Head and neck: Make sure that your head extends straight up from your shoulders. Many people tend to lean their head forward. If your ears line up with the front of your chest, you need to pull your head back. [1] X Research source Shoulders, arms, and hands: Your arms and hands should fall on the side of your body. If so, your shoulders are exhibiting good posture. If your arms fall towards the front of your chest, then pull your shoulders back. [2] X Research source Hips: Find a happy middle position between rolling your hips far forward or backward. [3] X Research source
Not all people with poor posture feel pain or discomfort. Our bodies are fairly capable of adjusting and compensating.
While “fallen arches” are themselves a sign of poor posture, you may also experience pain in your feet, ankle, calf, knee, hip, and lower leg area in general. [6] X Research source
The cobra. Lie on your stomach with your hands under your shoulders. Make sure you point your fingers forward. Then, keeping your elbows close to your sides, try to touch your shoulder blades together. Be sure to stabilize your back by tightening your abdominal muscles. Then, slowly lift your chest to the ceiling, making sure to keep your neck long. Use your arms for support, but your back muscles to pull you up. Hold for 10 breaths, then lower yourself. Repeat 3 times. [9] X Research source Child’s pose: Stand on your knees with your arms above your head. Palms should be facing each other. Then, exhale and slowly move forward. Lower your forehead to the floor and stretch your arms out in front of you, pressing your palms into the floor. Hold, and then return to the starting position. Repeat six times. [10] X Research source Mountain Pose. Stand straight with your feet on the ground, heels slightly apart. Be sure your weight is evenly distributed between your two feet. Lift the insides of your ankles so that your feet seem cupped. Then, extend your shoulder blades and try to touch them. Slowly release. Finally, raise your arms to the ceiling and gaze forward. [11] X Research source
Squeeze your shoulder blades together. Pretend you’re holding a ball between your shoulder blades. Try to squeeze the ball by bringing your shoulder blades together. Hold for 10 seconds. This will help stretch the front of your shoulders, which will likely be tight from poor posture. Roll your shoulders. Roll one shoulder forwards, upwards, backwards, then back down. Imagine that you are sliding your shoulder blade down your spine. Then, repeat on the other side. This will help settle your shoulders farther back than they usually settle. Stretch your chest. Find a rolled up towel or piece of fabric and stand with your legs shoulder width apart. Grip the fabric so that it is taut and your hands are also shoulder width apart. Inhale and lift your arms to shoulder height. Then, exhale and pull your arms up and back as far as you can. Hold for two inhales and exhales, then lower your arms and repeat. [13] X Research source
If you sleep on your back, consider putting a pillow under your knees and a rolled towel under your back. This will help relieve pressure on the back, alleviating back pain and encouraging back lengthening. If you sleep on your side, consider putting a pillow in between your knees to help keep your hips aligned. Avoid sleeping on your stomach. Sleeping face down puts unnecessary strain on the spine, and can lead to spinal degradation. It can also lead to chronic neck pain and lower back pain in the future.
Bend at the knees, not the waist. Your leg and stomach muscles are designed to help you carry and lift things, but your back muscles are not. When you go to lift something, be sure to bend completely at the knees instead of bending over to avoid straining your lower back. Keep the objects close to your chest. The closer the object is to your chest, the less work your back will have to do to hold it up.
Most of these exercises will be geared towards increasing your range of motion in your hips and elongating your spine, releasing any tension compacted along your spinal column. [19] X Research source If your problem is less severe, consider just working with a personal trainer. Tell your trainer that you want to focus on those muscles that lead to better posture (primarily your lateral muscles). They’ll show you sets of general exercises and stretches to improve your posture. [20] X Research source
Alternatively, sitting in a massage chair regularly will relieve stress, but it won’t be able to give you the specialized tension in those areas that require it most like a trained masseuse would be able to do.
