In this posture, the muscles in the front of the upper body and the chest are tight and short drawing the shoulders forward. While in the upper back, the muscles are long and weak allowing the shoulders to be drawn forward and the upper back to arch. 

 

Desk posture has a number of impacts on the athlete:

-it can lead to neck and shoulder issues, tightness in the upper back,

and pain in any of these areas

-Performance wise it will impact their ability to breathe efficiently and therefore not perform at their optimal level.

-it reduces range of motion at the shoulder which impacts swimming stroke and the arm carry in the run

it can also impact stability of the shoulder girdle which leads to loss of power and pain.

 

Often athletes are unaware that they even have a muscle imbalance in their shoulders and upper back. Try this to see if you have adopted the desk posture as your own:

stand with your back against the wall and their feet just away from the wall.

in an ideal world, you should be able to get your head, back of the shoulders, rib cage and sacrum against the wall at the same time.

where this ‘desk’ posture is present, you will not be able to do this. Either their head or shoulders, or ribs will lose contact with the wall.

It becomes very clear, very quickly if your upper body is not in balance.

 

Pilates is great to get rid of the desk posture, as it focuses on:

developing core strength and stability

strengthening the muscles in the upper back, while also lengthening the muscles in the front of the chest - it helps to reverse the curve.

The other major benefit of Pilates is that it requires the athlete to work through all of the planes of motion. By working in extension, flexion, rotation and lateral flexion, they are mobilising and strengthening all of these upper body muscles, bringing the body back into balance. The result is more power, less pain and reduced injuries