You’ve seen them all over social media, but do those famous posture correctors actually work? And are they even worth the money? I’ve worn one for two months and the results may surprise you!
Get ready for another review series, “Is It Worth It…Let Me Work It” where we look at one particular product that’s getting some buzz, we buy it, try it, and let you know if we think it’s actually worth it. Not everything is going to be worth it!
We can all agree, having good posture is always the goal, but after years from working from home, on the couch, our posture may not be the best. In fact, how are we even keeping our head up at all on its own?!
Enter: Posture Correctors. They’ve been around for years and are said to help improve your posture overall. They have even taken over social media, with more than 950 million video views on TikTok alone. Needless to say, I was intrigued to say the least.
I’ve always tried “on my own” to sit up straight, push my shoulders back, etc. But it never really worked for me. So I decided to give a posture correct that has adjustable straps a go and see if it really helped.
Experts claim that good posture can help with both physical and mental health, but you really should wear these in moderation so that your body doesn’t end up relying on your wearing it to basically hold yourself up. That was good for me to know because I usually go all in and don’t have a great moderation balance in life.
There are a ton of options out there to buy but, quite honestly, I didn’t want to spend a ton and I wasn’t really into the ones that are tied to an app and alert your phone whenever you slouch, so I went with a top selling adjustable posture strap that I found on Amazon (it was only about $20). As far as the research and testing phases, here’s some top key points to keep in mind:
- I wasn’t given this in exchange for a review. I purchased it myself because I really wanted to know.
- I wore it every day for 2 months (both indoors and outdoors).
- On average I wore it for 45 minutes – 1 hour per day.
- When at home, I wore it over my clothes. When outside I wore it under my shirt or jacket.
- I also wore it doing normal activities like walking, sitting while working on my laptop, cooking, etc.
- I never wore it while working out or to bed.
It’s usually recommend to start out slowly when wearing these so that you can get used to the feeling. Some people feel like it’s a bit uncomfortable at first and can even hurt a little, especially if the straps are pinching under your arms. I recommend to wear it over a comfy t-shirt or sweatshirt for a little extra padding.
I started wearing mine the first day for about 20 minutes. It didn’t hurt and wasn’t really uncomfortable, which was great. But what was even better was that it immediately made me standup straight with my shoulders back. It almost felt odd to be standing the proper way. Like, how bad was my posture before that I felt like I was doing it wrong by standing up straight?!
As time went on I was able to up the amount of time I wore it. After about a week I was able to easily wear it for anywhere between 45 minutes to 1-hour. I actually wanted to wear it longer, but didn’t want to go to the extreme and overdo it. It was kind of funny to catch myself walking by the bathroom mirror and noticing I wasn’t slouched like I normally was. And, dare I say, it actually felt good?
When it comes to the pros and cons of my posture corrector experience, here’s how it went.
• The price was perfect – just $20.
• It really does help you stand up straight with your shoulders properly pulled back.
• The straps are adjustable, so you can make it “tighter” or “looser” depending on how much you want to correct, which was great while getting used to wearing it.
• It’s thin enough to fit under some shirts, so if you want to wear it while you’re out you can basically do it without anyone knowing you’re wearing it.
Let’s not forget about the cons:
• It can, at times, be a little tricky to get off by yourself – at least at first. I had to undo one strap entirely and shimmy out of it a bit. And then I had to place the strap back in every time I wore it.
•It can pinch under your arms a little, especially if you have the straps tight (which I do because it makes you stand up taller). It hurt a bit when I wore it over a thin tee, but was fine when I wore it over a sweatshirt/sweater.
• After you stop wearing it, your posture can revert back to where it was before you started.
Ok, so this is it. When all is said and done, are posture correctors really worth it?
So did it actually work? When wearing it, yes, it worked! But when it comes to answering the question is it worth it – honestly, it’s tough to say that it is worth it.
While wearing the posture strap, it is worth it because it really does help you stand up straight and improve your posture while you’re wearing it. When you take it off, that’s when the real work begins because you have to constantly make sure your posture is straight, which can be challenging.
If your goal is to fix your posture completely then, no posture straps really aren’t worth it. Most will recommend, however, to wear one of these while also incorporating posture correcting exercises into your everyday life.
You should be wearing these as a way to help train you and your body to remember to stand up straight and stop slouching. Unfortunately, this isn’t a magic solution.
If you want to pick one up online, here’s the one that I purchased – and it currently has more than 30,000 reviews and ratings.
ComfyBrace Posture Corrector
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