We all know that good posture not only looks good, but also allows the body to move with great efficiency free of pain and compensation. Modern living and technology advancement has made many changes to our lifestyle that makes things much easier, unfortunately, it has also come at a cost to our health and in particular our posture. The introduction of computers and jobs requiring us to sit for long periods and more recently IPAD’s and smart phones that people stare at all day in a flexed and hunched position has seen a rapid rise in postural related injuries. We cannot change this evolution to our lifestyle, but we can begin using exercise as a way to counter the damage created from these daily habits. The exercises to use can vary a lot from person to person as we are all unique in our own way and our postures might differ slightly, but there is a common theme to all exercises that promote good posture. And that is - they promote EXTENSION. This article we give you an example of a strength workout you could use to improve your posture and prevent the onset of injury and pain.

Understanding the Damage Poor Posture Creates

The most concerning issue arising from postural faults and imbalance, is not just the area in pain but the risk of further more serious injury in other areas in the body. This is due to the loss of stability and balance as the body is forced to use compensatory methods to protect itself. These compensations set in motion a chain reaction of problems when we begin to move.

For example a forward head posture will increase the thoracic spine kyphosis restricting your ability to rotate your head and upper body, which in turn restricts your balance. Also the strain on the neck muscles to hold your head up and be able to look ahead increases substantially.

Research has found that for every inch the head moves forward it doubles itself in weight!

The damage created to the discs in the lower back from repeatedly sitting in poor posture is common knowledge to all health practitioners. Sustaining a slouching or forward bending of your spine leads to overstretching and weakness of the posterior fibrocartilage (or annulus) of the spinal discs. Over time, this leads to poor disc integrity and displacement of the disc nucleus fluid posteriorly. This places your spinal joints and nerves under pain-causing pressure.

I work closely with a Chirorpractor in Doncaster, Michael Black from Black Chiropractic Centre who has been treating patients for over 30 years. He very rarely used to see teenagers with neck problems from poor posture whereas now he regularly has patients in his waiting room that are only 15 years old! It has become that common that some modern postural conditions even have their own name. For example, “text neck”.

Recent estimates showed that at least 77% of the world's population has their own mobile phone and many studies have been conducted to study the correlation between using mobile phones for texting and both, neck and shoulder pain. See journal results for more information on this.

If you have neck pain I suggest reading our detailed article – How To Get Rid of a Stiff Neck

And there is a comprehensive report you can instantly download with all of our assessments and programs to help you do this. Click here to get your copy and see more information about this.

What Exercises Can You Use?

If you are not in pain and looking for a program to prevent problems then the following workout is for you. Again I must state that this is just a guide and you do need to modify things based on your own ability and postural requirements. For some this workout will be too difficult and others might need a greater amount of stretching involved. But as a general rule you will begin to see how each of these exercises provides a unique demand on the body to enhance how you maintain optimal posture.

Before moving on we will define exactly what “ideal posture” is.

If you were to draw a line extending down the side of the body it should run through the ear lobe, transect the shoulder, hip and knee joints and fall just in front of the ankle bone. This is the position you are trying to maintain with all of the following exercises.

Below is a quick video with all the exercises we are about cover.

We will now evaluate each of these exercises individually to explain their specific purpose and also if you may need to modify or skip using it entirely.

1. Prone Cobra

I used to regard this as the best exercise for improving posture and thought everyone needed to improve their thoracic extension strength. I now know that some people have excessive thoracic extension and this exercise can actually cause more thoracic rigidity and neck pain. I will rarely use this with people who have either a

• Winged scapula or a
• Flat back and posterior rotated pelvis.

Both of these postural problems will be exacerbated by the prone cobra that tries to squeeze the scapula together and lock them into more extension. Their problems will be corrected more with stability of the pelvis and thoracic mobility instead of locking them into extension.

Instructions:

1. Lie face down with your arms at your sides.
2. As you inhale pick your chest up off the floor with the neck in neutral alignment simultaneously squeezing your shoulder blades together and rotating your arms out so the palms face away from your body.
3. You should feel the muscles between your shoulder blades doing the work. If you feel stress in your low back squeeze your butt cheeks together prior to lifting your torso.
4. Hold until you need to breathe out and exhale as you lower.

Make sure you hold this for 10 seconds and complete 6 repetitions before completing two more sets.

2. Thoracic & Hip Mobility

We quickly touched on thoracic mobility with the last exercise and this is very often a big factor to change. As opposed to trying to strengthen this area as with the prone cobra, we are now trying to mobilize and free it up.

The main function of the thoracic spine is to hold the rib cage, and protect the heart and lungs. It also provides 2 critical movements.

1. Extension of the rib cage in order to lift our arms overhead.
2. Rotation of the trunk for movements like walking and throwing a ball.

When we lose the mobility to perform these movements big problems will be on the horizon. Your body will be forced to find mobility at other joints compromising their stability. And the two joints that suffer the most are the lumbar spine, and the shoulder/neck.

There are many things you may need to use to improve this and I suggest you read our full article on this for more detail – Why Thoracic Mobility is the hidden cause of chronic pain

In our workout I would allow time to complete the two exercises shown below.

We cannot ignore hip mobility as this is the other area we also see significant stiffness. This is very common to the flat back posture who find it difficult to bend correctly. This is where their butt is stuck in a gripping position and being tucked under, usually this is created from poor sitting positions.

Spending a lot of time to release the stiffness in the hips is critical.

You will find a stack of great ideas in this article - 10 ways to improve your hip mobility

3. Deadlift

Now that some of the simple exercises are out of the way we can start to look at the big strength movements, and number one on the list is the Deadlift. In terms of improving posture this is simply the art of standing up tall and learning to use your hips to bend correctly.

This one movement provides so many benefits to your body we believe it should be included in every person’s program it is that good. However, perfect technique is critical for the risk of injury is very high.

I suggest to read our article – Which Deadlift version is best for you to see more on the various techniques you can use.

My favourite version is the Romanian Deadlift as featured in the video below.

1. Stand in a position that allows you to keep a natural arch in your low back at the lowest point of the exercise. It is very important to keep the natural arch!
2. Standing with feet a comfortable width apart. Reach down keeping the natural arch in your low back. Grasp the bar a little more than shoulder width apart (clean grip).
3. Pick the chest up, look forward inhale drawing the belly button inward.
4. Bend forward slightly until the bar is at knee level; lift the torso to the top position, exhaling through pursed lips through the most difficult point of the movement. Imagine trying to push the ground away from you with your feet.
5. At the top repeat the inhaling process before lowering to the ground.

4. Swissball Prone Jack-knife

This exercise is an excellent way to develop anterior core strength with good hip mechanics.

I prefer this exercise over many other core exercises used for building abdominal strength as it demands a high degree of hip mobility in combination with lumbar spine stability. When your legs extend you must find a way to stabilise the lumbar spine or you will arch your back excessively creating pain.

Also the requirements of your body to breathe correctly differs a lot from other exercises like the plank. The prone jack-knife forces your body to find the correct timing and sequence of joints required for optimal movement as your legs move in and out of flexion. Planks teach your body nothing in terms of how to move for there is no movement! Always remember that strength is useless without perfect timing.

Read this article for more detail – Are Core Workouts over rated?

If you can have a partner who can hold a stick on your back while performing this exercise it will help immensely. This will give you instant feedback as to your postural position while you move. You may be very surprised to find you are not where you think you are when you do this.

This exercise is a lot harder than it looks.  

Instructions:

1. In a push up position with your feet on a Swiss ball.
2. Draw your belly button inwards draw your knees towards your chest without letting your hips drop and maintaining good postural alignment. Keep the natural arch in your low back.
3. Slowly return and repeat.

5. Bent Over Row

A great exercise that shares the same body positioning as the deadlift.

A key part of this exercise is the strength endurance required for maintaining thoracic extension needed to hold the spine in perfect position. The person with a hunched posture will find this very difficult to do, but if they spend the time to master this movement they will go a long way to improving their posture.

This is one of the best exercises to build strength into weak upper back muscles in combination with learning good hip mechanics.

Instructions:

1. Standing bent forward at the hips with knees bent holding a barbell in front of your legs palms facing your body.
2. Maintain an arch in your low back.
3. Drawing your belly button inwards bend your elbows to pull the barbell up to chest height.
4. Lower under control and repeat.

6. Yoga Push Up

In Yoga the upward part of this exercise is known as “downward dog” and this can be a great way to again encourage thoracic extension. It also allows for great upward rotation of the scapula which is important for healthy shoulder function.

By adding the push-up you can combine the benefits of adding strength to the upper body. In particular is the high activation of serratus anterior which is a key muscle in providing optimal positioning of the rib cage.

Instructions:

1. Assume push up plank position with hands close the body maintaining optimal alignment
2. Push your hips to the sky and extend through your shoulders into the “downward dog” position
3. Lower back into a push up position (complete a push up if no pain)
4. Hold for a few seconds before repeating

7. Swissball Neck Flexion

This last exercise looks quite strange and it appears as nothing is actually happening. You have to be careful of overdoing it during this exercise as too much pressure on the ball can have a negative effect. This is an awesome exercise for correcting forward head posture and improving the strength of the weak muscles under the chin. These muscles are essential for providing your head with stability and they are easily weakened from poor postural positions.

Instructions:

1. Stand next to a wall or post.
2. Face the ball.
3. Place the tongue on the roof of your mouth.
4. Using 50% effort push your head into the ball as you exhale.

There is many other great exercises you can use and as I stated at the beginning we are all unique, with our own specific needs and imbalance. This article provides you with some great ideas and a theme to work towards of learning how to generate extension while maintaining stability.

For additional information I suggest to get a copy of our FREE REPORT on Functional training below by clicking here.

Summary

I hope this article gives you better insights as to what exercises are best for improving posture. Movements that promote extension are the key, for they lengthen the body and reverse the effects of hunched postures and slouching. But you MUST learn how to stabilise these movements for they can also create damage if not controlled.

All of the movements shown in this article, if performed correctly, will promote both extension and stability. Once mastered, you will notice the improvement to your body and your ability to move efficiently and allow you to do all the things in life with great enjoyment.

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