Some posture-improving exercises, such as Locust Pose, Cobra Pose, or Child’s Pose, help stretch and strengthen the muscles in your back and abdomen, improve balance, and relieve tension in your shoulders, neck, or chest.
Poor posture can lead to lower back or neck pain, tension headaches or even imbalance, increasing the risk of injuries to the vertebrae and intervertebral discs that can cause herniated discs, or result in inflammation of the sciatic nerve, for example.
In this way, these exercises help maintain normal and correct posture and can be performed 2 to 3 times a week. However, if the person feels pain or discomfort when performing the exercises, they should consult an orthopedist for an evaluation and thus recommend the best treatment.
9 exercises to improve posture
Some exercises that help improve posture are:
1. Locust Pose
How to make: lie face down with your arms at your sides and then raise your arms and head off the floor, contracting your back.
It is recommended to repeat slowly, 3 to 5 times.
2. Cobra Pose
How to make: lie on your stomach and place your hands in the same direction as your head and then you should raise your torso off the floor, keeping your arms straight, always look forward, keeping your neck parallel to the floor and your shoulders away from your head.
3. Child’s position
How to make: On the floor, sit on your heels, keeping your back elongated. Push your arms into the floor to keep your back as long as possible.
Hold this position for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
4. Downward-Facing Dog Pose
How to make: your feet and hands do not leave this position, but you must stretch your legs as much as possible to maintain the pyramid position. Use strength with your back muscles to maintain a good position, and you don’t need to put your heels on the floor.
Maintain this position for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
5. Plank Pose
How to make: When lying on your back, you must stretch your arms, raising your torso off the floor, keeping your legs straight and your spine and neck aligned.
Maintain this position for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
6. Pose do gato
How to make: On the floor, stand in a 4-up position, with your knees hip-width apart and your wrists aligned with your shoulders. Arch your back like a cat, inhaling and looking up. As you exhale, move your back upwards, bending it and looking down towards your navel.
Hold this position for 15 to 30 seconds and return to the starting position and repeat the movement 2 to 4 times.
7. Chest Opening
How to make: Standing, with your feet shoulder-width apart, take your arms straight behind you, interlacing your fingers. Keep your head and spine aligned.
With your hands clasped, raise your arms, inhaling the air, lifting your chest and slightly tilting your head back. Exhale the air returning to the starting position.
You can repeat this movement 10 times.
8. Ponte
How to make: Lie on your back, with your arms aligned with your body, bend your knees and place your feet on the floor with your heels aligned with your knees. Contract your abs and glutes, exhale and raise your hips off the floor until your body forms a straight line from your knees to your head. Hold this position for 30 to 60 seconds and lower your hips, breathing in air.
Relax and repeat the exercise 5 times.
9. Hug your legs
How to make: Lie on your back and bend your knees, keeping your feet on the floor. With the help of your hands, bring your knees towards your chest, maintaining this position for about 15 seconds.
Repeat the movement 5 times.
Watch the following video with exercises to improve posture:
What exercises help improve posture?
Practicing balance and muscle strengthening exercises, such as ballet, weight training and horse riding, is also a great way to correct posture.
Other good examples are different types of dance, pilates or swimming, for example, because these exercises strengthen the erector spinae, pectoral, abdominal and back thigh muscles, which make it easier to maintain correct posture on a daily basis.
When, in addition to poor posture, there is pain in the back or neck, or frequent headaches, a consultation with an orthopedist is recommended to diagnose the cause of the poor posture and thus indicate the most appropriate treatment.
Make an appointment with an orthopedist in the nearest region:
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Exercises to correct shoulder posture
Exercising at the gym or practicing Pilates regularly also helps maintain good posture because it strengthens the muscles, contributing to treatment to improve posture.
Furthermore, it is recommended to stretch daily to increase the elasticity of your muscles, which is why Pilates exercises have an advantage, because they require good body stretching.
What should normal posture be like?
Normal posture, or correct posture, is one in which the spine is aligned, maintaining the natural curves of the neck, back and lower back.
Furthermore, the head must be straight, aligned with the shoulders, which must also be aligned with the hips.
Any change in these postures can cause health problems, such as lower back, shoulder or neck pain, scoliosis, lordosis, balance disorders or even difficulty breathing. See what the correct posture should be like sitting, standing, carrying objects and practicing physical activities.
How to correct your sleeping posture
To correct your posture while sleeping, you must sleep in an appropriate body position.
The ideal is to lie on your side, with a small pillow between your knees and a pillow to support your head, so that your spine can remain erect when viewed from the side. If possible, see yourself in the mirror in that position or ask someone else to see if your spine appears to be well positioned.
When sleeping on your back, you should use a lower pillow and place another pillow under your knees. It is not recommended to sleep on your stomach.
Do I need to wear a brace to correct posture?
It is not recommended to use braces to correct posture, because they act contrary to physiotherapy and tend to worsen the situation in the long term.
This can happen because vests force the shoulders back but do not strengthen the muscles properly, leaving them weaker than they should be.
This imbalance in muscular forces harms the spine, and in addition, one of the secrets to correcting slumped shoulder posture is not to move the shoulders back but to correct the position of the head, which is normally more forward.
When to do physical therapy
It is recommended to go to the physiotherapist when you experience:
- Back, shoulder or neck pain;
- Tension headache;
- Hyperkyphosis, popularly known as hunchback;
- Hyperlordosis;
- Scoliosis, which is the lateral deviation of the spine.
All of these situations need to be corrected as soon as possible to avoid pain and prevent other more serious situations, such as a herniated disc and damage to the sciatic nerve, for example.
To be able to correct the vicious posture, which causes back pain, for example, it may be necessary to undergo a specific treatment through advanced physiotherapy, which involves static exercises, guided by the physiotherapist, called RPG (Global Postural Reeducation). Find out how RPG is made.
