Everyone talks about binding and rib damage, and that’s really important. But no one talks about binding and shoulder blades.
Now disclaimer I’m not an expert on anything whatsoever, not even close but this is my thinking based on my own experience and inference.
Consider this: you’re a pre-op transmasculine person with bad posture, like most people who bind. Your shoulders roll forward and hunch to conceal your chest. I mean no judgment, this is just how it is to have chest dysphoria.
Some facts about shoulders: when your shoulders are rolled forward, your shoulder blades wing out. When your chest is out and your shoulders are back, your shoulder blades retract. Try it right now in the mirror with just your binder on.
Imma tell you from experience that having your shoulder blades in that winged out position all the time is really not good for them. Some of your tendons lengthen, others shorten, and that starts to be your normal position, and it’s a bitch to put them back.
Now consider this: you’re wearing a binder for 8 hours a day with your shoulders in this position. Your binder is squeezing your shoulder blades, essentially pressing them further into this unhealthy position. Basically what I’m saying is, while everyone can get fucked from having bad posture, people who bind are gonna get fucked a lot more easily than other people.
So to people who bind: try to have as good posture as you can handle, ESPECIALLY when you’re binding.
Listen I’m not here to preach. I know it’s incredibly hard and psychologically taxing to have good posture when you’re trying desperately to hide your chest, and if I could go back and make myself try harder, I don’t know that I would. I just want people to have the information.
So here are some tips for good posture that not everyone knows:
Let’s start basic. Chest out, shoulders back and down. Pretend you’re fucking proud of your chest, or at least not as ashamed of it as you feel.
Traps should be relaxed, no shrugging.
Core slightly engaged, breathing without shrugging.
Glutes a lil engaged, but don’t go too hard lol.
Now things start to get a little weird. Stand up normally with your hands at your sides, and look at your thumbs. Little shits are pointing at each other aren’t they. Ideally, they should be pointing forward. Fucking wild, I know.
Don’t just twist your wrists and say “look they’re pointing forward I fixed it!” It needs to come from your shoulders and lats. This is fucking hard to do. Focus on improvement rather than an immediate 100% fix.
Lats engaged. That’s the muscle that you would use if you tried to bring your elbows together through your body. Engaging your lats will pretty much instantly turn your thumbs out somewhat.
Try this: push on the front of your shoulder using your opposite-hand fingers, and let your shoulder go with the push. Then try to keep it there. (It might crack. That’s ok as long as it doesn’t hurt.)
Look at your shoulders in the mirror. Are they level? Try to make them level.
If a lot of this shit is really hard for you, you might just have really tight muscles in your upper torso. Get a massage if you can afford it, or look up ways to massage yourself.
Some of this stuff varies from person to person but I think these are good as general rules? If someone more knowledgeable about literally anything wants to add to this, please do. I’m pretty much just regurgitating what my trainer tells me, but also he thinks I’m a cis guy and has no idea how I fucked myself up so bad lol.
tl;dr: People who bind are at a greater risk of bad posture related injuries. I know it’s hard but try to have good posture when you bind. Read the bullets for good posture tips.
