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Good posture aid?

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: Jan. 2008 ~ Mar. 2008: Health Center: Good posture aid? users admin

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Texannie
Member

07-16-2001

Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 7:24 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Texannie a private message Print Post    
I have noticed that my posture has become really horrible. I have noticed how rounded and slumped my shoulders have become. I feel like I am becoming an O! LOL I am trying to be more conscious of holding my shoulders back but they are really tight and it's causing me lots of pain/strained muscle feeling.
Is there anything that I could wear that would help me with keeping my shoulders back?

Hukdonreality
Member

09-29-2003

Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 12:27 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Hukdonreality a private message Print Post    
Very windy post here, but that's what we therapists tend to do...lol!

Tex, anything you purchase that is touted as a posture aid has a downside:

1. It may physically pull you back into better alignment, but then you are letting the aid do the work that your muscles are supposed to do. You risk becoming dependent on it...don't think you'd want that.

2. Your profile says you are 46. You may be exhibiting some loss of calcium in your spine, contributing to a more rounded back. Easy enough to have a MD do some bloodwork. If this is the case, you will have options to help counteract this before significant damage is done.

3. If the muscles in your front upper chest are "tight" you need to quickly get going on stretching exercises so that any back muscle strengthening you do will be more effective. Don't waste your time stretching if you are not going to put in effort to do the counter-acting muscle strengthening, too.

If you can dedicate 15 minutes in the a.m. and 15 in the p.m. to mild exercises, you will do yourself a world of good. I would recommend something easy and actually, it's sort of fun. Get yourself a therapy ball (55-65cm size for a female is generally good). They are sold with centimeter measurements, so you shouldn't have trouble finding one. They sell these at Walmart and pretty much everywhere now.

Stretching:
Sit in front of the ball, with knees drawn up and feet flat on the floor. Roll yourself back onto the ball to a point where you can still balance, but relax your arms. At first, just try to relax your shoulders, then progress to stretching your arms out to your sides and relaxing more. A side benefit to this is that you'll be strengthening your quads (muscles on the tops of your thighs) and tightening your butt muscles! Never "bounce" your arms, it makes the muscles tighten up quickly sort of like how a rubber band acts if stretched and let go. Hold the outstretched position 15 seconds or so, then pull your arms back up and relax 15 or so. Repeat this anywhere up to 10 times or until you feel significantly relaxed. Now you're ready to turn over and work on strengthening the upper back muscles.

Strengthening (upper back):
Roll out onto the ball on your belly, just enough so you are in a "flying position". Take your hands down to the floor, then slllloooowwwly raise them up to where you feel some difficulty, and hold them there 10-15 seconds. Relax 10-15 seconds, repeat. Do this maybe 12 times, twice a day. Increase the number of reps to 15 after 3 days, then to 18 after 3 more. Then after 3 more days, go back to 12 times, but do 2 sets of them. Three days later, do 2 sets of 15 and so on. Always increase reps first (3 levels), then increase sets (starting at your original lowest number). A side benefit of this exercise, is you'll see a nice tightening of your tricep muscles (back of the upper arms)

If this doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll go hunting for pictures.

After you get through 2 sets of 18 reps, then you add some weight (something simple like a 2# can of corn or something...don't waste money on equipment...canned goods are fine, lol). With the weight, you start all over from scratch with your reps and sets numbers.

Texannie
Member

07-16-2001

Thursday, March 20, 2008 - 1:15 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Texannie a private message Print Post    
Huk...that's an old profile..i am going to be 50 in July! LOL
i had wondered about it being osteoporus (sp?) related too. i had a hysterectomy 5 years ago.
i am printing out this post. i may be back with more questions when i have time to really look at them.
thanks so very much!