Assessment request and original images: https://www.reddit.com/r/posturepals/comments/14nrw8c/better_pictures_this_time_why_tf_does_my_body/
Good photos. Here is my view on your posture.
First of all, let's establish some basics. You are (i'm assuming) on a bed and you will notice there is no vertical plane for me to use as a reference (when setting the green vertical plumb line). So on the first picture I used the slope of the bed (not quite accurate). On the anterior and posterior view, I tried the same trick, but to me it looks way off so best not to use the bed there.
It would be way better if you could do the same snapshots in a doorway, or in front of door standing on a hard floor.
Because of the soft substrate you are standing on, your whole mechanism has to do "extra balancing work". It's simply harder work to balance on soft bed compared to floor. On the other hand, this increased postural stimulus leads to the fact that you will be exaggerating your postural habits. Hence, it will be more pronounced on the images, easier to see what is happening. Not good for your posture, but great for learning.
If you would be to repeat this photo taking exercise standing on a floor, you will find that your arch in the back isn't as pronounced (or your other habits present).
So we won't be using the anterior / posterior view much, but there is plenty to talk about on the side view:
To start, disregard all the arrows. Let's locate some body parts first. I will explain the arrows later on.
- Feet are in a wrong position. The blue lines (out steps) currently converging at back, should in fact be parallel. Your habit is to step forward with your left leg. Now, when I brought your attention to it, you will start noticing it everywhere. Next time you stop after walking, have a look where your feet land. Is left forward to right again?
- The blue and white markers: (ankles, knees, iliacs (anterior superior iliac spine), bottom sternum, top sternum) should all be on the green vertical plumb line (that is providing I have placed the line correctly).
- red curve at back is shortening and narrowing of your torso / back. that is happening simultaneously with the protruding abdomen at the front.
- The yellow line is your sternum. Again, should be on the green line, vertical. As seen now, it's leaning backwards at the top.
- Between the yellow line and the straight big of the red curve at the back is your ribcage. Currently, it too is rotated backwards at the top, one could say it's rotating counterclockwise as seen on the image. Btw, the center of rotation of the ribcage (upper torso) will currently be at around L3.
- Your pelvis is rotated clockwise, your iliacs are moving forward and down and your sacrum (green marker) is lifting up. Look at your shorts belt strip. It's sloping down at the front. It should be horizontal.
- These two rotations of the upper torso (counterclockwise) and the lower torso (clockwise) is what leads to the concave shape of your spine.
The white arrows:
- The white arrows show general forces being applied onto the mechanism in order to end up with such shape as seen.
- The reason why they are being applied is your balance. You feel balanced (more or less) in this position. So you move your bodily parts in such a way to produce sensations of balance / equilibrium.
The blue arrows:
- These are general forces, that if applied they would change the shape of your body.
- If you would be to move your sacrum towards your heels (green spot) and your iliac back and up in space, that would start rotating your pelvis counterclockwise, because that is what we want for straightening the curve in the spine.
- At the same time, we would have to be pushing the knees back, against the movement of the sacrum down. This will get the ITB back into play.
- The arrow in the middle of the back is your L3. We would want it to move in the direction of the arrow.
- To rotate your upper torso (ribcage) in the desired direction (clockwise), bottom and top sternum would have to move according to the blue arrows.
You are welcome to try it out for yourself. I recommend to record yourself on a camera. You will see things you can't feel. You will also most likely find that to do the movements according to the blue arrows will be near impossible at first. Well, it is possible, many people have done it. It just ain't easy.