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Postural Shirts?

Last updated on September 9, 2013 By Dan Baumstark, MSPT, CHT Leave a Comment

postural shirtA client came in this week with something I have not seen before: a “postural” workout shirt. The shirt shown in the photo is a tightly sewn spandex nylon mix marketed as a way of facilitating upright posture and body mechanics. The client did report that she felt more upright.

Is this a fad, or could this be a valid way of working on forward shoulders that result from sitting all day at a desk?

I think that there is potential in using a shirt such as the one described. My concern, however, is that a postural shirt could easily become a “crutch,” or an excuse to substitute exercises with a passive solution. Why exercise to strengthen postural muscles when clothing can hold you in an ideal position?

The obvious problem with this idea is that postural muscles will become weak if they are not challenged. In this case, you had better wear the shirt twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

A better idea is to perform postural strengthening exercises while you are wearing such a shirt. The shirt will help to hold you in a more ideal position while you strengthen involved muscles. A forgotten fact is that muscles trained while the body is in ideal alignment help to maintain a better alignment long term!

We will follow up with this client to see how she deals with training in this shirt. More to come…

Filed Under: Exercise & Fitness Tagged With: Shoulder, Upper Back



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About Dan Baumstark, MSPT, CHT

Dan is a licensed Physical Therapist in the District of Columbia, license #PT2916. He has a Masters of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Dan specializes in sports medicine & upper extremity rehabilitation. He is a Certified Hand Therapist, certified by the American Society of Hand Therapists (initial certification date 11/6/2004, certification #1041100023). Dan has extensive continuing education in manual therapy from the Michigan State University School of Osteopathic Medicine.
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DISCLAIMER: The information on this site is for Educational Purposes Only and is not designed to diagnose, treat, mitigate, prevent or cure any health conditions. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated statements about these health topics or any suggested product compositions. Answers to questions submitted are merely the opinion of the physical therapist and should not be taken as a prescribed course of action. Any advice given by the therapist must be cleared with the treating physician involved in direct patient care. The person posing the question absolves the responder of any liability in regards to opinions given. PhysioDC insists that all patients receive approval from a prescribing physician prior to starting a structured exercise program involving any of the exercises included on this site. PhysioDC.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com; proceeds from product sales help cover the operational & maintenance costs for the site.