
Show HN: Slouch Stoppah - lnenad
https://slouchstoppah.com
======
Noumenon72
Good habit formation can't hurt, but don't neglect the fundamentals. The thing
that's pulling your shoulders forward is not some mental weakness on your
part, it's an imbalance in muscle tightness and weakness, like a tent pole
with regular guy wires on one side and yarn on the other. You need exercises
to strengthen the lower traps like floor Y's and chest supported dumbbell row,
plus face pulls and scapular wall slide.

[https://1h6wllf3f4qfut1832zlo21e-wpengine.netdna-
ssl.com/wp-...](https://1h6wllf3f4qfut1832zlo21e-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-
content/uploads/upper-body-cross-syndrome.jpeg) (upper cross syndrome diagram)

[https://www.t-nation.com/training/top-priority-for-lower-
tra...](https://www.t-nation.com/training/top-priority-for-lower-traps) (prone
Y)

[https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19521507/chest-
supported...](https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19521507/chest-supported-
dumbbell-row/) (chest supported dumbbell row)

[https://www.t-nation.com/training/whats-your-weak-
link](https://www.t-nation.com/training/whats-your-weak-link) (scapular wall
slide)

------
lnenad
I've made this for myself to help me slouch less, so I thought it might be
useful to others. It uses face-api.js to get the user's face, and then tries
to guess when you're slouching by capturing the state when you are sitting
upright, and then using position and face size in relation to the captured
state. All processing is done client side and no data is being sent anywhere.

The code is open sourced and can be seen here
[https://github.com/lnenad/slouch-stoppah](https://github.com/lnenad/slouch-
stoppah)

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colordrops
Daily Mysore yoga and a standing desk will also completely fix posture without
needing constant reminders or cyborg devices, but require more effort. There
are other great benefits though, such as weight loss, core strength, and pain
reduction.

~~~
greggman2
And foot destruction (or at least that was my experience and I had to give up
the standing desk) YMMV

~~~
tcoff91
One needs to be smart with transitioning to standing while working. Just going
into it blind isn’t smart. Deskbound by Kelly Starett has a good protocol for
transitioning.

~~~
derefr
How about for people with fallen arches? No length "transition period" can be
expected to work out, if standing for hours just isn't in the cards for you,
physiologically.

~~~
friendlybus
My feet are fairly flat and doing basic deadlifts helped move my posture from
knees rolling in, toes gripping the floor to my feet resting along the edges
of the foot, up to the ball of the foot and my knees straightening out. It
helps the lower back and the strain in neck muscles too.

Standing desks are a significant change. I got a small amount of swollen
ankles the first day of standing for hours. But it works now.

~~~
viburnum
This is really interesting. Why dead lifts?

~~~
friendlybus
It was just an idea floating around the circles I used to visit. I knew it
improved posture so I tried it. I was also having lower back issues and
general excessive computer use problems. Works well enough.

Deadlifts miss the muscles in the shoulder that tighten up from too much mouse
+ kb. I haven't found an excersize for that, which is as effective as
deadlifts. Pushing your arms back in a door frame, holding your elbows above
shoulder height, helps roll back each shoulder and stretch a tight muscle that
goes from the top of your shoulder to the front of your chest that gets tight
when hunched over a kb. That works in the short term, but it doesn't give the
effective feeling of strengthening those muscles in such a way that the
problem recurs much more slowly, like deadlifts do for your legs/back/neck.

I've tried hanging from a pullup bar and that certainly helps reset the
shoulders/neck/head tension, but it's not a fix in the same way gaining
strength is a fix.

~~~
pgt
Anecdote: Indoor rock climbing fixed my back & shoulder pain from computer
work completely, as well as keep my wrists strong for typing and guitar.

~~~
friendlybus
Nice!

------
nchelluri
[https://medium.com/@nchelluri/you-deserve-a-pull-up-
bar-84ec...](https://medium.com/@nchelluri/you-deserve-a-pull-up-
bar-84ec9aabdeb3) is my alternative

~~~
Noumenon72
One of the bullpens at my new job pitched in and got a pull-up stand! It
brings people to visit and makes the place feel like we own it a little.
That's a good selling point that it causes you to rotate your shoulder blades
back and up. Hanging leg lifts can also be done and are also a much more
effective ab exercise than situps (since it only takes 10 reps to get tired,
and you can bring your knees closer or farther away to adjust the resistance).

~~~
closeparen
We had one, until a bean counter had it removed over liability risk.

------
pipu
Very nice work! Thanks for sharing.

I can personally recommend Upright Pose, [https://www.uprightpose.com/en-
try/](https://www.uprightpose.com/en-try/)

~~~
kareemm
What benefits did you get from it?

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viburnum
If your posture is so bad that you literally can’t or don’t know how to stand
up straight, your hamstrings might be super tight. Mine were, anyway.

~~~
knowmad
I too have bad posture and super tight hamstrings. Any tips of improving one
or both of those things?

~~~
danenania
I've found strength training with bodyweight exercises to help immensely with
both. I'm following the "recommended routine" from the /r/bodyweightfitness
subreddit. [1]

On hamstring tightness: often when muscles are tight, it's due to a strength
imbalance. Runners tend to get tight hamstrings because they work their quads
a lot and the hamstrings don't keep up. So while it's a bit of an
oversimplification to say that if certain muscles are chronically tight, you
can fix that just by making them stronger, it's not too far off. For me it was
really that simple: strengthening my hamstrings with hip hinges [2] made them
noticeably less tight within about a month.

For posture it's basically the same idea. I always thought posture was like a
force of will/discipline/habit thing until I finally felt how much easier it
is to have that "discipline" after moderately strengthening my back, chest,
core, and legs. Standing or sitting up straight is actually a lot of work for
our bodies. And if it's basically the hardest thing you regularly subject the
relevant muscles to, it's not too surprising that they will get tired out
quickly. But if you start doing things that are much harder for each muscle
group (like planks, push ups, rows, squats, hinges, etc.), then simply holding
yourself up straight gets much easier.

1 -
[https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/](https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/)

2 -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11I-ZWWNGDI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11I-ZWWNGDI)

------
raldi
I can't get the initial overlay to close (Chrome on iPhone). Neither the close
button nor the X do anything.

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uvisgrinfelds
Love it, already started using it. I was thinking of making something similar;
now I don't have to! Thanks.

~~~
lnenad
Thank you, since you wanted to make something similar if you have any
suggestions feel free to let me know :)

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chrisbennet
"slouching" in the other direction is supposed to be good.

'[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6187080.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6187080.stm)

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Yenrabbit
Started up my own version of this ~10 seconds before I saw this story. It's
amazing how a simple program ("yell at the user if face position < threshold")
is enough to quickly train some better habits.

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xwowsersx
Very cool. My camera is capturing, but the button for "capture current
position" is never enabled. What am I doing wrong here?

~~~
lnenad
Hmm sorry to hear that, can you maybe open the browser console and see if
there are any errors?

~~~
xwowsersx
Works just fine in FF, but also a bit of a hog on resources? I think it'd be
better if it maybe just started/stopped capturing every N minutes or even just
used photos instead of video? Presumably, you can do the same analysis with
just a photo?

~~~
lnenad
I know it takes a lot you can increase the interval to reduce it. Good idea
though, although starting and stopping of the camera can maybe be
buggy/suspicious behavior. I'll definitely add it as an option.

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hammerbrostime
Bostonian?

~~~
lnenad
Nope, why?

~~~
mattmar96
"Stoppah"

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29athrowaway
There are also electronic posture training devices to help with this.

~~~
tinktank
Can you recommend any?

