So I recently mined the American Physical Therapy
Association’s (APTA) Web site for a topic I could write about in my first weekend
big-issue article when I came across a blurb about a Wall Street Journal
article on “posture shirts.”
I read the article (which was a little more of a review than
a proper article) and while it had its share of upsides and downsides to the
product, it had a much more important underlying message, one which has been
with physicians and therapists alike: this is a great product, but by no means
is it a panacea for all your aches. In order to more fully improve one’s
posture, effort is still required on the part of the patient.
It should be noted that, with this being a general article
on the health and well-being of their readers, the Wall Street Journal is not
by any means a scholarly research organization that devises experiments and
performs research based on furthering the community built by scientists and
physicians alike. While I’m sure their reporters are well-meaning and have no
ill will toward their readers, it’s also not entirely certain that they have
all the proper data with which to give a completely unbiased opinion of any
products endorsed or otherwise mentioned on their pages.
All that being said, it does seem that these shirts have
positive results with a large portion of their clientele, which includes
athletes and trainers.
According to the report, the shirts use “elastic bands to
press gently on upper back and shoulder muscles, giving them a ‘mini-massage’
and helping to activate the muscles” (Johannes 2014) which is expected to help
you improve your posture while sitting or standing. AlignMed Inc., the company
responsible for creating the shirts and partially funding the studies, has
lightweight and heavyweight models for $95 and $195, respectively.
The preliminary findings of studies performed on major and
minor athletes have been somewhat positive, but scientists say that more
research is required to give a more conclusive resolution (Johannes 2014). It
should be noted too that while the shirts have shown improvements in posture,
all patients given the shirts were under the guidance of the Department of
Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Keck School
of Medicine. This means that the patients, while athletes (mainly professional
baseball and golf players), were under the care of not only the president and
founder of AlignMed Inc., but also a team of researchers dedicated to studying
the effects of the shirts on posture. They were patients who typically use
their arms frequently in their sport, such as pitchers. It’s also interesting
to point that, among the baseball pitchers studied, “difference in pitching
speeds wasn't statistically significant over the entire three-inning test but
there was a significant improvement in blood flow to the pitching arm”
(Johannes 2014), according to Dr. C. Thomas Vangsness, a professor of
Orthopedic Medicine at USC.
Most importantly, and I believe more to the point, these
posture shirts have shown some improvements in patients over time, but “it's
also important to correct the underlying issues that may be causing posture
problems, such as an imbalance between strong pectoral muscles and weaker back
muscles, says Timothy Sell, a physical therapist and associate professor in the
department of sports medicine and nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh”
(Johannes 2014). This quote I believe
sums up any and all products shown to improve balance and/or posture issues.
While the symptoms of one issue may be gone, the underlying problem causing
said symptoms is the real enemy. Knowing the difference can save you hundreds
if not thousands of dollars on unnecessary treatments.
I’d like to end this article by simply stating that, with
all of the wonderful technology we have available, it’s important to realize
that the elements of human effort and care are needed when discussing matters of
health and well-being. We need to remember that fancy tech products are not the
only things responsible for caring for us; we have to take responsibility for
our own well-being, first and foremost.
Johannes, Laura. (2014). Can a shirt help improve your posture?
The Wall Street Journal Online: Aches and
Claims. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/articles/can-a-shirt-help-improve-your-posture-1405980827.
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