Are you concerned about losing good posture?

It used to be that only when we age, our posture deteriorates, but since the advent of computing, posture is deteriorating in many younger bodies.

Why does that happen?

Apart from computing, there are so many activities that we do forward of our bodies. This often requires bending and curving the back forward. Asa result, our back muscles become overstretched and the chest muscles become too tight overtime. Tight muscles (e.g. hamstrings and quads) are also often responsible for lower back and hip problems.Now, before you do these exercises I strongly recommend that you see a health practitioner first to make sure that there are no serious conditions to deal with.

So it’s maybe the right time for you to take a serious look at the way you look to others. Have a friend take photos of you standing front-on and another side-on to the camera. Stand up as you normally do so you’ll see in the picture what your posture really looks like. When youexamine the pics, front-on, draw a line from your nose, right down through the centre of your body to the floor (a plumb-line); and another (side-on) from your ear, down the side of your body again to the floor.

These are the things that you need to make a note of:

* How is the positioning of your head? Is it leaning too far forward or on one side?

* How about your shoulders? Are they tipped forward as well? Or is one side lower than the other side?

* Are your hips thrusted forward too much as well? Are either side of it the same height or is one higher than the other?

* What about your back? Is it flat and generally curved forward?

* What about your feet? Are they sloping inwards or outwards? Actually if this is the case, you’ll probably be well advised to visit a podiatrist or similar health practitioner.

How can you remedy this? Here we have three simple exercises for posture improvement.

1. For upper back & head:Stand tall head up and simply draw  the shoulder-blades down your back towards the floor. As soon as you do this exercise, you’ll feel relief of tired neck and shoulder muscles almost immediately. Remind yourself to do this several times a day “it’s that easy “ and I guarantee that in a couple of months, you’ll improve your posture.

2. ForLower Back:Try stretching your hamstrings – all you need to do is throw your leg up on a chair, place hands either side on the chair and lean forward. If you cannot get your head to within 1/3 meter from your knee, you have very tight hamstrings which are a big problem for posture.

3. For Your Core Strength: Called the “Hundreds”: Lie on your back on the floor, raise your head and shoulder blades so it is not touching the floor. Then raise your legs at an angle of 45 degrees. With your arms straight, pump it up and down until you reach to a count of 100.

Also, you need to take good care of your body. Be consciously aware of how you are sitting (on your sit bones) and not lolling too much. While walking, hold your chin up and don’t look down on the ground. Get doing these posture exercises and they will help you improve your posture. You’ll feel good and look great in no time at all. Good luck!

Pamela White is a qualified and experienced Pilates exercises instructor and founder of My-Pilates-Exercises.com offering free posture exercises, tips and techniques to help you feel great and improve you posture.

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