Find the Postural Habits Behind Your Pain and Fatigue

Postural Assessment

Your posture affects more than your spine. It influences breathing, strength, and how forces travel through your joints. We evaluate your static and dynamic posture to correct patterns that create fatigue, tension, and injury.

Postural Assessment Edmonton

How Poor Posture Affects Your Movement and Pain

You don’t have to be hunched over to have posture problems. Modern life—sitting, screens, stress—shifts your body out of alignment. Over time, those subtle shifts become chronic pain, tension, or reduced mobility that no amount of stretching or “core work” fixes.

  • Prolonged sitting weakens stabilizing muscles, leading to forward head, rounded shoulders, and lower back strain.
  • You might notice aches, fatigue, or stiffness—but the root cause is often unseen postural stress.
  • Correcting posture improves not just appearance but function, breathing, joint load, and body mechanics.
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What We Look For in a Postural Analysis

Posture isn’t just about appearance — it reflects how well your body handles stress, load, and alignment in real life. We evaluate posture in both stillness and motion to reveal dysfunctions that contribute to pain, fatigue, and movement limitations.

Static Postural Alignment in Key Areas

First, we assess how your body holds itself when standing. This shows us chronic misalignments that influence everything from joint stress to breathing.

  • Head, neck, and shoulders: forward head posture, rounded shoulders, and abnormal cervical-thoracic curves

  • Spine and pelvis: excessive lumbar curve, swayback, and anterior or posterior pelvic tilt

  • Lower body alignment: uneven hips, knock knees or bow legs, foot pronation or supination

Dynamic Posture Under Movement

Then we observe how your posture changes while you move — revealing where stability breaks down under load or repetition.

  • Load response: how your posture adapts (or breaks down) during squats, reaching, or walking

  • Fatigue compensation: slouching or imbalance that emerges under repetition or resistance

  • Core and balance control: signs of poor trunk control, asymmetry, or shift strategies

Patterns That Indicate Dysfunction or Risk

Finally, we identify patterns linked to injury risk or recurring pain — so we can address root causes, not just symptoms.

  • Common dysfunctions: Upper Crossed Syndrome, Lower Crossed Syndrome, “desk posture” distortions

  • Pain generators: neck tension, back strain from tilt, or knee pain linked to postural collapse

  • Movement inefficiencies: posture faults that increase injury risk or energy waste during activity

  • What are the most common postural dysfunction patterns?

    Common postural dysfunctions include forward head posture, rounded shoulders, anterior pelvic tilt, and exaggerated spinal curves. These patterns contribute to joint strain, poor alignment, neck tension, and long-term pain if left uncorrected.

    • Forward head posture can strain the neck and upper back.

    • Rounded shoulders reduce shoulder mobility and breathing efficiency.

    • Pelvic tilt affects low back loading and gait efficiency.

    • Excessive spinal curvature disturbs weight distribution and balance.

    📌 Postural issues aren’t just cosmetic — they create real mechanical stress across your kinetic chain.

  • Can poor posture really cause long-term pain or fatigue?

    Yes. Poor posture disrupts how your body absorbs force, distributes weight, and stabilizes joints. Over time, this can lead to fatigue, overuse injuries, and chronic pain — especially in the neck, shoulders, lower back, and hips.

    • Constant misalignment increases joint stress and muscle overwork.

    • Poor posture affects energy use and breathing mechanics.

    • Symptoms often include tight traps, low back soreness, and tiredness from standing or sitting too long.

    📌 Even small postural faults, repeated daily, can lead to big pain over time.

  • How are corrective exercises chosen for posture problems?

    Corrective exercises are selected based on your personal postural assessment. Your kinesiologist looks at alignment, compensation patterns, and core control to build a plan that restores balance and retrains your posture automatically.

    • Exercises are matched to your specific muscle imbalances.

    • Focus is on retraining deep stabilizers, not just stretching tight areas.

    • Goals include rebalancing posture, restoring spinal alignment, and rebuilding control.

    📌 It’s not about doing more stretches — it’s about fixing how your body holds itself, even at rest.

A Simple 3 Step Process

No Guesswork, just results

Getting started is simple – if your posture is affecting how you move, work, or feel day-to-day, I’ll show you exactly where the breakdown is and what to do about it.

  • Browse Assessments

    Pick the type of support your body needs. Choose Assessment Below.

    Step 1 Schedule a Movement Assessment with a Kinesiologist

  • Get a Plan Built on Data

    Receive a corrective roadmap based on joint and muscle testing.

    Custom Training Program Designed by Kinesiologist

  • Move Better, Feel Stronger

    Build efficient, pain-free movement that lasts beyond training.

    Woman begins her custom fitness training program with her personal trainer

Choose the Assessment That Fits You Best

tools that actually tell us something

Understanding how your body moves is step one. These science-backed assessments reveal dysfunction, imbalance, or asymmetry—so your program is based on facts, not guesses.

Comprehensive Movement Assessment

Your starting point. This full-body evaluation combines strength, control, and mobility to map out the right assessments for your needs.

Biomechanical Assessment

See how your joints and muscles work together—or don’t. A biomechanical screen highlights what’s overcompensating and what’s holding you back.

Core Stability Assessment

Your core is more than abs. Discover whether your deep stabilizers are supporting your spine or silently allowing dysfunction.

Gait Analysis

Every step you take reveals compensation. We assess stride mechanics to reduce stress, increase efficiency, and improve long-term mobility.

Functional Movement Assessment

This broad test reveals how you move through real-life actions—lifting, squatting, balancing—so your plan can match how you live and train.

Muscle Activation Testing

Feel like something’s “off” when you move? This test reveals which muscles aren’t firing, so we can fix the problem at the root.

Start with a Conversation About Your Movement

Not sure what kind of assessment you need? That’s okay. We’ll walk you through your options and help you find the best starting point for your body and your goals.

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Fix the Foundation, Finally

If you’re feeling stiff, sore, or unsure whether your posture is causing bigger issues — you’re not alone. Many of my clients come in thinking they just need to stretch more, when really, their body is working around misalignment it’s not built to handle.

With over 15 years as a kinesiologist, I assess posture through a clinical lens — looking at joint angles, load compensation, and how you hold yourself throughout the day. We use your real posture data to design exercises that restore symmetry, reduce strain, and make movement feel natural again.

Rob Appleton Certified Registered Kinesiologist Personal Trainer and owner of Apex Body Solutions
Corrective Exercise