Posture is a word you would have likely heard of before, but do you actually know what it means?
The term refers to the position you hold your body in when sitting, standing or lying down.
It is related to the shape of your spine, which is a shallow 'S' shape, and if you sit with these curves in place, your muscles and ligaments are in their neutral position.
Good posture can help maintain normal movements in the joints of the spine, ensure muscle flexibility and help with muscle balance on both sides of the spine, according to NHS Fife.
Videos about posture on TikTok have seen a large spike in popularity in recent times, with many sharing tips about how to improve it through exercises and wearing various garments.
Lidl has used this opportunity to jump on the trend and created a £7.99 Posture Trainer for their Middle Aisle.
As a reporter, the vast majority of my work requires sitting at my desk for around eight hours a day. This has not helped my posture as I unconsciously lean forward to type (especially if I have my cat sitting on my lap).
I imagine a lot of people will be in the same position as me if they're at a desk most of the time, and could do some help by sitting up straighter. I was curious to see if this Lidl Posture Trainer would actually be able to help, so I decided to give it a review.
What exactly is the Lidl Posture Trainer?
The Lidl Posture Trainer is effectively a small vest, similar to the GPS vests you might see professional footballers wear under their shirts.
It has a couple of loops to put your arms through and velcro sections on the straps to pull them tight around your shoulders.
What comes in the box for the Lidl Posture Trainer?
There isn't very much that comes in the box for the Posture Trainer, as it's just the vest and a small booklet of instructions.
This is only a few pages in actuality, with it being repeated in various different languages.
Does the Lidl Posture Trainer work?
I found the Posture Trainer easy to put on, and the instructions do have a brief visual guide if you need a bit of help.
All you need to do is put your arms through the loops and pull on the straps upwards to tighten the grip. From there, you can place the velcro section down on the other end of the loop to secure it. The instructions do mention that it is best to do this standing up and that it should sit "comfortably and slightly taut on the body". This was easy enough to do, although I needed to pull quite a bit on the straps to make it feel tight enough.
Lidl had partnered with posture expert Dr Rebekah Jade for the release of the item, who recommended wearing it for 20-30 minutes at a time during activities like work and reading. I feel like it would have been helpful to have that information in the actual instruction booklet, which doesn't specify how long you should wear it for.
For the purposes of testing, I decided to try it out for a week, wearing it for 30 minutes a day when I was sitting at my desk typing on my laptop.
I could certainly feel the tightness around my upper body when I was typing, and I have to say it did provide a decent reminder to sit up a bit straighter when I was focused on work. A lot of problem with posture comes down to uncouciosuly sitting or standing in awkward positions, so it was quite useful in that regard.
After seven days of wearing it, I was curious to see if there was any impact on my posture compared to the start of the week. As you can see from the side-by-side comparison (left image being before I started and right image after seven days of usage), there was minimal difference.
This is likely due to the relatively short time trying it, but I believe it is something that will do some good in the long run.
I am being more conscious about how I sit when at my desk, which is definitely a plus point.
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Additionally, combining the wearing of the Posture Trainer with exercises such as reverse arm raises at the gym will build up strength in upper back and shoulder muscles, which will be very helpful.
Overall, I would recommend the Lidl Posture Trainer as a reasonably-priced tool to help correct your posture over time.
Where can you find Lidl's Posture Trainer?
Due to being a Lidl Middle Aisle item, it is available to find in stores until stocks last.
