Beth Linker of the University of Pennsylvania recently published an article in Time Magazine entitled, “Actually, It’s OK to Slouch.”  This harmful article is an excerpt from Professor Linker’s newly published book, “Slouch.” I haven’t read the book itself, but the excerpt published in Time demands a rebuttal.

The biggest problem with Linker’s piece is right there in the title: she essentially urges readers to slouch.  Most people already spend their days hunched, collapsed and compressed over their devices, so how is this helpful?  Why invite readers to double down on unhealthy postural habits, instead of telling them it’s okay to care about posture?

Linker’s misguided approach reminds me of Bertrand Russell’s aphorism:  “Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.”  Her article also reminds me of an observation from my own experience:  “No one ever went broke telling large groups of people exactly what they wish to hear.”

An Anti-Solution in Search of a Problem

Why does Linker endorse the slouching already so widespread in her huge audience?  Because she’s upset about a set of bogus, biased theories that were in fashion 75 to 100 years.  Those theories, promoted through heavy-handed public health messaging, induced what she terms “posture panic.”  Linker contends that the pernicious effects of this “posture panic” persist up to the present day — hence the need for her book.  I find Linker’s premise odd because when I survey most public spaces, almost no one seems to care about posture.  If they’re in a panic about anything, it’s the state of our politics or Beyoncé’s posture toward her own wardrobe.

Linker’s critique of antique postural ideas and approaches is surprisingly humorless.  In my opinion, she could have scored more points if she simply offered Time’s readers a Youtube link or two.  There’s nothing quite like seeing how stupidly posture was sometimes discussed in the past.  If you’d like a hilarious example search for “Posture Pals” on YouTube.  This campy 10-minute clip both instructs and entertains.

Consider the Source, Carefully and in Detail

Unfortunately, the problems with Linker’s article don’t end with its lack of humor or its title.  She cites another article to argue that the “posture panic” of the past century was “more harmful than slouching itself.”  In their article, five physical therapists write that many common assumptions about posture aren’t evidence based.  While making this argument, the therapists themselves make evidence-free assertions that undermine their thesis.  Linker does not pause to scrutinize their baseless claims, so I will perform that service for her here.

The therapists write that “…there is additional muscular effort required for correct posture when sitting and lifting…”  No study is cited to back up this important claim.  Is it based on clinical observation?  Is it something merely “in the air” at physical therapy clinics?  We’re left to guess at the claim’s origin, but since it contradicts the central tenet of the Alexander Technique, it must be called out.  In any case, the fact that these therapists even admit there’s such a thing as “correct posture” weakens their case and, by extension, Linker’s article.

The therapists erroneously state that “there is no evidence to suggest that correct posture prevents or reduces pain and disability.”  This claim ignores a study published in the British Medical Journal over a decade before their own article.  The BMJ study found that “A series of 24 lessons in the Alexander technique taught by registered teachers provides long term benefits for patients with chronic or recurrent low back pain.”  Call me crazy, but that sounds like evidence to me.

Is Posture Necessarily Political or Cultural?

Relying partly on this dubious source material, Linker then writes that “some of our most cherished beliefs about posture health are unexamined remnants of cultural and political concerns from the past.”  Who’s in the shadowy group that this “our” alludes to?  Where is the monolithic population that excludes anyone carefully examining beliefs (cherished or otherwise) about posture today?  Is there no one alive who, unfettered by bogus, antique theories, helps people improve their posture without inducing “panic?”

Nowhere in her article does Linker acknowledge that posture can impact a person’s ability to function and thrive.  Nor does she hint that a person could organize, support and move their body with an uprightness that has nothing to do with “patriotism, heterosexual propriety, and individualist strength.”  She is so invested in telegraphing her (understandable) distaste for past theories imbued with “sexism, ableism and racism” that she forgets the pain and confusion so many people feel in the present.

I understand and empathize with that pain and confusion because I’ve been there — and sometimes still am there — myself.  But I know from my own experience that when I pay attention to the way I move using the Alexander Technique, my pain diminishes and my ease and energy efficiency are enhanced.  Linker is correct to write that “there is no single, correct posture. Nor does posture correction necessarily ensure future health.”  But those truisms don’t negate the benefits of postural self care that the Alexander Technique can enable students to cultivate.

Stuck in the Past?  Get Better Posture in the Present!

Are you, like Professor Linker, haunted and oppressed by the mistaken beliefs of the past?  Do you harbor the strange conviction that something done badly in 1925 cannot be done well in the present?  Fortunately, you can leap beyond all that and learn to make fresh postural choices that facilitate ease, energy efficiency and comfort.  Learn to pay compassionate, meticulous attention to your posture — learn the Alexander Technique!