“Stand up straight!”

“Stop slouching!”

We all used to hear that as children, right? It’s even more important now, later in life.

Parents might tell their kids to correct their posture to instill pride and project confidence. But good posture is about a lot more at this stage of life.

As we age, our bodies are “de-volving” into a more rounded, slumped posture. Not only does that add years to our appearance, but it also contributes to joint and muscle misalignment, which creates bad movement patterns. Continue with those, and pain and injury aren’t far behind.

For many, the slouching starts due to an occupational hazard: sitting behind a desk for decades.

The body will conform to those positions that it is most frequently in. As you sit in a chair, the body assumes a forward head posture with hunched shoulders. Hip flexors also are contracted and shortened. Even our breathing can become restricted.

Try this: Take a long deep breath. See and feel how your chest expands and your shoulders roll back, creating the desired tall, upright posture.

The rounded haunch is common but not inevitable. You can prevent or correct it.  So, focus on breathing, stretching, and strengthening your core to maintain a solid base. And be sure your regimen includes at least a couple of exercises where you’re pulling those shoulders back, like seated rows. Yoga and Pilates are also excellent for strengthening posture.

Do you want to fix your posture and strengthen your joints and muscles? Come and try our 21-Day Strength and Balance Program to see guaranteed results. Let us show you how comfortable, safe, and fun it is to stay healthy and live longer.

Practice the mentioned techniques and practices to stay standing tall. Mom would be proud!

To gain correct posture we must learn how and what effects our posture.

Posture is the alignment and position your body adopts at any given moment based on what your brain is telling it to do. A good way to think of posture is that it is your ‘default’ position at any moment.

If you are reading this it is likely that you have bad posture or are worried that you are getting poor posture.  Maybe you are aware that something you are doing on a regular basis may be causing your posture to change for the worse.

Take action to correct your posture now, the longer you leave it, the harder it becomes to make those corrective changes.

Posture does not just refer to a standing still position, we hold a posture in everything we do.

If we bend forwards to pick something off the ground, the way I would do it is different to the way you would do it. This is because the blueprint patterns or maps that our brain has created over time tells our bodies how to best go about performing certain tasks. The reason it is different for each individual is that everyone has different amounts of strength, weaknesses, tension, pain, ability to balance, etc. – we are all made differently.

IDENTIFY AND FIX POSTURE PROBLEMS:

LORDOTIC – An abnormal forward curvature of the spine in the lumbar region.

CORRECTIVE EXERCISE: Glute Bridges
(click image for instruction)
          

KYPHOTIC – Abnormal rearward curvature of the spine, resulting in protuberance of the upper back; hunchback.

CORRECTIVE EXERCISE: Prone Stick-Ups
Best posture exercise for…slouching too much when sitting, or else hunchbacks, or else kyphosis.
(click image for instruction)
           

SWAYBACK – An excessive downward curvature of the spinal column in the dorsal region.

CORRECTIVE EXERCISE: Feet Secured Sit-Ups
Sit-ups to strengthen lower abdominal and hip flexor muscle
(click image for instruction)
          

FLATBACK –  Loss of either lordosis or kyphosis or both, making the spine straight.

CORRECTIVE EXERCISE: Cat/Cow or Pelvic Tilts
Cat/Cow focusing especially on the COW!
(click image for instruction)
           

For more information regarding postural deficiencies and corrective exercises, Click Here.

Always be aware of your posture!  Correct standing posture is: Stomach in, Chest up, Shoulders back and Knees soft.

Stomach in:  What does that really mean?  This means that you should pull your abdominal muscles into your spine.  Think about introducing your belly button to your spine, this has to be practiced as many people will associate sucking in air to pull their stomach in and that is NOT correct.  Practice by placing your hands just below your umbilicus.  Try feeling the muscles move inward as you purposely pull them in.   This should be practiced in both standing and sitting positions.

Chest up:  Think about elevating your breast bone.  Just by imagining you are lifting your breast bone up, your chest will rise, thus creating a more erect stance.  This too, should be practiced while both sitting and standing.

Shoulders back:  When standing or sitting for that matter, most people have forward rounded shoulders.  This occurs, as many of our daily activities are in front of us, creating tightness in our chest muscles and weakness in our upper back.  To improve this imbalance, pull/pinch shoulder blades together without drastically moving your shoulders/ arms.

Knees soft:  When people stand, they tend to “lock” their knees.  This “locking” position creates a hyper-extension of the knee joint, which puts additional stress on your knee ligaments and your back.  A “soft knee” creates a small, un-noticeable bend in the knee.   Practice by standing purposely- pull your knees all the way straight so they “lock” then relax the joint just enough to “unlock” the knee.  This position is a “soft knee.  Standing in line is a great place to practice and master this skill.

Remember for pain-free exercise:

• Use slow and controlled movements
• Start slow and GRADUALLY increase activities
• Avoid high joint stress movements
• Vary the routine
• Muscles soreness the next day is normal…joint pain is NOT
• Exercises should NEVER increase pain
• The Arthritis Foundation states, pain that does NOT relieve itself within 1 hour is an indication that the exercise session was too intense

Posture Modifications are necessary when posture effects normal position and can create other challenges/pains if not corrected.

Every effort should be made to correct postural challenges before initiating exercises.  It will not only reduce overall pain, but will also re-educate the body as to what “normal” is and the body will learn to adjust to the new corrected alignment.

Use of pillows, towel rolls, etc. can be used to help improve postural deficits.

How To Do A One Arm Row Correctly

Exercise Instructions:

Setup for the one arm dumbbell row:  Grab a flat bench and set a dumbbell or kettleball on the left hand side at one end. Position yourself on the left side of the bench with your right knee and right hand resting on the bench using a neutral grip, pick up the dumbbell with your left hand. Pull your shoulder blade back while keeping your arm straight, engaging the scapula. This is the starting position for the exercise. Slowly pull the dumbbell up as far as possible, exhaling through your mouth.  Pause and squeeze your shoulder blades together, then slowly lower the dumbbell back to the starting position, inhaling through the nose.  Repeat for desired reps.

Tips:

Your shoulder blades should be pulled back throughout the set. Do not let the working shoulder drop down at the bottom of the movement.  Keep your entire torso fixed-naval pulled back toward the spine and back flat.   Pull the weight straight up while keeping your elbow tucked in.

 Check out the rest of the exercise pics by clicking here or on the photo!

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