By far the most common cause of back and neck pain is poor posture, and the condition is called, postural back pain. The poor posture may result from slouching, or from a forward curvature of the upper spine known as hunchback or hypocrisy. All of those things tend to produce round shoulders where the head and shoulders are pushed forward and downwards. The back pain occurs because that poor posture puts unnatural, excessive and prolonged strain on the muscles, ligaments, discs, and nerves of the spine. The most significant feature of this pain is that there is no evidence of disease on X-rays or other tests and therefore patients are often misdiagnosed as having pain which is imaginary, trivial, psychosomatic or "all in the mind". It is important to understand the real cause of these pains in order to treat them appropriately and prevent the development of injury or disease.

In the past there have been attempts to cure back pain by improving posture with the military stance which involves throwing the head and shoulders back, and throwing the chest out, and pulling the chin and stomach in, and patients have been advised to sit in chairs which have straight backs and lay on hard flat beds. However that advice overlooked the fact that the normal human spine has slight curves in the neck and lumbar regions which give shock absorbing qualities to the human frame, so that by straightening the spine unnaturally and excessively more problems were caused than were cured. Therefore in order to cure problems such as back pain it is important to improve posture in a manner which retains the normal slight curves.

The following methods can assist in relieving, managing, or curing postural back pains which include neck pain, lower back pain, and loin pain (pain in the mid back, or kidney region).

1. The Alexander Technique involves improving posture by raising the head so that the spine straightens below. When the spine has reached a normal position the person then relaxes their spinal muscles and maintains their posture by balancing their head on their spine. By balancing the head and relaxing the muscles, there is no strain on the spine and the cause of the back pain is removed, and as long as there has been no severe damage such as disc rupture or arthritis, the pain can be relieved and in many cases cured.

2. When sitting the person should use chairs and desks which assist in maintaining the natural spinal shape. Therefore the height of the seat of the chair should match the height of the knees so that the person can place their feet on the ground and give slight support from their feet. The height of the desk should be such that the person can read and write by lowering their eye line without having to lean forward, and if necessary they should lean forward from the hips rather than by slouching at the midriff.

The back of the chair should have a slight curve in the lumbar area to maintain the slight lumbar curve, and the back rest should be slightly inclined backwards so that when the person sits in the chair they can sway back and forth to maintain and establish a balanced position for their spine, and so that they can use it for support if they lean back. Where chairs are designed with an additional fully hinged lay back feature the chair should be suitably padded as well. A person who works an 8 hour day at a desk should get up and move about as often as possible or for 10 minutes of each hour to relieve strain on the spine and to prevent persistent and excessive compression of the inter-vertebral discs.

3. When lying down the person should use a bed that is flat, but has a surface which is soft enough to absorb the weight of the heavy protruding parts of the back. As the back of the heels, hips, and shoulders sink into the mattress the lumbar region comes into contact with the bed and is supported.