Posture AI

Does Running Improve Posture? A Runner’s Guide to Perfect Alignment

Dec 2, 2024

woman excercising - Does Running Improve Posture

Good posture is a game-changer. Standing tall and sitting straight can help you look better and feel better. People with good posture can move more freely and efficiently, experience less pain, and even boost their mood. While some folks naturally have good posture, most can benefit from posture correction exercises and training. Runners, in particular, are often plagued by poor alignment and can improve their performance and health by correcting their posture. But does running improve posture? This article will help you understand how running can improve posture and provide practical tips for achieving better alignment during with posture exercises.

Posture AI's posture correction app is a valuable tool for achieving your goals. With this app, you can easily understand how running improves posture and get practical tips for achieving better alignment during your runs.

What You Should Know About the Benefits of Good Posture

woman with good posture - Does Running Improve Posture

Posture refers to your body’s position when:

Standing
Sitting
Lying down

Good posture is when your bones, muscles, and joints are aligned correctly and balanced to minimize the strain on the body. When you have good posture, your body can function optimally. Good posture means that your ears, shoulders, and hips are aligned.

Your spine has three natural curves:

One at your neck
One in the middle of your back
One in your lower back

Understanding Static and Dynamic Posture: How Each Affects Your Body's Alignment

Proper posture helps maintain these natural curves. When you have good posture, your organs can function correctly. Posture is primarily unconscious, so you don’t have to consider it. Certain groups, called postural muscles, help your body maintain good posture and keep gravity from working against you. Good posture helps avoid straining the muscle groups needed to do daily activities. There are two kinds of posture:

Static Posture: Static posture is the posture you maintain when you’re not moving, such as:
Sleeping
Standing
Sitting still
Dynamic Posture: Dynamic posture is the opposite. It’s how you hold yourself when you’re in motion, such as when you’re:
- Walking
- Stretching
- Running

What Affects Your Posture?

Many factors can affect your posture, including:

Muscle imbalances
Core strength
Lifestyle habits

For instance, slouching isn’t just a bad habit. There can be some physical reasons that contribute to poor posture. Muscles that are too tight or have a smaller range of motion can make it harder for you to position parts of your body correctly. The strength of your legs and core muscles can also affect your posture and how you carry yourself. These muscles connect your top and bottom halves. Your core muscles include:

Muscles in the back
Abdomen
Pelvis
Sides
Buttocks

The Impact of Modern Lifestyles on Posture: How Sitting and Screen Time Affect Alignment

Weak core muscles can cause you to slouch or to move your top half forward more than the bottom half. Our modern lifestyles may contribute to poor posture. Looking down at our phones or sitting at a desk for several hours a day working on a computer changes how we hold ourselves. You may notice that you are slumped forward rather than sitting or standing up straight when performing these activities.

How Can Good Posture Benefit Your Overall Health?

Good posture isn’t just about how you present yourself. Having poor posture can affect your physical and mental health.

The Mental and Emotional Benefits of Good Posture: Boosting Mood, Confidence, and Energy

Good posture can help improve your mood and energy levels. One of the best benefits of good posture is how you feel about yourself. Your posture can help you stay focused and energized throughout the day, which can also help improve your mood.

Research also suggests that good posture can lead to more self-confidence. When you carry yourself well and feel good about yourself, you’re less likely to experience depressive thoughts. This can give you more self-esteem and better pride and confidence in yourself.

How Good Posture Supports Bone, Joint, and Muscle Health: Reducing Pain and Preventing Injury

Good posture helps promote bone, joint, and muscle health. As mentioned, posture depends on muscles and bones. When you align your spine correctly, you stress your joints and bones less.

This can lead to less overall pain or reduced chances of developing problems like osteoarthritis. Although many exercises help improve core muscle strength, doctors say practicing proper posture is one of the best ways to tone this muscle group.

Improving Respiratory Health and Reducing Headaches Through Proper Posture

Good posture can enhance respiratory function and decrease headache frequency. When you sit or stand up straight with your shoulders back, you’ll find it easier to breathe. There’s more room to open up your chest for deeper breaths. Poor posture, such as slouching over, can cause tension in your shoulders and neck. This can lead to headaches in your forehead or the back of your skull.

Preventing Back and Neck Pain: The Role of Posture in Spine Health

Good posture promotes spine and neck health. Practicing proper posture, you help reduce the risk of back and neck pain. Slouching or hunching at a desk can affect the way your spine grows. Back pain is one of the most common reasons people miss work. If your job requires you to stand for long periods, standing correctly can help you fight fatigue and leg pain or cramps.

Does Running Improve Posture & How to Improve Your Posture

man jogging - Does Running Improve Posture

Running directly impacts posture. While running, your body naturally works to align itself for optimal performance and efficiency. This is especially true for your core and spine. The muscular adaptations that stem from running could be beneficial for everyday posture, although running with bad posture could also reinforce poor posture in everyday life.

Does Running Make You Taller?

Running doesn't make you taller. It's a myth. But, like all good stories, it has a grain of truth. We know running is beneficial for your core and spine, in addition to weight loss—all of which can contribute to better posture. This is why some regular runners might appear leaner and longer. If you're looking to get taller by getting slimmer and improving your posture, running is a great exercise.

All you need is comfortable exercise gear and a pair of running shoes—although perusing our best running watch guide and best running shoes on sale is an acceptable way to track your workouts in more detail.

Running as You Age

Running is beneficial for improving posture throughout your lifetime. As we age, we tend to hunch as our bones get weaker and our muscles contract and running can help delay or prevent this. According to research published in PLoS One, it’s an excellent exercise for your spine.

Your spine is made up of vertebrae, and in between each one is an intervertebral disk that acts as a shock absorber for the spine. Usually, these disks become less effective with age. Still, the researchers studied adults between 45 and 60 years old, finding less age-related degeneration in those who ran regularly, keeping them upright and mobile for longer.

Running Improves Bone Density

Running has a reputation for being bad for your joints—there's a persistent myth that it’s terrible for your knees—but it's less well-known that running can be as effective, if not more so, than resistance training when it comes to improving bone density and staving off osteoporosis, according to a University of Missouri study. This will stop your posture from degenerating as you age, maintaining optimum muscle and bone health.

Improving Your Posture With Running

What if you want to improve your posture with running right now, not in 10 or 20 years? If you’ve just begun running, it’s worth making a conscious effort to learn how to run correctly and how running shoes should fit. This will make you faster and more effective on the roads and benefit your everyday life.

“The muscular adaptations that stem from running could be beneficial for everyday posture,” says Melissa Thompson, an associate professor of health sciences at Fort Lewis College. “Running with a bad posture could also reinforce poor posture in everyday life.” Posture has been shown to have implications in running energetics, with research indicating that poor posture can increase energy costs. “Posture influences joint loading when running, so there may be an increased risk of injury in runners who exhibit poor posture,” says Thompson.

How to Improve Your Posture

There are plenty of ways to improve your posture, both in your best running shoes and out of them. Correcting your running form is an excellent first step. “I see a lot of runners with bad posture, and it is the first thing I try to correct,” says Canter. “If you run with slumped shoulders and a curved back, you are wasting energy. It is more efficient to have high hips and a straight back to propel yourself forward rather than towards the ground.”

Improving Posture with Core Strengthening and Visual Cues

“Imagine you have a helium balloon tied to the top of your head, pulling you upwards. This will help you maintain a good posture whether running, walking, or sitting.” The second factor, says Canter, is to have a strong core, as exercises to strengthen your core may also help your posture over time. Strengthening the muscle groups in the abdominal and lumbar regions of the body (essentially, the muscles surrounding the base of your spine) will help you improve posture and performance at any age.

Core Strengthening for Better Posture and Running Efficiency

You might immediately think of doing sit-ups or crunches, but these exercises can place a lot of pressure on your spine as you press it into the floor during the movement. A safer alternative is holding the plank position, which allows you to strengthen your lower back and abdominal muscles without placing dangerous pressure on your spine.

While this isn’t strictly running, it’s closely related: According to research in the PLoS One, performing core-strengthening exercises will improve your running efficiency and economy, allowing you to expend less energy and run more safely. Core strength improves your posture and makes you better at running simultaneously; running more frequently will strengthen your bones and help your posture as you age.

Run-specific Stretches for Optimal Posture

woman stretching before a run - Does Running Improve Posture

Pre-run stretching is essential to ensure proper alignment and form while on the run. Pre-run stretching helps reduce potential injuries like strains and muscle soreness and boosts performance whether you’re a beginner or an experienced runner. Here’s how to use simple stretches explicitly designed for running to maintain good posture during your next jog:

The first step towards developing good postural habits while running is by properly warming up with dynamic stretches that target the muscles used most when you run, such as:

Hamstrings
Calves
Hips
Quads

Some great dynamic stretches that can be done involve skipping forward in rapid succession across short distances before gradually increasing speed over longer distances are:

High knees
Butt kicks
Power skips

The Benefits of Static Stretching for Running Postures

As for static stretching exercises, hamstring curls are great for runners who sprint since they help increase the flexibility of this vital muscle group, giving them more power in their strides. Standing calf raises are also beneficial since they help build strength in the calves and ankles, improving stability while on the road or trail.

Incorporating Core and Hip-Opening Exercises for Better Running Performance

Hip openers (eagle pose) can be performed to incorporate some core work into your pre-stretching routine. This strengthens and increases the range of motion around the hips, allowing runners to better balance from side-to-side shifts in weight distribution during turns and curves along any given route or track.

The Importance of Deep Lunges in Pre-Run Stretching for Injury Prevention and Performance

Deep lunge poses should always be included when doing run-specific stretching routines because these engage all four major muscle groups, helping prepare them for whatever distance might lay ahead, such as:

Quads
Glutes
Hamstrings
Back

This allows one to keep proper form throughout their entire workout session without quickly fatiguing or becoming injured due to improper technique or posturing along their journey from the start line to the finish line.

Improve Your Posture with Our Posture Correction App

Posture AI - Does Running Improve Posture

Posture AI is an excellent app that uses AI technology to help you improve your posture. I bet you’re wondering how it works! First, you snap pictures of your posture from the front and side. Then, the app analyzes your posture and generates a detailed report outlining how to fix postural issues. The app provides a personalized, guided exercise program for improving your posture, and you can track your progress over time. Posture AI is an affordable at-home solution for better alignment, whether you want to: