Exercises to improve posture
It’s important to note that the best exercises to improve posture will vary from person to person, depending on the specific issues that they may need to work on.
However for some of the common causes of posture you may find it helpful to dedicate just 3 minutes a day to these simple exercises.
1. Tighten your pelvis.
When your pelvis is in the right position, it becomes uncomfortable to hold your head in a forward position or to slouch. Try to do this as often as you can (whenever you think about it). By regularly tightening your pelvis over time your body will begin to naturally adopt this new habit.
2. Focus on lifting your chest, not just tucking your head back.
In many cases, forward head posture is accompanied by rounded shoulders and a slouched upper back posture.
Simply retracting your head will not correct the problem. Imagine you have a helium balloon attached to each of your chest muscles, and they are lifting them toward the ceiling.
Many times, just lifting the chest causes a natural retraction of issues like forward head posture. Again, try to do this as often as you can in order for your body to adopt this as a regular habit.
3. Perform “chin retractions”.
A great way to re-program yourself to get rid of forward head posture is to perform 10 chin retractions every hour on the hour throughout the day. Remember to do this gently and slowly, it shouldn’t hurt at all.
If you do this throughout an 8 hour workday, along with lifting your chest, you will have done 80 postural corrections!
This will help you re-pattern your posture easily and effectively.
Your local CAA Chiropractor can give you advice on suitable exercises to address posture issues.
(For more great daily exercises to improve your posture and health, visit Straighten Up Australia)