the hamstrings, exercises that involve keeping the knees extended, legs straight, will help stretch out the backs of the thighs.  The shell stretch will help stretch out the back and lower back.

Shell Stretch:  Kneeling, sitting on your heels, with upper body flexed or curved over the knees, hands on the floor in front of you, arms outstretched.  Inhale; exhale increasing the flexion in the spine.  Repeat feeling the stretch in your back.

A slightly modified version of this would be: lie on your back, hugging your knees into your chest.  Inhale and on the exhale hug your knees a little closer to your chest.