I was walking by a storefront and noticed my reflection. My shoulders were rounded, and I wasn’t standing tall. When I think of good posture, I think of my second cousin, Nicole. She was a ballerina in The Phantom of the Opera and still practices ballet. When she stands, it’s as if there’s a string that runs from the top of her head to the sky. She’s the epitome of good posture.
As we age, we sometimes forget about the importance of good posture and its impact on our overall health and well-being. And, with the advent of technology, we’re doing a lot more curving and forward neck craning than generations before us.
Why It Matters
Good posture refers to how our body is positioned and aligned when we’re standing, sitting or lying down. When we have good posture, we are in alignment and our muscles, ligaments, joints and nerves are working efficiently and as intended. An upright stature also makes our movements more fluid and our body less prone to injury.
After middle age, it is particularly important to maintain good posture to combat the loss of bone mass and reduced muscle tissue that typically comes with age. Proper posture also minimizes strain on our backs and necks by keeping our bones and muscles in their natural positions. And, truth be told, we just don’t want to shrink as we get older and get the dreaded Dowager’s Hump.
There are plenty of steps we can take to maintain good posture, keep our spine healthy, and stay aligned. Here are seven wonderful ways to improve our posture.
Take the Wall Test and Envision String
We’ve all seen the stooped elderly woman, the man with his neck craned forward, or even the teenager with her body literally drooping over her smartphone. Not good. When standing, stand straight and tall with your shoulders back and shoulder blades pulled down. Your head should be level and in line with your body, pulling in your tummy. Your feet should be roughly shoulder-width apart, with weight equally distributed on both feet.
To test your posture, take the wall test. Place your head, shoulder blades, back and butt against the wall. Have your heels about four to six inches away from the wall. Put your hand between the curve of your back and the wall, making sure you can only fit one hand’s thickness in that gap. This test will help you assess your posture and identify where you need to make improvements.
Once you’ve made adjustments, envision a string that runs from your thighs, through your trunk, up through your neck and head, and continuing on to the ceiling or sky. Pretend the string is pulling you up, creating an aligned stature as you stand and walk during the day.
Use a Yoga Bolster
We spend so much time with our bodies forward, our neck down and our arms in front. Over time, this is what creates rounded shoulders and a neck-forward posture. It is important to open up the front of our body to counterbalance the times it’s more closed.
A yoga bolster offers a therapeutic way to counteract bad posture and open up our chest, ribs and core. It is a soft, yet supportive, round cotton cylinder that you lie on. It can be used for many restorative poses, but my favorite is to use it as a chest opener. I typically relax on it with my arms straight out the sides or bent at 90-degree angles. This short video by Mai Trainer shows how to use it.
When lying on the bolster, you will feel your chest, armpits, and abdomen loosen, alleviating the tightness that may have been pulling you forward. It also provides a relaxing moment to meditate or just unwind.
Roll on a Foam Roller
The foam roller is a fixture in our family room, sometimes getting more attention than our sofa. Some days it seems I’ll roll darn near every body part or I’ll camp on it along my spine to relax.
The foam roller puts targeted pressure on your fascia, releasing trigger points where you’re feeling tightness or soreness, increasing circulation, and enabling fascia movement. The fascia is the fibrous layer of connective tissue that surrounds all of our muscles, kind of like plastic wrap over meat. Without proper movement, fascia fibers become rigid and bind to our muscles and nerves, causing discomfort. Maybe you’ve heard of the term myofascial release? That’s essentially what the foam roller does, just without the physical therapist or masseuse.
There is a variety of foam rollers on the market, with the variables being texture, size, density, color and brand. I’ve experimented with a bunch and now have a graveyard of rollers. My favorite is the JFit High Density EVA Roller because it has a smoother texture and is not too hard, not too soft. The 36-inch length is optimal because it gives you plenty of room to roll and, when aligned with your spine, is plenty long to do the trick.
There are a kazillion websites, books and videos that show how to roll, some better than others. If you’re a visual learner, the YouTube video by Debra Atkinson is one of the better ones. If you prefer a book, The Melt Method by Sue Hitzmann provides comprehensive information, including detailed instruction, breathing techniques, and visual guides.
When you roll, particularly on your upper back, it loosens things up and makes you stand a bit taller.
Sit Correctly and Adjust Your Desk
It is essential to have good sitting posture, particularly when you’re working on your computer or tablet. When seated, adjust the height of your chair so that your feet rest flat on the floor, with your thighs parallel to the floor. Stretch the top of your head toward the ceiling and tuck your chin in slightly. Keep your upper back and neck comfortably straight, with your shoulders more relaxed, but not rounded.
Next, evaluate the ergonomics of your desk area. When working on your computer or tablet, your arms should be at 90-degree angles. If you find your shoulders hunching up, it means your chair is too low relative to the height of the desk or table.
It is also essential to have your screen at eye-level to prevent your neck from leaning down to gaze. Laptops are notorious for causing this problem. Although the arms may be at the right level, the computer screen is too low, causing the neck and shoulders to round down. This position places the neck in an unnatural position and creates the bad forward-neck posture.
Buy an Upright Go
If you’re serious about improving your posture, another clever gadget is an Upright Go. The Upright Go is the modern-day version of having your grandmother say “sit up straight.”
This small, lightweight device can either be stuck to your back or worn as a necklace. The device trains you to maintain an optimal posture by tracking your posture during the day. The device is synced via Bluetooth with the Upright Go app on your phone (iOS and Android) and tracks your posture.
The device will gently vibrate to alert you whenever you’re slouching. When I tried this device, I was nervous that the vibration would be too intense, and I might feel a bit like Pavlov’s dog. But the vibration is mild and can be adjusted in the app. The sensitivity can also be altered so that it doesn’t vibrate when you’re just momentarily adjusting your posture or moving.
There are different options to choose from based on your level of activity. Your posture activity is automatically stored for seven days. When you reconnect to the app, all of your data loads to the dashboard on the app. It’s easy to learn and reminds us to keep an upright posture.
Do Posture-Correcting Exercises
There are two aspects of our posture that we need to address with exercises: overall posture and neck alignment.
One of the best ways to improve our posture is by strengthening our back and opening up our chest. This can be accomplished with three key daily exercises: one that stretches the pectoral muscles, one that strengthens our upper back, and one that pulls it all together with motion and mindfulness.
This video by GuerrillaZen Fitness demonstrates these three exercises. For the second exercise, you will need a resistance band with grip handles and something solid to attach it to, like a post or tree. Pick the band with the resistance color that matches your strength.
The second set of exercises addresses the forward-head posture problem, or text neck, as they call it. This posture no-no develops because our deep cervical flexors (in the front) become weak and our muscles in the back become tight, pulling the neck forward. Activities like texting, looking at our phones, improper desk configurations, and forward-centric activities are typically to blame.
This video by Jeremy Ethier shows us how to strengthen the muscles that are weak and stretch the muscles that are tight. He also provides helpful tips to correct the forward head posture. The only prop you will need is a tennis ball.
Look Up, Reach Up
We spend a lot of time looking down, even when we’re active. When we’re checking our smartphones, we’re looking down. Even when we’re walking, we’re gazing downward to avoid uneven terrain or obstacles. That’s normal and, in many cases, unavoidable. But, all that looking down is rounding our shoulders, moving our heads forward, and messing with our posture.
Also read, Walking Well: Check Your Posture to Feel More Confident Walking (VIDEO).
To provide balance, we need to look for opportunities to look up and stretch upward. Many yoga poses, like sun salutations and cobra, are awesome. Stretches that require upward gazes and moving our arms above our head are very helpful. Being more mindful about looking up now and then is also a good habit to form. Looking at clouds, a high skyscraper, birds, the passing airplane, trees – anything above our heads.
When using your smartphone, the advice of very busy orthopedic doctors is to hold your device up to eye level. This will minimize the bend in your neck and maintain optimal spine posture. There are also handy clip holders that provide adjustable viewing brackets that attach to tables, desks and bedside tables.
Stand Tall
If we take steps now to stand tall and keep our posture healthy, that’s a good thing and sets us up for fewer problems in the years ahead. So, here’s to good posture, standing tall, staying aligned, and reaching for the sky!
As with all exercises and stretches, please take it slow and seek medical guidance to prevent injury.
Please Join the Conversation:
How would you describe your posture? Is it good enough or does it need to be improved? How do you keep your posture straight?
