Improve Your Posture

Six everyday habits that ruin your posture and what you can do to stop them.

16:51 25 April 2016

Personal trainer Dominic identifies six everyday habits that you must avoid to improve your posture.

 

1.      Ankles wrapped around the leg of a chair. Wrapping your ankles around the leg while sitting can lead to muscular changes that can lead to the internal rotation of the hips. To correct this, use a resistance band to do 10 rotations clockwise and 10 counter clockwise of ankle circles to explore your full range. Just make sure that the movement is coming from the ankle and not the toes.

 

2.      Mobile phone usage. It is very common to see people these days looking at their phones while their neck is slumped forward, which results in neck, shoulders and upper back pain. To prevent these from occurring, stretch your neck muscles every so often.

 

3.      Stress/emotional postures. People who are under a lot of emotional stress typically slouch leading to shoulder soreness and shallow breathing due to a depressed chest cavity. To remedy this, perform exercises that restore length tension by integrating the five basic movement patterns into your workout (loaded carry, hinge, squat, pull and push).

 

4.      Wearing high heels. High heels position your feet and ankles into a constant flexion. Thus, it is important to stretch them out in the opposite space as often as possible. This can be done by placing the ball of your foot at the edge of the bottom of the stair.

 

5.      Sitting for extended periods of time. Limit the amount of time you are seated. Every one to two hours, stand up, do some stretching, and walk around.

 

6.      Carrying a handbag. If you’re carrying a handbag on a regular basis, you can avoid putting your body under long term strain by doing core work such as planks.