We now live in a society designed for convenience and efficiency, yet levels of pain and physical discomfort continue to rise. Restricted movement has, in many ways, become normalised, with discomfort often accepted as part of your everyday life.
Everyday habits contributing to chronic pain
Day by day, our habits are what shape and often create the pain we live with. We’ve adapted to a more slouched, hunched posture and come to associate that position with relaxation. It rarely feels like much in the moment. You sit down, cross one leg over the other, rest your weight into one hip, and carry on with your day. Or you sling your handbag over the same shoulder you always do, without a second thought. These small choices feel almost invisible, too minor to matter.
But the body keeps score.
Symptom vs root cause
What begins as comfort or convenience can slowly become structure. And it’s often only when discomfort appears that we realise just how much these quiet, everyday patterns have been steering the story all along. It’s no secret that in western society our treatments are symptom-driven; if the back hurts, treat the back; if the knee hurts, treat the knee. There’s a growing push toward quick fixes whether through gadgets, treatments or medications that aim to manage symptoms rather than addressing the root cause. As a result, outcomes are inconsistent and often increase reliance on physicians.
Habits we don’t notice – a subtle chain reaction
When the body loses its natural alignment, it’s often because muscles have pulled the bones into a new, less functional position. For example, crossing one leg over the other shifts the pelvis out of neutral alignment. The spine then compensates with a subtle rotation to maintain balance. Over time, these small but repeated asymmetries can influence muscle tension patterns, affect circulation and nerve pressure and quietly change how different areas of the body feel and function.
Common Habits include:
- Crossing one leg over the other
- Carrying a handbag on the same shoulder
- Looking down at our phones while scrolling
- Sleeping with one leg lifted or twisted
- Standing with all our weight on one leg
The more time we take to notice, correct, and train our posture, the more it begins to shift in a positive direction. It sets off a chain reaction: better alignment leads to less pain, which then makes it easier to move more and you start doing what life was like before chronic pain. The belief that “pain is just an inevitable part of ageing” starts to fade, and we begin to see pain instead as a signal that the body may not be functioning as it was designed to and more importantly, there’s something you can do.
Egoscue is cause driven and revolves around one simple question…
Why?
Why does your back hurt? Why is there pain in your knee? It believes that the body is built perfect by design and, when properly aligned, can heal itself. Pain isn’t seen as good or bad, just a signal that something isn’t right.
The Egoscue Method is postural alignment technique based on the idea that many common aches and injuries stem from postural imbalances that develop over time due to sedentary lifestyles and repetitive movement. It aims to reduce pain and improve mobility without force or strain.
How?
Through simple corrective exercises, muscles are reminded of their proper form and function, helping to lengthen overworked muscles and activate underused stabilisers. By recognising the body as one integrated system, it can be treated as a whole. Instead of focusing on the site of pain, the goal is to address the underlying postural imbalances that will be contributing to it.
From aesthetics to function
The word “posture” often triggers a familiar reaction: stand up straight, shoulders back, chest out, chin up. In reality, this is often far from true alignment. That’s why I use the term Postural Alignment Specialist rather than simply “posture specialist.”
I first became fascinated by posture and alignment at university (where I ended up writing my dissertation on ‘exploring the mechanical and experiential effects of misaligned posture’), where the language used in class often felt unclear and, at times, misleading. This then led to overcompensation and detrimental habits which impacted the freedom and expansiveness within which I danced.
Like many dancers, I initially believed posture was largely aesthetic something that enhanced how we looked, rather than how we moved. I was wrong. It wasn’t until I began deliberately exaggerating common corrections like “shoulders down” that I started to understand the effect misalignment really has. Movement became restricted, balance worsened, and everything felt off, all from something as subtle as lifting the right shoulder slightly higher than the left.
Quick lower back reset
This exercise is a simple but effective way to help release lower back tension, while also highlighting how small corrective movements can influence posture.
- Stand with your toes touching and heels slightly turned out into a “pigeon-toed” stance, keeping all five toes grounded on the floor. Gently engage your quads while allowing your shoulders to stay relaxed.
- Hold this position for up to two minutes, breathing steadily throughout. Aim to soften your upper body and glutes while maintaining light activation through the legs.
- When finished, take a moment to notice any change in your lower back tension
If you’ve been struggling with pain, it’s worth considering postural alignment training.
About Sophie
I’m Sophie Keoshgerian, a Postural Alignment Specialist at By Studio M based in Sussex, with a background in Contemporary Dance. My work combines technical knowledge with lived experience to restore natural alignment, efficiency, and resilience. At By Studio M we offer a specialised, Egoscue-based approach to posture correction, designed to improve alignment, enhance wellbeing, and help you stay pain and injury free.
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