6 Small, Everyday Things Physical Therapists Wish You’d Stop Doing

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6 Small, Everyday Things Physical Therapists Wish You’d Stop Doing

Keep it up and you could see pain, decreased mobility, and even injury in the future.

By Jenny McCoy, C.P.T.

October 23, 2024

https://www.self.com/story/posture-habits-lead-to-pain

If you’ve just started an exercise routine, switched up your regular one, or intensified a training plan, you might expect to feel a few more aches and pains throughout your body. But what about if everything on the fitness front is status quo and you’re still experiencing some niggles?

In that case, muscle or joint discomfort may simply stem from how you move your body when you’re working, relaxing, doing some chores—whatever it may be. In fact, physical therapist Kellen Scantlebury, DPT, CSCS, founder of Fit Club NY, tells SELF he notices folks doing some potentially dubious things “every single day.”

From the way you walk to how you stand, look at your phone, or read on the subway, there are “so many different things” that could trigger the ouches. The tricky thing is, many of these habits are small and subconscious, so chances are, you have zero clue you’re doing them. But bringing them to your attention is important, since they carry some pretty big and not-so-pleasant repercussions—like pain, hampered mobility, and increased chance of nasty injuries—if left unchecked. And that’s where this list comes in.

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We tapped Dr. Scantlebury and two other physical therapists for a roundup of the common, everyday movement habits that they wish people just…wouldn’t do. The point here isn’t to shame, but instead to gently inform so you can go about your day—and ultimately your life!—using your body in ways that make you feel as awesome as you deserve to.

1. You crane your head to scroll on your phone.

Okay, pretty much all of us do this at some point…if not for many hours every day. In fact, it’s so common it’s got a name: tech neck. And while the most obvious repercussion—an achy neck—may seem annoying but harmless, the reality can actually be more serious. Chronically straining your head to look at your phone is a habit that’s “wreaking havoc” on lots of people’s health, Candace Harding, PT, DPT, a physical therapist and a registered yoga teacher in Arlington, tells SELF, triggering a host of serious neck, jaw, and even headache issues.

Think about it this way: Your neck muscles are designed to support a head that weighs around 11 pounds, Dr. Scantlebury explains. But when your head moves forward, even a few degrees, the shifted angle places more pressure on it and it starts to feel heavier, all thanks to physics. So your neck muscles are now being forced to support a head that feels like it’s heftier than intended—say, 15 or 16 pounds. These muscles are not built to work that hard, so when they’re forced to take on the extra pressure, well, that’s when problems can arise, Dr. Scantlebury explains.

Prime examples include jaw issues like pain, clicking, popping, and locking (since a forward leaning head can take your jaw out of ideal alignment), as well as increased chances of tension headaches, because the neck muscles that attach to the base of your skull tighten up, Dr. Harding says.

What to do instead: Ideally, you want to hold your phone at eye level (versus in your lap) so you don’t have to strain your head forward to see it. “You want to literally be looking at it as if you’re taking a photo of someone,” Dr. Scantlebury explains. Be forewarned you may get some side-eyes from doing this in public. Dr. Scantlebury says he holds his phone up while on the train in New York City and gets “weird looks, because people are like, Oh, is he recording this? Is he taking a photo?” he says. “But it’s like, No, I’m just making sure that my neck doesn’t hurt me for the next 15 to 20 years.”

Beyond that, think about your ears sitting over the center of your shoulders (basically, make sure they’re aligned instead of your head jutting forward), Dr. Harding says, adding that you also want to avoid angling your head toward the ceiling, as that’s overcorrecting the issue to the other extreme. Instead, think about dropping your chin slightly—just low enough that you create length at the nape of your neck (the area where your skull and neck meet at the back of your head), she explains.

2. You let your shoulders drift forward as you’re chilling on the couch or tip-tapping away on your laptop.

Some people have a tendency to hang out with the top of their shoulders rounding in, particularly when they’re sitting down doing things like working on a computer or Netflixing on the couch. But this posture habit can stretch out the tendons and ligaments that help stabilize your shoulders, Dr. Harding explains. When ligaments are stretched over time, they don’t contract back on their own, which makes the shoulder—a relatively unstable joint to begin with—even more so. Unsurprisingly, this can cause discomfort in your shoulders and increase your risk of injuries there. The forward-positioning also places more tension on your tendons, and over time this can cause them to break down, further upping your chances of shoulder issues, Dr. Harding adds.

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What to do instead: Reset your shoulders with this quick drill: Get into a seated position without anything in front of your arms. Tuck your elbows into your sides, palms facing up. Keeping your elbows at your side, rotate your palms away from your trunk as far as comfortably possible. Then, turn your palms down and bring them back towards the center of your body. Now your shoulders are in a more neutral position. “Once you know what that feels like, then you can go on with your life,” Dr. Harding says. Feel free to do this drill when you notice your shoulders beginning to round or if discomfort starts to creep in. Of course, this doesn’t mean your shoulders should never move out of this position, but it’s the ideal place for them to hang out a lot of the time.

3. You cross the same leg over the other. Every. Single. Time.

Whether you’re working at a desk, chilling on the couch, or riding the subway, it’s all too easy to end up sitting with your legs crossed. And chances are, you typically place the same leg on top. “Usually it’s one leg that feels more comfortable to [cross on top] than the other, which means that you may have more range of motion on that side and a little less range of motion on the other side,” Dr. Scantlebury explains. Always favoring one side can exacerbate this imbalance by causing your hip muscles on the other side to shorten up even more in response, which can further limit your hip joint mobility, according to Dr. Scantlebury. And though many of us aren’t totally symmetric from side to side, if this imbalance becomes severe enough, it can trigger pain in your hips and up your chances of injury, since other areas—like your back, for example—can start to compensate for your too-tight hips.

What to do instead: Try out what Dr. Scantlebury describes as the “ideal posture” for sitting to see if it’s a green light for you: Sit with both feet flat on the floor, sit bones (the bony area of your butt) connected to the chair, and knees in line with your hips. Now, it may not feel natural at first since your body is used to hanging out in a totally different position. But really try to practice it as much as you can for several weeks to up your chances of it becoming a habit, Dr. Scantlebury says. If you still find yourself tempting to cross? Try to switch it up; devote equal time to each leg being on top, he says. This will reduce your chances of having asymmetries and imbalances between sides.

4. You brace your core, tuck your pelvis, and flatten your back all day long.

“Flatten your back to the mat” is a common cue you’ll hear in fitness classes as a way to help you engage your core when you’re doing moves like dead bugs or leg lifts. And while there’s “nothing officially wrong with that,” Dr. Harding says, bracing your abs and tucking your pelvis under to hold a flat back in day to day life—say, when you’re getting groceries or strolling down the sidewalk—can compromise the functioning of your back muscles. That’s because your spine is supposed to curve at your lower back, Dr. Harding explains, and when it’s moved out of that natural alignment, then you make it harder for the surrounding muscles, including the lumbar paraspinals (big strappy muscles in your low back), to do their job. Over time, this can lead to increased chances of back pain.

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What to do instead: From a sitting or standing position, place one hand on your lower back and the other hand on your lower abdomen, near your hip bones. Do the cat-cow exercise where you alternate between arching and rounding your back. Start by going to your end range of motion—i.e. arch and then round your back as much as you comfortably can. Then, make the motion smaller and smaller “until you feel like you’re in the middle of the two,” Dr. Harding says. The resulting position is ideally where you want to live your life, she explains. Do this cat-cow exercise as often as you need in order to reset things to a natural, comfortable place.

5. You bike with the seat waaaay too low.

Whether you’re riding to work, pedaling with your kids, or spinning in a class, biking can bring some pretty amazing benefits for your body and mind. But problems can arise when your bike isn’t properly set up to match your dimensions. Riding with the seat too low—so your knees are at or slightly above hip level—can place a lot of unnecessary pressure on your hips and knees, Dr. Scantlebury says.

This can lead to some truly unpleasant issues including impingement at the hips (where the ball of the hip joint pinches against the cup of the hip, possibly damaging the cartilage that surrounds the joint and triggering pain and stiffness), as well as kneecap pain and potential damage to your ligaments and meniscus (cartilage that surrounds the knee joint), Dr. Scantlebury says. Not to mention it’s just not an efficient way to bike, he adds, since it causes you to underextend your legs, which reduces the power and force you’re able to generate from each pedal stroke.

What to do instead: Luckily, the fix here is pretty simple: Adjust your seat to the appropriate height. The “right” spot will vary a little person to person, but as a general rule of thumb, aim to put it at the level of your standing hip height or slightly above and make sure your legs have a soft bend when you’re at the bottom of the pedal stroke. (Of course, riding with your seat too high can also cause issues, including overreaching for your pedals, which is another inefficient way to bike. If you’re unsure how to find the ideal set up for you, consider visiting a professional bike fitter.)

6. You’re a die-hard stomach sleeper.

Passing out on your front side may feel like the most comfortable snoozing position, but unless your bed also happens to be one of those massage tables with a hole for your face, it means you’re sleeping with your head twisted to one side. And that can create imbalances, since the neck and face muscles on the side you’re turned toward will shorten and the ones on the opposite side will lengthen in response, Dr. Harding explains. “Having that imbalance of muscular demand can change how well all of the muscles work just in general,” she says. And it can lead to neck soreness, per the Cleveland Clinic, which also warns against stomach sleeping because it throws your spine out of its natural alignment and increases stress on your lower back.

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What to do instead: Try back or side sleeping, both of which allow your neck and back to be in a more neutral position. Of course, switching things up probably won’t feel super natural at first and could possibly mess with your sleep quality, which is why Dr. Harding suggests giving it a go for 20 minutes tops. If you still can’t get comfy after that, flip back to your stomach and then give things a shot again tomorrow night.

One thing to keep in mind: You’re not doomed if you have one (or several) of these habits.

Posture and good body mechanics are important, but it’s not about being locked into a stiff, upright stance 24/7. Instead, “motion is the most important thing,” Dr. Harding says.“So if someone’s slouching, it’s not the end of the world, but what I do care about is how long you stay slouched,” she says. That’s because holding any one position for a long period of time can contribute to issues like pain, stiffness, and tightness. In other words, don’t freak out if you sometimes adopt the habits mentioned here, like craning your head forward, letting your shoulders round in, or strolling around with a flat back. It’s okay for your body to occasionally be in those positions—in fact, it’s designed to be able to move in lots of different ways—but the key is to avoid spending tons of time there.

So if you have just one takeaway from this article, let it be this: Moving your body often and with a bunch of variation is a great way to reduce the niggles and feel as amazing as possible. And there’s nothing cringey about that!