Eve There is no unified standard for the effective time of posture correction. Changes that can be seen with the naked eye can be seen in as little as 4-6 weeks. Severe bone problems may take 1-2 years or even longer to see significant improvement.
I have been working as a posture coach for the past three years, and I have seen situations that are very different. I used to have a 24-year-old girl who worked on the Internet. She was hunched over her desk all year round, with her head down and browsing her mobile phone. Her neck was 4 centimeters too fast, and her shoulders were also obviously rounded. When taking a picture, it showed that the curvature of the cervical spine had only straightened, and there was no bone deformation. It was a typical muscle tension imbalance. She also took the initiative and followed it for 40 minutes of shoulder and back activation and strength training three times a week. She raised her computer by 10 centimeters at work. After sitting for half an hour, she stood up to get a glass of water and open her shoulders. Within five weeks, her colleagues in the same department asked her if she had done any projects secretly. She became much taller and taller, and could hold up the drop-shoulder sweatshirt that had previously looked baggy.
But not everyone can get results so quickly. The high school student who came to me last month had scoliosis of 32 degrees, which is a structural deformation. It took almost three weeks to adjust the brace. When he first started wearing it, he couldn't even eat. Now with targeted training twice a week, it has been almost five months. The reexamination has just stabilized the degree and adjusted it back by less than 2 degrees. It will take at least a year before the improvement of the shoulder height can be seen with the naked eye.
Nowadays, there is quite a debate on this issue on the Internet. One group says that there is no need to specialize in training at all, and you should pay more attention to your standing and sitting postures, and you can see changes in half a month. The other group says that not doing systematic strength training is all in vain. You can be strong for a while, but you can't be strong for a lifetime. In fact, there is nothing wrong with both of these statements. If you have only had a slight breast retention in the past month or two, and you deliberately keep your shoulders closed and don't slump in the chair, you will indeed feel more energetic after a week or so. However, if you have been sitting crookedly for five or six years, even sleeping on one side, and your shoulders have been stretched to the point of pain in your waist, then it is useless to just subconsciously stretch your muscles. You have not trained the muscles on your weak side. After two hours of stretching, your shoulders will be so sore that you can't lift them. Once you relax, you will immediately return to their original shape.
When many people first come to me, they ask, "Can I wear a backless skirt without slipping my shoulders after practicing for a month?" I never give you a guarantee. If you can drink milk tea without slumping on the sofa, don't try to catch fish at work. Cross your legs. Don't lie on your side scrolling through your phone until you fall asleep when you go home. Then practice shoulder and back strength. Maybe three weeks will be enough. If you practice for three days and five days off, and still lie down on the table with your entire upper body at work, you may not be able to see any changes after practicing for more than half a year.
In fact, physical problems are like calluses from wearing ill-fitting shoes all year round. They cannot be removed by picking them twice. You must first break the habit of exerting force, and then even out the unbalanced muscle strength to give the body enough time to form new muscle memory. There is no point in rushing. If there have been bony structural changes, such as severe scoliosis or hip joint development problems, there is actually no need to pursue "complete correction". If the discomfort symptoms such as pain are eliminated and the posture does not continue to deteriorate, it will be considered an ideal effect. To put it bluntly, you have to give your body some time to slowly break away from the bad habits you have accumulated over the years, right?
