Improve your Upper Back Posture !
Improving and maintaining good posture is an important part of pilates.
Unfortunately many of us can develop a forward head position and an excessively rounded upper back for many reasons, not least in advancing years where gravity unkindly pulls us forward if left unchallenged or the cold easterly winds shorten our necks as we pull up our shoulders and poke our heads forwards!
forward head position
Other factors include:
Working with digital devices and desk based work, reading a book for long periods of time, driving, young mums carrying and feeding their babies. All these activities pull our spine forward – the average head weighs between 10-14 lbs and so every 1 inch forwards adds an extra 10 lbs of pressure. So all this extra weight causes more wear and tear on our necks, increased curvature of the upper back and hyper extension in our necks. The front of our shoulders tighten (pecs!) and our arm bones rotate inwards.
Apart from losing height, the misalignment of the neck and jaw can often cause unnecessary tension resulting in headaches, neck and shoulder pain and a condition known as temporo mandibular jaw (TMJ) syndrome.
Try This :
Poor upper body posture affects our range of movement and vision. As an experiment deliberately slump and stretch your arm to the ceiling. Note the angle and position of your arm. Is it perpendicular and parallel to your ear or further forward? Return your arm. Now repeat this either in sitting or standing tall. What do you notice? Again in a slumped position, try turning your head to look left then right. What can you see or not see? Repeat this sitting or standing tall. Notice which posture gives you a better range of movement and vision!
A Positive Difference!
Fortunately there are many exercises we can do to improve our posture and alignment of our head, neck and spine and we do this in every Pilates class. We can definitely develop improved postural awareness in our everday activities when sitting, bending and standing.
Simple chin tucks :
Tuck your chin in – Place 2 fingers on your chin and push backwards. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 10-15 times
Wall Exercise – click on this link to see and try the short video clip https://youtu.be/zr5OQk4O_Oo
to the wall. Remember to draw your
tummy in.
Can you think of other exercises you can do with or without props (a flexi band is good!) to improve posture and create an axial lengthened spine?
