Good posture helps keep your body functioning at a high level. Whether it’s in your day to day life, whilst playing sport or exercising, having good posture can help prevent injuries and other pain and symptoms.
Good posture is different for everybody as everybody is built slightly differently. Generally good posture involves standing or sitting up straight. You need a good base of support, and you need to keep your back straight, shoulders back and chin tucked.
Here are my three tips for helping to keep good posture:
1. Core stability
2. Rolled towel stretch
3. Chin tuck
1. Core stability
Having good core stability is the best way for your spine to have a good base. With a strong core, you can build good posture on top of that. An easy exercise you can do to help strengthen your core is the plank. This exercise is done by holding yourself up on your forearms and toes with your stomach towards the floor. Keeping your back straight, try to hold for up to 30 seconds. You should feel tension building in your abdominals.
2. Rolled towel stretch
As most people work on computers or on handheld devices, a lot of people are tight through their chest which pulls the shoulders forward. The rolled towel stretch is a great way to loosen the muscles in your chest and shoulders. Roll up a bath towel and then lie on your back on the floor. Have the towel running along the length of your spine from the top of your shoulder blades towards your pelvis. Lie with your arms stretched out to the sides, you should feel a stretch in your chest and shoulders. You can lie on the towel for anywhere from a minute to 5-10 minutes.
3. Chin tuck
Again, with the use of mobile phones and handheld devices, most people tend to spend a lot of time with their neck and head tilted forward and down. This can lead to pain and symptoms in the neck and upper back. Doing the chin tuck exercise can help to reverse this and strengthen the muscles in the neck to hold your head up straight. Sitting up straight in a chair, tuck your chin and hold for 3 seconds. Repeat this 10 times and do that a couple of times a day.
If you suffer from pain relating to poor posture, an Osteopath can help you improve your posture to decrease pain and symptoms.