What is the proper standing posture if you have an inguinal hernia to be able to keep the hernia in?

I get asked this question a lot, so I decided to do this video and write a post about it.

I learned correct standing posture a while back from Kelly Starette. He’s the author of a book called Becoming a Supple Leopard. There’s tons of stuff in there about posture and mobility, and this is what I’ve figured out works best for me.

Step #1

When I’m getting ready to stand, I want to think from the ground up.  I want to get my feet situated directly underneath my shoulder blades. Once my feet are directly under my shoulder blades, I want to make sure that they’re nice and straight. I don’t want them pigeon-toed, and I don’t want them to be like duck feet.

Step #2

I’m going to screw my feet into the ground. I want to press my heels toward the inside, and my toes toward the outside, but not actually letting my feet move on the ground. Essentially, I’m  loading up the musculature in my feet. Basically that will open your arches up. You will have to squeeze your glutes in order to make the screwing into the ground motion.

Step #3

Once my glutes are squeezed, I tilt my pelvis posteriorly (toward the back). That’s going to cause me to tighten my stomach up. I make sure my shoulders are over the top of my pelvis, and my head is over top of my shoulders in a nice straight line. I don’t want to lean too far back on my heels or too far forward on my toes. My body weight should be over top of my arches.

Step #4

Now, I’m bracing my glutes. That’s pulling my pelvis posteriorly. I have my stomach tight. I’ve got my shoulders stacked on top of my pelvis, and my head stacked on top of the shoulders in a nice straight line. Now, I can let the glutes go to about 20%, and let the stomach go a bit. I don’t want to let the stomach go all the way, but I want to keep it engaged just enough to hold myself in that nice, straight position.

So, that’s the basics of it! This is how I stand when I’m at my desk, standing in line in the store, or any other time really.

This does take some practice, so have some patience with yourself. When you’re standing in line at the store, or any time you’re just kind of standing around, just put it in your mind that you’re going to think about this. It really does help with the hernia. It gets all the musculature in the right position and holding correctly in order to hold the abdominal contents in the best way. This is how I do it, and it works for me. So, hopefully it works for you guys, too!