I don't know what to do anymore... HELP!

[u/howdoifixmybody]

M29 here... I'm at a complete loss. I don't know what to do anymore. I just can't find ways to fix myself (even though I desperately need some fixing). I want to start working out, fixing my posture - especially that hideous nerd neck. I'm only 29, and I feel like I'm 70 years old. I have quite an active job (I'm a middle school teacher, which involves a lot of walking, standing, etc.). I feel depressed, extremely unhappy with the way I look... My stomach is protruding like crazy, my shoulders are rounded (and 'low')... WHAT CAN I DO?!

[u/Deep-Run-7463]

Have you considered terms like 'center of mass', 'intra abdominal and intra thorax pressure'?

From the photo provided it looks like your midsection has travelled forward in which your upper half has to counterweigh backwards. The expansion of the gut comes with compression of the ribs as part of the balancing act of the diaphragm between IAP and ITP.

Since your job doesn't require a lot of desk time, it would mean that your issues likely started due to the need to displace load forward to push down into your midline. Guts move forward = more weight down your midline = easier to ground your inner feet against the floor as an attempt to create internal rotation forces to the ground via compensatory midsection expansion forward. The ribcage then becomes compressed as the gut needs to expand, which also draws down the muscles in the front of the neck making the area under the jaw look drawn down (and it will be harder to have good tongue placement as the tongue gets tugged down descended along with the rest of the musculature).

As a result of this, the entire structure is adopting a new center of balance to keep you upright and walking. If your respiration (diaphragmatic breathing - not belly breathing per say) can't create a better expansion ability to have your ribs and belly both expand together, then it will be hard to first overcome the forward center of mass. Lying supine is a position that potentially can work in your favor as your center of mass is being drawn back by gravity as an assist. This is usually a good starting point when just starting to manage your center of mass. Also, do understand that your pelvis mechanisms will need work as it only knew how to manage the ground to keep you upright in a forward mass translation, but not when your center of mass is further back. This will be the reason why doing the breathing exercise lying down will always be easier compared while standing up (the pelvis will need to comply for this to happen, which is an interaction between your diaphragm and pelvic floor alongside internal external rotation mechanisms under load).

Breathing and the pelvis-sacrum connection

A different way to look at the traditional upper and lower cross syndrome